If Annabeth Chase were to organize her top pet peeves on a list, she would put headaches at number four — just below Blackjack's constant detours for donuts while on missions.

Despite downing Motrin after Motrin and eating ambrosia block after ambrosia block, her headache had been with her for three days on end, bringing on an incessant and distant ringing in her ears and buzzing at the back of her head. It was nothing short of hellish and unpleasant.

Annabeth absentmindedly poked at the fruit salad in front of her, her headache making her stomach feel nauseated and not at all hungry. Sitting across from her at the Athena Cabin's dining table, her half-brother, Malcolm, worriedly stared at her.

"I think it's time you see a healer," he said, worry dripping off every word.

"I'm fine," she replied.

"Annabeth," he pressed, "you and I both know that isn't true."

"I said I'm fine!" she hissed, roughly stabbing her fork into a piece of cantaloupe. She winced, her harsh tone sending a sharp pain throughout her head and she grabbed the side of her scalp.

Across the pavilion, Percy looked up and stared at her with worry in his eyes from his table. She shook her head at him and continued to pick at her fruit.

"Annabeth," Malcolm tried again. "For all we know, you could be pulling a Zeus and you're about to have a baby."

Annabeth looked up at him, mortified, her gray eyes widening and heat rushing up to her face. She felt her mouth slightly drop open in surprise. He smirked at her. "Okay, maybe it isn't that drastic. But if ambrosia isn't doing anything, there's clearly something wrong here."

She sighed and jabbed a strawberry with her fork. "If it means I won't have to hear any more of your nagging, I suppose I can see if Will can do anything for me after breakfast."

Malcolm eyed her fruit salad. "If you really want me to shut up, you'll eat your breakfast." Feeling Annabeth's glare, he smirked and looked back up at her. "You didn't eat anything for dinner last night. You're running on fumes."

A huff of air escaped her nostrils as she shoved the strawberry in her mouth. She chewed and glared at Malcolm, who watched her happily.

"So what was Will's verdict?"

Percy's salt water spring in the corner of his cabin was running and even that typically soothing noise was sending knives through her head. It felt like it was about to explode at any moment.

"He said he didn't know."

Percy raised his eyebrows. "Really? He's the best healer we have."

Annabeth flopped herself onto one of Percy's spare beds. All she wanted to do was sleep and hope that her headache would magically go away. But with her luck, she knew that wouldn't happen.

"It's not like he's an official doctor, Perce. There's only so much he can do with the equipment and medicine he has. It pained him to say it, but he thinks I should go out into the city and find a specialist. The fact that not even ambrosia is working didn't sit well with him."

Percy leaned forward in his bed and worry glistened in his eyes. His eyebrows knit together the way they always do when he's worried – a simple expression that made Annabeth melt every time she saw it – and he pressed his lips together.

"What do you think is going on?"

Annabeth wracked her mind for anything from the old myths that could give her any hints of what was going on. The only thing she could think of was her mother being born from Zeus's head, but she tried her best to ignore that one. It was an unlikely possibility, but the thought of it was a little more than troubling to her. She wasn't Zeus. She wouldn't heal the way he did.

"I'm completely in the dark here. Unless there are still myths that I don't know about, the only thing I can think about is the story about Zeus and my mother."

Percy paled instantly. "You need to tell Chiron."

"Percy, I –"

"You need. To tell. Chiron."

He was right and she knew it. Something she still wasn't entirely used to.

Annabeth sighed and leaned back to lay down. "Yeah, alright."