Even before the wolves came, Percy wasn't off to a good start. He was stuck with the therapist.

He flung his backpack down on the floor next to the sofa and sat down tiredly, trying not to show any emotion.

"I think I may be going insane." He said flatly.

The psychologist's face showed concern, and another emotion she was obviously trying hard to hide. Boredom. The same routine, over and over with countless people, had to be straining on her nerves.

"And what makes you think that?" Her blond hair was piled up in a loose bun, and her voice was soothing, like honey. She had to be someone's mother.

Percy swallowed. He hadn't been willing to come here at first, but after he had gone over the problem with his mother, he had somewhat reluctantly agreed.

"I write notes. Often, they're really short, but they always concern me. The thing is, I'm two hundred percent sure it's not me who is writing them." Percy pulled them out of his backpack and dropped them on the desk.

The therapist seemed confused. "So… you write notes, but you can't remember writing them? Well, what do they say?" She picked one up and started reading it. With every note, she looked more and more dismayed.

She seemed like a nice lady, and young, Percy thought. Her name was Annabeth Chase-"Just Annabeth," she'd said-and she had blonde hair and analytical gray eyes. She looked both incredibly patient and easily exasperated.

When she'd first seen Percy, she had smiled a warm smile, like she was greeting a long-lost friend.

The smile had soon dropped, when she saw Percy's SPQR tattoo and his birthmark. It didn't matter. Percy was used to the stares. Mostly for the birthmark, although he was getting used to the tattoo looks too. Most people just stared at him like, "Aren't you a lot young for a tattoo?"

His birthmark was in a "C" shape around his face, as if someone had caressed his face with skin disease. It was permanent. The doctors had removed it twice with lasers, and it had come back both times. He didn't really care. After seventeen long years, he was growing rather attached to it.

Annabeth started reading the scraps out loud.

"'Dead before eighteen.' 'Remember the Three Rivers.'" That one had confused Percy. He was son of the sea god. There were thousands of rivers under his father's domain. Why were a specific three important? Although, it wasn't like he was ever going to be able to tell Annabeth that. That one, he'd have to deal with himself.

She kept reading. "'The cycle can be broken.' 'It's almost August. You know what happens then.' 'He's coming?' Coming? Who's coming?"

"I don't know." Percy said.

"But you wrote them, even if you don't remember it." Annabeth waved her pencil around (rather triumphantly) like she had just finished a spelling test. "And what does August mean?"

"The eighteenth is my birthday." Percy replied.

Annabeth appeared to think for a moment. She gently asked Percy, "Do you feel that someone's trying to hurt you?"

Percy gave a dark chuckle. "Can I trust you?"

Annabeth nodded earnestly, like Percy was about to reveal a life-altering secret. In a way, he was.

"Someone's always trying to hurt me. So far in this life, only one has."

"In this life?" Annabeth asked. So, she was sharper than she looked.

"I'm Greek." Percy refrained from saying everything about his heritage. He didn't want to damage the poor mortal's mind. "There is a possibility that a hero chose to be reborn, and was reborn into me. Maybe they were trying to get to the isles of the Blest. I don't know."

Annabeth looked intrigued. "And who has hurt you?"

"A great man named Bob. He died trying to save me. I owe him my life." Percy didn't want to think about Bob. It still stung. He decided to change the topic.

"So I'm crazy, right?"

"No, no, no." Annabeth fumbled with the pencil, then patted her pockets.

Percy opened his mouth, closed it, then spoke slowly. "Look, Doctor-I mean, Annabeth. I'm here because I don't want to be crazy. I just want to be me again. I want to graduate with my class. I want to have a great summer horseback riding with my best friend, Nico. And next year I want to go to New Rome and study the ocean. I want my life back. But if you can't help me ..."

"I'm sorry," She said. Her eyes weren't analytical now; they were gray and shining as she tentatively squeezed his hand. "I'm sorry, Percy. It sounds awful. But I'm sure I can help you. We'll get to the bottom of it." She smiled, warmly again. "All this will be behind you."

She broke off as chimes sounded somewhere inside the house. The doorbell.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll be right back. Who would be coming now?"

Percy felt unease, stirring in his gut. He recognized it, of course. Years of knowing he was a half-blood let him know when bad things were about to happen. Training with Lupa had sharpened his senses even more, after that.

"Don't answer it," Percy said.

The sound of the doorbell had sent chills running up and down Percy's spine. Sadly, they weren't the You-startled-me-don't-do-that kind of chills.

Annabeth looked at him confusedly, then gave him a gentle reassuring smile. "It might just be another prospective client, Percy. Wouldn't want to keep one of them waiting. Don't worry." She touched his shoulder lightly, and smiled again as she swept out of the room.

Percy stood up, and was just about to follow her, if at the very least just to keep her safe, when the door swung shut and locked. Percy would have cut the lock with riptide, but he didn't want to damage Annabeth's property, and then try to explain that no, he hadn't brought a silent mini chainsaw (one of his more… eccentric teachers had thought that once in his previous years), and no, he wasn't non-human (mostly) thank you very much.

So Percy just went back and sat down again on one of the nice chairs, and tried very hard to ignore his apprehension.

Which was probably not a very good idea, because at that instant the window across the room exploded.