Percy has dreams sometimes. The shit he dreams about is really weird- guys that are part animal, this one thing that only has one eye. But then again he got the short end of the straw pretty much his entire life, so.

There's also a girl. (But then, there's always a girl, isn't there?)

He dreams about her a lot but he knows he's probably hallucinating, because in what universe would a girl that beautiful look twice at him?


The first time he dreams about her everything seems normal at first. His mom is there with a big plate of cookies, and Paul too, laughing and hugging his mom so hard she almost can't breathe. He turns to his right almost instinctively, even though there isn't supposed to be anyone there, and sees her.

She's wearing a tattered orange t-shirt that says "CAMP" on it and cutoff jean shorts with frayed ends. When she turns to him, a golden curl slips out of her bun to frame her bright smile and steely gray eyes, and he's never seen anything so beautiful. He fleetingly remembers that he's never seen her before either, but he feels this overwhelming sense of rightness when she steals a cookie from him and so he shrugs it off. Annabeth, he thinks, as she swats his side.

"See something you like, Seaweed Brain?" she asks, laughing and taking the cookie that's in his hand. She grins at him and for some reason he can't bring himself to care that she keeps stealing his food.

He can't remember what she looks like when he wakes up, but he remembers her name- Annabel. Or was it Anna?


They're at the beach, the next time. The girl rests comfortably between his knees and every so often the wind pushes her curls towards him and he catches the faintest whiff of her lemon shampoo. He blinks for a moment, taking a piece of her hair out of his mouth and then he remembers that whatever familiarity he feels is probably also not real and moves away from her.

She frowns. "What?"

He opens his mouth and then closes it again. "I-Who are you?"

She stares at him for a minute before she throws her head back and laughs. "That was a nice try, Perce." She punches his shoulder. "Almost got me," she says, swiping his Cheetos. "Now. You just gonna let me take your food?"

She quirks an eyebrow with a smile and gets up, and then she bolts away so fast she kicks some sand into his face and every doubt he had about who she was flies away as he chases after her, tacking her into the sand wearing a grin so wide it hurts.


They're in a cabin when he sees her again. The cabin is a really weird cabin. It's got its own fountain, and it's made out of this weird green-blue rock, and he thinks he sees seashells and mussels and things sticking to the floor. She isn't bothered by this at all, as she babbles on and on about load bearing walls and statues.

He stops her. "You're gonna be fine, Wise Girl. It's not like the gods can smite you- you're the only architect that puts up with their crap. The Olympians are definitely not going to let your mother design Olympus." And that is when he decides Dream Percy is certifiably insane.

"I know, but every time I go up there to ask them for their opinion, Apollo asks for another statue, or Aphrodite wants more bling whatever that means, and someone always and I swear to all the gods if someone asks me to put in another torch I am going to lose it!" Annabeth says, shutting her laptop with slightly more force that required and putting her head in her hands. Percy decide that his…girlfriend (or is she a lover or something?) is slightly more insane than he is and instead of getting out, he smiles.

"I don't know you," he thinks and then something warps and he's shifting closer to her on the mattress, wrapping an arm around her waist. "You'll be fine, Wise Girl."

She turns. "You think so?" she asks, giving him this wide-eyed look and she looks so adorable right now he can't help but nod. She sighs and turns back to the computer. "I guess I'd better get back to it then."

"Or," he begins. She stops and turns to him, the beginnings of a smile on her face.

"Or," she repeats.

He tickles her, laughing as she squirms in his arms. "Percy this isn't really what I had in mind!" she says, collapsing on to the bunk and taking him with her. She's laughing so hard she can barely talk.

"Oh?"

"Percy stop!" she says, in between laughs.

"Annabeth-" he wakes up on a moth-eaten mattress an when he looks around, the girl isn't there. He has a sudden urge to cry and then he remembers he doesn't know her.

Annabeth.