Unrequited

The first thing Annabeth felt when she woke up was how much her head hurt. She groaned, rubbing her forehead and rolled over on the soft bed. That was when Annabeth remembered what had happened the night before. Or was it two days before? She couldn't be sure, but she knew she'd been out for a while considering how hungry she was.

After a few minutes, Annabeth's head wasn't throbbing as badly and her mind was a bit clearer. She could tell that it was sometime in the late afternoon by the way the sun was shining through a large bay window. She looked around the room. Annabeth wasn't sure what she had expected, but it certainly wasn't this. The room was larger and more statuesque than any place she'd ever been. The head board was an ornate oak slab with intricate details all over it; Annabeth could have stared at it for hours. The walls were dark blue, like the bottom of the ocean and a large picture, something Annabeth recognized as The Storm on the Sea of Galilee by Rembrandt van Rijn. It had been stolen from a Boston museum in 1990 according to Annabeth's knowledge. She knew it was probably a forgery, but she couldn't help but be awed by the accuracy. All around the room were pieces of expensive furniture and priceless artifacts.

Then Annabeth heard the door creak open and whipped her head around. She stared in shock at the figure coming in. She had assumed one of the men from the night before would come and retrieve her, but this was clearly a woman. She was about 5'4 and maybe twenty three with choppy black hair pushed back in a silver hair band and electric blue eyes with a little sprinkle of freckles over her nose and cheeks. She was dressed in a black trench coat and tall black boots. Annabeth felt a sense of de ja vu wash over her, like she'd seen this girl before.

"Who are you?" Annabeth asked boldly.

The girl gave an impish grin and rolled her eyes.

"The real question is who are you? But, if you insist, I'm Thalia," The girl responded in a joking tone. Annabeth scowled.

"Annabeth," Annabeth replied reaching out her hand, "Where am I?"

"That," Thalia said, taking Annabeth's hand for the shake, "is classified information."

"Fine then. Why am I here?"

"Lot of questions you've got there, Annabeth," Thalia said, with that stupid smirk of her's again.

"Just give me an answer," Annabeth said; this chick was seriously testing her patients.

"I asked myself the same question when Nico, Tyson, and Grover dragged you in here the other day. They've never kidnapped anybody before," Thalia responded.

"Gosh, I feel so special, I'm the only person they've ever kidnapped; lucky me. So do you know anything?" Annabeth said, getting irritated.

"Not exactly. I know a lot of stuff, but about why you're here is unclear. They did mention something about you interfering with their mission to Percy, though," Thalia said, shrugging.

"I didn't interfere with their mission! They interfered with my shower, and they stole from my house!" Annabeth shouted.

"I heard about that, too. It is such a great story! I mean, you tried to get Nico with a knife, right? I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to do that," Thalia told her, laughing.

Annabeth's stomach rumbled.

"Shit, I forgot. You haven't eaten in three days," Thalia said.

"Three days? I was out that long?" Annabeth was aghast.

"Yep. Here's a power bar. Eat it slowly, though. If you eat too much at once, you'll get really bad stomach cramps," Thalia told her.

Annabeth snatched the bar and started nibbling on it.

"So, who's Mr. Jackson?" she asked, remembering the name that Nico had mentioned on The Night.

At first, Thalia looked a little confused, but seemed to figure it out, "Oh! You mean Percy; Jackson is his last name. Yeah, he's my cousin, but the boys always call him Mr. Jackson when they're on missions to protect his identity. He's our boss, but most of us in the inner circle just call him Percy."

"What's the inner circle?" Annabeth questioned. She couldn't help her curiosity; it was just something that was natural for her.

"I'm not really supposed to tell you that, but I can just say that it is mostly just family and friends. And Clarisse. We run a business here, the inner circle are our core members, and Percy is our leader. You met Nico, Grover, and Tyson. Grover has been Percy's friend since forever, Tyson is Percy's half-brother, and Nico is our cousin," Thalia explained.

"Look, I've said way too much. I'll go and get you something more substantial to eat, okay? I'll be right back," Thalia said after a beat, getting off the end of the bed and leaving in a rush.

"But," Annabeth called after Thalia, but she was already gone.

When the door creaked open again, Annabeth expected to see Thalia, but that was not what she got. The woman who came through the door was about two inches taller and old enough to be Thalia's mother. She had wavy brown hair and kind blue eyes. She held a tray in her hands. It was piled with sandwiches, some blue cookies, an apple, and what looked like some sort of sparkling blue berry juice. She smiled at Annabeth.

"You must be Annabeth," she said in a nice motherly voice as she handed her the tray. It didn't sound the least like Susan's nagging tone.

"Thalia told me you were hungry," she said.

"Starved," Annabeth said in a simple monotone voice.

The woman wasn't fazed, "I should think. You've been out for how long, three days?"

Had anyone else said it, it might have sounded snobby or rude, but coming from that woman, it seemed like a simple question.

"Yes, that's what Thalia told me, at least."

"Well, eat up," she told me, pushing the tray towards Annabeth.

"Thanks," she said, with a slight smile that probably looked like a grimace.

"These are really good," Annabeth told the lady with gratitude as she nibbled on a cookie.

"Thanks. Percy always tells me that," the woman told her with a look of appreciation.

"So, are you Mr. Jackson's housekeeper or something?" Annabeth asked, trying to figure out the woman's identity.

"You could say that," she said with an amused tone, "Let's just put it this way, I spend a lot of time cleaning this room."

Annabeth nearly spit out the cookie, "This is his room?"

"Yes."

"Then why have I been in here for the past few days? Wouldn't the boss make one of the lower members give up their room?" Annabeth asked, figuring that would be how the system worked.

"No, Percy insisted you have his room. He's been staying in one of the guest rooms for the past few days. He thought this room would be best for you because the bed is the comfiest," Sally told her, "Not that the others are anything to complain about."

Annabeth knit her eyebrows trying to figure out why someone who's workers had kidnapped her would be so accommodating.

"I know this situation isn't exactly ideal, but I think Percy will explain. I would if I could, but I'm not sure what is going on in the first place. He's been so lonely lately, though, it'll be nice for him to have a distraction," Sally said, recognizing Annabeth's emotions.

Just from the one sympathetic look, Annabeth broke down. She couldn't stop herself; all the frustration and emotion had come up in a flood that was trying to escape her mind through her tears.

The woman put an arm around Annabeth and pulled her in. She stroked Annabeth's hair and rubbed her back. Susan had never done anything like that for Annabeth; she never noticed how Annabeth felt behind her mask, yet a woman whom she had just met could. It surprised Annabeth.

After a few minutes, Annabeth managed to calm herself down. She took a deep breath and sniffled.

"Thanks," she said shakily.

"I know you might not think so, but I understand," the woman said with a small smile, "If I could, I would race you right out of here, but I have to respect Percy's decisions. Just know that you have a friend, okay. I have to go finish some things, but Percy will want to meet you when he gets home. I need to tell you, Percy is going through a hard time right now, so he might not be on his best behavior. He is really a nice boy; you just have to give him time."

She got up to leave.

"Wait, I'm sorry for being so impolite, but I didn't ask you you're name," Annabeth said, feeling the need to know the identity of someone who had been so kind to her without hesitation.

"You can call me Sally."

Then the woman was gone.

So, I got the second chapter finished. Yay! I am so happy with the response I got for this story. I am super excited to be writing fanfiction again, even if it is AU. I got one review last chapter from XxbethamphetaminexX! Every chapter, I'll shot out a few people who reviewed down here, so keep 'em coming.

If you have any questions or suggestions, I'd love to take them and apply them to the story as best I can. Any and all questions(with in reason) will be answered. Hope you liked the chapter and introduction to Sally's role. Maybe you noticed the foreshadowing? Either way...

Thx 4 Reading

-Vans