My eyes snap open just as a fainting knocking begins at my cabin door. With a groan, I twist around in my bed and check the clock. It's three in the morning.

I swing my legs off the bed and open the door. Initially I believe no one's there, but then I feel her hands pushing me back inside my cabin. She closes the door behind her and takes off her invisibility cap.

At first my heart races in excitement, a smile quickly spreading. Annabeth's sneaking into my cabin in the middle of the night?

But my smile soon melts away when I realize that she's sobbing.

"Annabeth, what's wrong?"

Instead of answering, she runs into me and wraps her arms around me. I find myself returning her embrace with the same intensity, rubbing her back as well. We stand like this in the middle of the cabin for nearly five minutes.

Finally, when she's calmed down a bit, she breaks free from the embrace and sits on my bunk. I sit next to her.

"What's going on?"

Her elbows rest on her knees and her palms dig into her face. Her blond curls fall all over her face, nearly completely concealing her face from me. Her exposed arms and legs tremble violently.

"I had a very vivid dream of us," she begins, and doesn't continue. She's crying again.

I put my arms around her shoulders and give her a squeeze, "What happened?"

"And I don't know where we were, but it was so dark, and cold, and everything felt so hopeless. I've only felt something similar once before."

I furrow my eyebrows, "When?"

She sits upright again, facing him. "When we were twelve, in the Underworld. When we chased after Grover so he wouldn't fall into the chasm."

I gulped, "You dreamed we were in Tartarus?"

She runs a hand through her hair, "I don't know, Percy. It felt the same, it probably was Tartarus. But we were older in the dream, we looked much older. Your face was so gaunt and bloodied. You looked so weak, Percy. We looked like we were on the brink of death. And-" she breathed in a quavering breath, "-And there were monsters. Everywhere. All the ones we've ever killed plus more. You could hear them growling and taunting us, and spiders. So many spiders, we were covered by their webs."

Annabeth voice starts reaching that high pitch it reaches whenever she gets panicky. I pull her into me and run my hands through her hair until she calms down again.

"Percy, I don't know what that dream is supposed to mean. I'm really, really scared," she whispers into my shirt.

"You said we looked much older right?"

She nods.

"Then we'll deal with it then, you got that? At least we know we'll have each other, and that's what matters. Lets just live for the present."

She nods again and pulls away from me. Her eyes are still misty, but she manages a small smile.

I lean in and kiss her.

"Won't your siblings notice you missing in the morning?" I ask, pushing a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. "Not that I'm complaining about your presence here, because trust me, every fiber in my body is telling me not to make you leave."

She laughs, wiping away the tears under her eyes. "You have a point, Seaweed Brain. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

We kiss once more before she puts on her invisibility cap and walks out the door.

"Percy is missing." I report to Chiron.

Chiron knits his eyebrows together, "He's missing?"

I nod stiffly, trying to keep my panic in check. I have to bite my lip so as not to start crying out. My heart is heavier than lead and my insides are doing somersaults.

"Have you-"

"I've been looking for him all morning. I've even asked the nymphs and they've seen nothing. He's simply disappeared."

"When did you last see him?"

"Last night, at the campfire," I lie.

Chiron pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs deeply. "Are you sure he didn't-"

"He wouldn't run away, he would have told me." I say, my voice quavering. My dream keeps replaying itself over and over again in my head.

He nods. "If he doesn't show up by dinner, we'll launch a search party. He might be at the ocean, and lost track of time."

Percy doesn't show up by dinner.