"We can't take her with us, Luke, she'll slow us down. Look at her." I sigh in exasperation, "She's like, five. We can't take care of a five-year-old, you have to know that."

"I'm seven, and I was doing fine before I ran into you." The little blonde girl is defiant in her stance, her hands crossed and her mouth set in a scowl. She says she was doing fine, but still there are dirty tear streaks on her face, scars on her arms, and clearly no food in her stomach. At least there hadn't been before Luke had offered her a precious amount of their own.

"The kid needs to be with her parents. We don't have enough provisions even for ourselves."

"We've always gotten by before." Luke looks at the kid and flashes her his most charming, reassuring smile, "We can make it to Camp Half-Blood with one more. It's not that much farther from here, a couple of weeks, maybe a month."

"Luke. You do realize that if her parents file a missing persons report we could be accomplices in a kidnapping? We don't need that." In fact, it's just about the last thing we need.

"We aren't kidnapping her." Luke moves over to the girl, puts a hand on her shoulder, "What's your name, sweetheart?"

"Not sweetheart, it's Annabeth." The kid is good, she's still got that defiant look, but I've got a trained eye, which is what it takes to see the way that she lets her shoulders relax slightly at Luke's kindness, she needs us.

"I know that, and you know that, but who's to say that she won't tell a cop that if we get picked up?" There, surely he won't let this child get in the way of his dream. If we get picked up he's right back where he started, right back with his mother, surely he won't let that happen.

"We're not going to get picked up, and she's not going to say that. You wouldn't say that, would you, Annabeth?" He keeps his voice sober, but smiles to show her that this is just a formality, in his mind it's already a done deal.

"There is no missing person's report, and no, I'm not stupid. If I go back the monsters will get me." This is the first time that the girl shows even a little bit of fear, Luke and I look at each other.

"What monsters?" Luke wants to know.

"They're everywhere. They say scary things, they tried to hurt me. They know where I live, I can't go back. They'll kill me if I go back, that's what they said."

"Well, then that solves it. Annabeth, welcome to the gang."