Paranoid, I checked to see if anyone was behind me before opening the heavy door to my room. Not even taking a second to put down my keys or anything, I walked straight out to the terrace. The night air blanketed my skin like a warm winter coat during a cold winter. It felt safe and secure, everything I wasn't. My tranquil mood was shattered like a glass vase falling towards the ground as I managed to make out a constellation in the night sky that I knew belonged to Zoe Nightshade, one of the many I've killed. Everywhere I looked, something brought back my terrible guilt. I had taken so many lives for this cause, but, as the final battle drew nearer, I wondered if they were taken in vain.

Annabeth would have known. She would have been able to tell me. I could have depended on her to tell me the right answer, but she can't depend on me. I've abused her trust too many times, but she still tries to keep hope that one day I'll change. One day, I'll be the boy she used to know, but I won't. She knows that, too. She wouldn't have done all the things I've done to her to me. We spent two years depending on each other with our lives. We spent three years after that relying on the other to be the reason we kept going.

And I just left her. I left her to sulk and sorrow with everyone worried what she'll do with that stupid Jackson.

A bitter taste covered my tongue, and a pang of jealousy nagged at my heart. Not only is he my enemy in war, but I've seen the way she looks at him, the same way she used to look at me. It hurt like a knife. No one had to tell me she had a thing for him. I didn't have to be told by Silena or any other informant. I just knew. It had started as an eerie feeling when they first met, but there wasn't a doubt these days. I wasn't the apple of her eye, and she was still mine. Not even the argument that I was older than her by over five years could stop me from the pain of not being with Annabeth.

There was of course an upside.

Whenever Annabeth tried to stop Percy from killing me, an anger boiled within him that was evident in those sea green eyes, trying to mask a jealousy deep within, not that it is ever successful in its attempts to hide. The only problem becoming that he does become jealous whenever she shows feelings for me. Part of me wants to break them up continuously until they not only don't remember each other's names but have completely forgotten one another. The other says that they deserve each other as neither would join me.

Then there is the winning argument.

I love Annabeth. Every time I think of her, my heart swells. Every time she thinks of me, her heart shatters. Breaking me out of 'Annabeth Land", as I like to call it, my alarm beeped from my watch. Around here, no one truly cares about Birthdays. So, I spent today alone as I officially became twenty-three. I always spent my birthdays with Annabeth. Everything about today reminds me of her. She would start off the day by bringing our breakfast down to the lake where we would sit and talk while we ate. Then, we'd walk all on the shore and listen to the waves lap on the sand until our next class. She would try to make a cake at lunch which we ate in the forest. After dinner, she would give me a gift and we'd spent all night until lights out just sitting there and talking. Even though this accursed day was finally over, I couldn't stop thinking of her. I had seen a picture of her from Silena so I would know what she looked like if I saw her. Annabeth was so beautiful. Her beautiful curls stopped being a hot mess and tumbled around her, making her grey eyes sparkle. Her eyes sparked at everything and stopped her from looking sweet and soft. Her lean frame still managed to strike fear into her opponent and distract with a blinding beauty. She had always been pretty. I mean, like, cute. Now, she was beautiful. She had grown up from the little girl who we all knew had a crush on me into a beautiful woman who was fighting for my death.

I could have jumped off the railing from the pain I was feeling, but a whisper hissed against it in my head. I mentally apologized to Cronus. To get away from the pain, instead, I tightly closed my eyes and took the deepest breath I could manage.

"Luke?" a voice broke me out of it. My eyes flashed open. I tried not to look startled as I looked at the tan blonde. Her blue eyes peered at me. An orange 'Camp Half-Blood' tee shirt hung tightly on her petite frame making the bitter taste return to my mouth. Looking at her beauty felt strange as I had seen her back when she was a little girl with her hair in a French braid along with almost florescent lips from too much lip gloss.

"Silena, what is it?" I tried not to sound annoyed or hopeful that she might mention how Annabeth was doing though I knew what she was going to tell me. She had warned of an attack, but the time kept getting changed. My troops need time to prepare, and she hasn't given me a straight answer on how long I have. I was starting to get agitated.

"Charlie just told me that they're going tomorrow, but there has been a change," Silena bit a strawberry pink lip. I waited for her to continue, but it seemed in vain.

"Well? What's the change?" I finally asked impatiently.

"Percy has insisted on coming, and Annabeth gave him her spot," Silena answered timidly. I felt sick to my stomach. The plan had been to capture Annabeth and use her as bait as we all knew he would do anything for her.

"When will they be coming?" I asked trying to hide my brain's desperate attempts to create a new plan.

"Around noon, but it could be later. Percy's spending some time with his family and some girl, Rachel. He wants to be with them before what could be his death. So, Charlie has to go find them when it's time," Silena answered before she worriedly looked at the forest I used to know so well. It pained me to think about how I would never see it in person again. Shaking off the pain for anger, I nodded.

We all knew Annabeth was head over heels for him, and he ditched her for another girl? That's just wrong. A murderous feeling surged through me. Only one person's blood could fill the hunger for vengeance. Percy's Jackson's blood.

I smiled at the blonde, "Thank you, Silena. We will prepare for the attack. You have been very helpful."