"Hi mom." I greeted my mom. She sat next to Paul - her husband. I liked Paul. He was smart, kind, and most of all - he made my mom happy. Also, one bonus from having a teacher step-dad was that he could help me out in classes and sometimes get me out of punishments. He was going to help me and Annabeth register for the school he taught at in the fall, but with the Giant War and PTSD, we decided to take a gap year. Though that's beside the point.

"Hey Honey." My mom smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. I could tell she was trying her best to be strong for me. I felt bad. She had to be tough for me far too many times in her life. I mean with Smelly Gabe, me getting kicked out of almost every school I went to, me going on quests like every other month, and her only child disappearing, she had to have gone to hell and back emotionally.

"SHIELD visited." Paul announced. My somewhat-good spirits immediately dropped. I knew this was going to come since it had been almost a week since The Incident, but that didn't mean I had to dread it any less. Paul, though, didn't seem as concerned as my mother. Then again, he had adjusted to the Half-Blood life pretty quickly.

"Yes. They were very nice." My mom assured me. I guess I looked as grim as I felt.

"I believe there was a blonde guy, and a red-headed lady." She continued on.

"Ah yes. Natalie Rushmore, and Clark Berry." Paul grinned at the memory.

"Clark Berry was quick-witted. I liked him a lot. Natalie was intelligent. You could tell." Paul acted as if he was talking about some old college buddies, and not trained assassins coming after the whole Demigod race.

"Paul, sweetie, try remember that they are hunting Percy and his friends." My mom chastised.

Paul frowned, "Oh yes. I'm quite aware. Both were in tip-top shape, and intelligent - real threats."

I groaned, "Just great."

"Honey, they are SHIELD agents." My mom reminded me.

"Well, what did they say?"

"Oh Percy. Paul and I don't nearly have as good of a memory as you." My mom smiled sadly. Guiltily, I did notice that her hair was almost fully grey now.

"Please. Just try to remember." I begged. This was important. One detail could mean the world.

"Hmmmm… Oh! I almost forgot!" Paul exclaimed. He jumped up and started searching around one of the closets near the kitchen. The door was slightly ajar, but inside of it looked normal - with towels and that kind of stuff. I didn't understand his sudden need for cleaning supplies.

"What's up Paul?" I raised my eyebrows in question. Paul stopped abruptly as he realized we had no idea what he was talking about.

"I recorded their interview…" he continued on as he turned back around, "and the thing is around here somewhere. I swear I put it here." I threw my hands in the air in celebration.

"Paul! You are a freaking genius!" I exclaimed.

"Well… I don't know about genius. It was recorded on an old baby monitor that was specialized to record things. I got for my baby niece a while ago… got it!" Paul grinned in triumph. He held up a slightly dirty gray camera. It had been hidden underneath one of the hand towels. My appreciation for him increased ten-fold.

"The feed is connected to my work computer. Does Chiron have a computer? I could send the video to him. He has an email right? I mean even immortal centaurs have to have some form of modern communication." Paul's face looked so downright puzzled, that under other circumstances I probably would've laughed.

"He does have an old computer, and he probably has an email, but I don't know it. Just send it to Annabeth's…" I trailed off remembering Daedalus's laptop. That was just one of the things lost in Tartarus. For a second I froze remembering that hell hole. The smell of the salt-water spring in my cabin turned into the rotten scent of sulfur. My parents transformed into the Curses. My cabin morphed into the treacherous slopes of Tartarus. The bunkbeds behind me became the Phlegethon. My heart started beating out of my chest. My palms started to sweat and gods, I couldn't breathe. I felt like I was going to pass out.

Then as quickly as it appeared, it was gone. I returned to my cabin, with the saltwater spring in the corner, and the minotaur horn on the wall. I was still sitting on my bed, with riptide in my pocket. Everything as I left it. My parents were still Iris Messaging me, their apartment the same as it was. Everything was normal… except me.

"Percy, sweetie, are you ok? What's wrong?" My mom stared at me. I couldn't stand to see the concern on her face. It just reminded me of the pain I always inflicted on everyone else.

"Hey Percy? Are you alright?" Paul returned to the table and glanced nervously at my mom. I stared at my hands. There were scars criss-crossing my knuckles that were thick and red. I couldn't look at them anymore, so I flipped my hands over. More scars and bruises marred my palms and fingers. Angrily I clenched my fists, and tried to ignore the wetness in my eyes.

"Yeah. Fine. Please just send the video to Annabeth's email account. It should be on her school registration form." I choked the words out.

"Percy. Please. Talk to us." My mom begged. I didn't want to hear her beg. And I most certainly didn't want to talk to her about my feelings.

"Please just send the video. I'll talk to you later."

"Percy…"

"Just send the video! Okay?! I don't want to talk!" I yelled. My anger flared, and I just snapped. I flinched as I saw my mom recoil.

"I'm sorry…" I whispered desperately, "Please just send the video. I'm sorry." I waved my hand through the iris message and stared at the air where my parents images used to be for a couple of minutes. I felt guilty for upsetting my mom and Paul. Tears blurred my vision, and I bit back a sob. I didn't feel like myself anymore. Snapping at people for no reason, nightmares and flashbacks and visions plaguing me. I wanted Annabeth, but I didn't have the energy to go and get her. Plus, I had been bugging her all week. She probably was irritated with me already.

Trembling I picked myself out of bed, and examined myself in the mirror. I looked terrible. My eyes were red and puffy with bags the size of marshmallows. My hair was messy (but not the good kind). I looked thin and frail with scars everywhere. It was a wonder Will Solace (who had decided to be the Seven's personal nurses) hadn't confined me to the infirmary. As much as I didn't want to go out and socialize, I couldn't stay in this cabin any longer.

Somehow, Riptide seemed to always make me feel safer. The irony was that the sword was only needed in times of danger. Yet, as I swung my sword at the straw target, I could feel the tension in my muscles release. Every swing pushed another worry away and grounded me.

Swing.

I'm here.

Swing.

I'm flesh and bones.

Swing.

I'm real.

Sweat poured off of my body, but I didn't bother to stop and wipe it away. All I knew was that I needed to keep swinging. Soon though, I couldn't breathe. Tartarus had taken a lot of my strength, and I was still rebuilding it.

Slowly, I sat down on a bench in the corner. I capped Riptide, and picked up a water bottle. Shallow breaths wracked my body as I gasped for air. Shakily, I lifted the bottle to my mouth and guzzled the water. It felt good to sit there - alone.

"Its only a matter of time." A voice whispered. I whipped around to search for the body that went with the voice, but there was no one else in the arena. I couldn't have dreamed the voice - no… it sounded way too real.

Warily, I decided to go tell Annabeth.

When I arrived at the Athena Cabin, I found Mitchell sitting on the steps.

"Enter if you dare." He said lifelessly. He looked warily up at me.

"What do you mean?" I questioned. I liked Mitchell. He was only of the only campers outside of Rachel, Will, Nico, Annabeth, Piper, and Jason who didn't treat me like I was a glass figurine waiting to be shattered. Thalia and Grover had started visiting more, and I suspected it was to check up on me and Annabeth. Even the Stoll brothers didn't prank me anymore (although to be honest I was glad about that). Reyna, Hazel, and Frank I had only talked to a few times, as they were busy with Praetor-ing duty, so Mitchell was one of the few I was actually likely to enjoy talking to.

"Annabeth's in a mood. She's been on edge and hasn't even eaten breakfast or lunch today." He sighed, exasperated, "I don't know what to do. I've haven't seen her like this since you disappeared. No offense. I tried to talk to her, but it's like she's not even there." If it was possible to feel any worse, this made me.

"Crap." I ran my hands through my hair, agitated.

"Dude it's not your fault. I mean, you look pretty worn down too." Mitchell stood up, and patted me on the back.

"Don't beat yourself up." His words didn't make me feel any better. If anything they made me feel guiltier. I should have been there for her.

Quickly, I pushed the cabin door open. Annabeth was in the corner sitting on the ground, books surrounding her. Her hair looked like it hadn't been brushed, her face was puffy, and her eyes were blood shot. If it was possible, she looked even frailer than yesterday.

"Annabeth, how bad is it?" I asked her. She glanced up at me, dazed. We had invented a system for how bad our feelings were on a scale from one to ten. One was just slightly bad, five was a panic attack, and ten was either suicidal thoughts, one of us died in a dream, or something to that extent. Ten was used way more often than I would have liked to admit.

"Six." She mumbled. I sat down and scooted her closer to me. She laced our fingers together. We clung to each other like we needed each other to breathe… which I suppose we did.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I gently asked her. She shook her head, so we sat interlocked. This lasted for who knows how long, until she finally spoke.

"I hate it."

"Hate what?" I urged her to continue talking.

"Feeling useless." She looked me in the eyes. It pained me to see how dull they were.

"You aren't."

"I am. I can't do anything for Hazel. I can't do anything for you. I can't do anything to fix this whole SHIELD thing. I've tried Percy. All day I've been looking for the answer in these books. Nothing. I've found nothing." She leaned her head on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry I can't fix this Percy." She whispered.

"Don't be. Not one of us can fix this Annabeth. All of us have to work together. Don't worry about Hazel. She's strong, and they have a good set of healers at Camp Jupiter." I paused and looked down at her. "And Annabeth. You can't fix me. No one can. You can help, but ultimately, I have to do this on my own. And so do you. But we can be here for each other. We can help each other by just being there." I kissed her on the cheek, and laid my head on top of hers again.

"Thanks Percy." She whispered.

"For what?" I asked.

"For everything." She mumbled, as her eyelids drooped and she fell asleep. For a moment everything was okay. With each other we felt safe, so I decided to tell her about the video and the voice when she woke up. Maybe, just maybe, for the first time in a while, we could get a good night's rest.