Chapter 1

Annabeth's Point of View

I walked into the hospital room of Doctor Frederick Chase, where my stepmother was clutching his hand, silently crying. Her long black hair had broken out of the ponytail holder, and mascara streaked her face. She and I had our differences, but if there was one thing I was certain of, it was that she loved her family more than the world – not including myself, of course.

It had been ten hours since a Telkhine had showed up at my doorstep in San Francisco and attacked my father. He had been walking out of the house, all worked up about some old book on World War II finally being released. He'd even left the house at five a.m in order to be the first one through the doors. His blissful grin was the last thing I remembered before a sea demon pounced on us.

I, obviously, had my knife on me and turned out fine: I was able to stab the monsters within seconds. Dad, on the other hand, had the left side of his face torn off. And he wouldn't wake up.

"Everybody recovers differently," the doctor had reassured us. "He should wake up soon."

Just then, Percy walked in, holding two king-sized Snickers bars, my favorite. When Percy heard the news about my dad during Geometry, he'd immediately ditched second period to fly out here last minute. He'd stayed in this hospital with me ever since.

Dr. Jones went on about anemia and rib fracture, which usually would have fascinated me, but right now all I could focus on was my dad and the fact that I was probably squeezing Percy's hand enough to cut off his circulation, and that I couldn't care less.

"Annabeth? Hello?" Dr. Jones asked.

"Huh?" I said, jolting back to reality.

"I asked you what your living arrangement plans are."

I looked towards my dad's wife, confused. Won't I be staying at home? I asked her silently.

Then I realized, of course I wouldn't be. My stepmom and I may have patched things up this winter when I was in danger, but none of that mattered now that I had put her husband in danger. There was no home for me with them.

"She'll be staying with me," a voice said. I looked up and realized it was Percy.

"What?" I asked. "N-no, I... I couldn't."

"Please, Annabeth, you're the daughter my mother never had. You're family," he replied, smiling. "Uh, unless you don't want to, um..."

"Oh, no, of course not," I said hurriedly. "Yeah. That's amazing."

"Well," Dr. Jones said, "looks like we'll need a one-way ticket to NYC."