Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson franchise and/or series, or any additional characters and/or books that may attribute to this under the company name of Disney Hyperion and/or Rick Riordan. Thank you.

Rating: T; swearing, some adult concepts

Quote: Brainy Quote website

Image: Google images. I have no claim to this picture and no intention of franchising under and/or for it. Rights go to owner, and I readily relinquish claim if said owner of image wishes.

Prologue

Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.

-Henry Van Dyke

~Rachel~

"We could really do it, you know."

I blinked up at my boyfriend owlishly. "What?" I said, my voice soft. I didn't look at him; it made what I was doing easier. Though in my mind, I knew it was wrong to pretend to love a man that I couldn't care less for, my heart heard none of it. He was my ticket out of Camp Half-Blood- a ticket that I needed desperately. My mind flashed back to the wedding, sending shivers down my spine. It should have been me in that white dress, not her. Everywhere I went, now, I saw only the glint of sunlight on wedding rings. It should have been me wearing that ring on my finger, not her. I was a thousand times more suited to him than she was.

"Run away." My head snapped up at his declaration. Claude Winters's head was unmoving, and his jaw was set. We were on a hilltop covered with wheat-blond grasses swaying gently in the wind. The sun sat on the horizon, bathing the sky in a creamy orange. I held my breath, praying. Yes. This was it. This was what I was waiting to hear since I had fist starting dating Claude.

"What did you just say?" I asked, my voice trembling with excitement. I could already breathe in the possibilities. Though I didn't love Claude, I could already see the future that I could have with him. A stable home, two children, a dog- the life that I had wanted since the burden of the oracle had been placed upon my shoulders. It was a life that I thought that I would share with someone that I loved, but he had chosen her, I thought bitterly.

Claude didn't flinch. "Well, it's been a month after my parents' funeral," he said, his voice steady and unwavering. "Their trust funds aren't going to hold forever. I'm going to need to get a job back. Probably start a life." His blue eyes looked out at the horizon distantly. "Start picking up the pieces, I guess." He turned his head toward me, and for the first time in a month and a half, since before his parents died, I saw another emotion besides the cold, unfeeling diffidence in his blue eyes that had become so chillingly familiar to me. It was a feverish excitement. "I love you, Rachel. There's never going to be anyone else for me. I love you more than anything else in the world." He was grinning, now. "Don't you feel the same?" His voice faltered. "Rach?"

It seemed cruel, this game that the Fates played. The very words that I had dreamed about so often, coming from a man that I was so stoic towards. I had only thought about these words being spoken to me through one man's mouth, but he had long since made the biggest mistake of his life, marrying her. In that moment, though I knew Claude was waiting, I allowed myself to relive it.

The Moirai were not kind. They liked to play with people's minds, and I was a fervent believer in the theory that they were an evil force. Greece's past was riddled with tragedies every decade, and Oedipus complexes everywhere that you looked. As such, I had been present at the wedding for which I so frequently wished, but not where I had always pictured myself. At this wedding, I was not the bride, but a bridesmaid; not in a dress of white, but in a dress of gray. I bit my lip, paying no attention to the small drop of blood that emitted out of it. I had been there when he had proposed, an innocent bystander watching her heart get shattered.

Annabeth Jackson. A disgusting name, really, in my opinion. Annabeth Chase was far better suited, but, unfortunately, Percy hadn't agreed. They had married, and, effectively destroyed all hope that was still left in the camp. I balled my fists at my sides. Claude wasn't Percy. He would never be the love of my life, but he would lead me to a good life. I could see myself growing to love him, and, in the grand scheme of things, that was all that mattered. Of course, there was the old folktale about Apollo's Curse, but I didn't believe a word of it. If there was one thing that I had learned in my years at Camp Half-Blood, it was that every single camper was a lying, manipulative being.

"I feel the same, Claude," I said, forcing a smile and kissing him chastely on the cheek. "I would love to run away with you." I looked away at the setting sun. "Where would we go, d' you think? Somewhere far away? Somewhere close?"

Claude grinned, the smile lighting up his whole face. "You mean it? You really do love me, Rachel?" His blue eyes were excited, and in that moment, I almost felt bad lying to him, but then my vision cleared. I had to say what I needed to, or the perfect life, just waiting over the next hill, would never be mine.

The name 'Rachel' meant 'ewe', or 'little lamb'. It came from the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, as Rachel was the favored wife of Jacob, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. In a way, it had suited me, for a period of time, but I had outgrown my 'ewe' side. I was no longer a little lamb, lost and afraid. I was an experienced wolf, prone to the cruelties of life and the Fate.

Though I felt a sinking in my heart, I said the very words that would seal my perfect life. It would all be worth it, once my life was confirmed –I had to believe that- and so, though I knew it was wrong, I spoke the falsity.

"I love you, Claude."

~FOURTEEN YEARS LATER~

Rain pattered on the rooftop of Shady Oaks Mental Hospital.

It was only one sound among an orchestra of others. The sound of fax machines beeping, keyboards clicking, and the hushed, murmuring voices accompanied the rain. I heard the shuffling of no-nonsense Dr. Scholl's shoes on the linoleum floors, the panicked voices of confused patients, and the kind, soothing tones of nurses that always accompanied the hysteria. Shady Oaks was anything but silent, and usually, I was glad. At that moment, however, I was anything but, because my memory was starting to surface.

"Shh." I looked up, blinking my eyes and meeting a pair of concerned, ice-blue ones. It was a man; a stranger, really, and yet I found him to be strangely familiar. "Rachel, honey, calm down. It's okay." The man looked like he hadn't slept in weeks: there were purplish smudges underneath his eyes, wrinkles lined his face, and his pale brown hair was streaked with gray, though, for some reason, I thought that he couldn't be older than forty. "It's going to be okay." His hands clasped around my own.

I recoiled. "I don't know who you are," I said, my voice coming out in a panicked frenzy. "I don't know who you are!" My mind felt funny, like mush. "Get away from me!" My head snapped up, and I scrambled backwards on the couch of my room at Shady Oaks. "Help!"

A woman came through the door, her face sympathetic. Just the sight of her made me relax, if only fractionally. "Mr. Winters," she said, her voice smooth as honey. "Perhaps it's time that you leave. She's getting agitated now, and it won't do to confuse her." The woman looked to be in her late forties, with curly, dark-brown hair woven through with gray, crow's feet at her eyes, and dark, caramel skin. "Come, now," she said, her voice persuasive.

The man put his face into his hands. "She doesn't remember me," he said, his voice laced with worry. "Why doesn't she remember me? There's not even any history of mental illness in her family. She came from the most ordinary people in the world!" He sagged, the fight and vigor going out of him. "What did I do wrong?" he whimpered softly.

"It's nothing that you did, Mr. Winters," the woman said softly. "She doesn't remember much of anything anymore. It's nothing that you did. Sometimes these things just come sporadically- there's not really anyway to know for sure." She looked at him sadly. "I'm sorry, Mr. Winters. Truly, I am."

He ignored her, turning back to me with a fervent look in his eyes. He grasped my hands tightly. "Rachel. Rach. Look at me. I'm Claude. Your husband." His voice grew more frantic as he spoke. "We've been married for a long time, now. We have two children, a sweet little boy named Jamie, and-" he emitted a strangled voice. "And a daughter. A sweet, smart daughter named Reese."

Reese. For some reason, this stirred something in me. I straightened my back, regaining flashes. "Reese!" I said, my eyes wide. "She mustn't go!" I clung to the man's –Claude's- arm tightly, my fingernails digging into his skin. "She mustn't go! You have to stop her!" Now, it was my voice that was frantic, and not his. "She mustn't go! She'll die! They'll take her!"

Claude looked at me concernedly. "Rach, what are you talking about? Reese shouldn't go where?" I continued my babbling, and he looked back to the woman. "Deitra, what did I do wrong? Why is she like this? How do I make her stop?" His voice was tinged with fear, now, and I felt a bubble of frustration rise in my chest. Didn't he understand?

For the first time, the woman, Deitra, I knew now, seemed angry. Something flashed in her onyx eyes. "Mr. Winters," she said, her voice steely. "Step away from the patient. She's not well. Cease talking, and she may forget. Obviously, you've triggered her." Her jaw set. "Your missing daughter is hardly suitable content for a patient's room at a mental hospital, family relation or not."

"Claude," I said, gripping his arms. "You must not let Reese go to Camp Half-Blood. You have to listen to me." My eyes burned as tears spurted up, a single one streaking down my cheek. "They won't give her the antidote without my permission. They're too afraid of angering the gods." I gripped his arm even tighter. "Please." My voice shook as it spoke.

Claude's features were a mask of fear. "Rachel, what are you talking about, 'Camp Half-Blood'? Where is this place? Rachel? Rachel! Listen to me!" My heart had slowed to an erratic, irregular beating. Claude looked up at Deitra, who looked downright furious.

"Mr. Winters, I strongly suggest that you leave, now, before I call for security. Family or not, you are still a visitor at Shady Oaks, and are here at our lenience, not yours. You've spurred on one of her spells." Her face paled. "Oh, dear. You had best leave, Mr. Winters. You're not going to like what you see."

A haze of green mist obscured my vision. "The equilibrium will be broken," I rasped, clutching Claude's arm and digging my fingernails into his skin. "The ocean walks with us once more. The shadow of a lover becomes a warrior. Lightning and love converge. The equilibrium falls." My breath came in rapid gasps as a green mist spilled out of my mouth. "The equilibrium has fallen! The ocean has come back to the camp, and the girl has come from her mother's brutal clutches! The one of stormy skies and the one of the gentle words are no longer together! The equilibrium has fallen!" I cackled manically. "The prophecy has come true! The oracle is no longer our own!"

I slumped, feeling as if the wind had been knocked out of me. The oracle… my thoughts began whirling at a thousand miles per hour as images flashed in my mind. Spiraling eagles in a blue sky, towering monsters with one-eye bounding along a massive dog with spittle leaking from its jaws, a girl with blond hair bent over a laptop, typing furiously; a boy with black hair and green eyes in a sea of bright blue water. There were others, too: a little girl, paint splattered all over her, and a frizzy mane of wild red hair. Reese, my mind whispered. A boy, with pale brown hair and glinting green eyes. This one is Jamie, my mind told me. Your son.

My eyes snapped open. "The equilibrium has fallen," I whispered.

The last thing I saw was my husband's concerned face before my world went black.

A/N: This was my prologue. Now, a few things to say about my prologue: yes, it is a bit confusing to those of you who haven't read my companion to this book, Unexpected Relations. However, this prologue is MEANT to be confusing. Everything is going to be cleared up as we get into the story, and this prologue is basically an insight to problems that you, as readers, haven't the faintest idea about. That being said, it IS NOT NECESSARY TO READ UNEXPECTED RELATIONS for you to understand Immerse. I thank you for your consideration.

Now that I've got that cleared up...

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