A/N: Hey, guys. So far I have very few reviews and would really like to get some more. I want to know how I'm doing with this, so PLEASE, ALL YOU PEOPLE WHO ARE FOLLOWERS, I AM GETTING ON MY KNEES BEGGING YOU, LEAVE ME A REVIEW! And my reviewers have my love, as always. Your support and critique keeps me going so this goes out to mumble1029 and volvo611, who have my love for being my first reviewers! You guys are great!]

Annabeth awoke with a start, sitting up fast in bed, her heart racing silently. She brushed absently at the tears on her cheeks, listening to the quiet breathing of her cabin mates until her breathing evened out and she didn't feel the urge to sob quite so strongly. She was huddled under her blanket, but she still felt chills, so she curled up on her side and pulled it up to her chin, closing her eyes.

Just a dream, she told herself firmly, a memory. Memories can't hurt you.

Physically, at least, memories couldn't hurt her. Her heart was quite another story—her heart ached and throbbed like a stab-wound slowly oozing blood. She groaned and brushed at her eyes again.

Luke. She needed Luke. He could always help her when she was like this.

As soon as the thought occurred to her, Annabeth kicked off her blanket and quietly slipped on her shoes, reaching for her Yankees cap. She carefully maneuvered over the books and papers cluttered on the cabin floor, eased the door open, and slipped outside, shutting it softly behind her.

She paused for a moment, listening for the screech of harpies, but the only sounds that came to her was the pounding of her heart and the symphony of night sounds that began at twilight every day. She took a deep breath and jogged over to Hermes cabin. She had done this before, once or twice—snuck into Hermes cabin when she was having a bad night. It never got easier.

She lightly pushed the door open, poking her head inside cautiously. The chorus of snores and grunts and soft breathing greeted her ears in welcome as she took in the dark mass of bodies cluttering the bunks, the floor, in almost every empty space.

Moonlight shone through the cracks and holes in the walls and ceiling, allowing for some visibility as she crept cautiously over a few people, trying to avoid stepping on Travis Stoll's hand or Ethan Nakamura's ribs. She'd stepped on people before, and awkward questions were asked, so she tried to tread with care, especially once invisible. She tip-toed over to Luke's bunk, kneeling cautiously by his bed, resting her hand on his arm as she breathed his name.

"Luke," she whispered. Instantly, his eyes opened, looking around alertly. She had no idea how he did that—how he could go from sleeping to wide awake at a moment's notice. She pulled off her cap, tucking it safely in her pocket, and saw the faint gleam of his white teeth through the darkness as he grinned, yawning and propping up on his elbows.

"Hey, Annie," he murmured. "What's up?" He studied her face in the semi-darkness and answered his own question. "Bad night?" He moved his hand to take hers lightly.

Annabeth knew, logically, it was a gesture of friendship, meant to reassure and comfort her. Nothing more, nothing less. But her heart didn't seem to be in the mood to listen to logic as it thumped, and she felt a flush creep up her cheeks as she nodded, not trusting her voice.

He sat up, getting to his feet, pulling away to shove his feet into his shoes. He took her hand again as he got to his feet. "Come on—let's go for a walk," he murmured, tugging her out by the hand. Annabeth gripped his hand tightly as she followed, not worried about harpies with Luke by her side. She knew he would never let anything hurt her.

They walked along the beach, hand in hand, guided by moonlight, listening to the sound of the waves lapping against the shore. Annabeth closed her eyes, enjoying this blissful sense of peace and warmth inside of her for a moment. When they got to the sand dunes near the forest they laid down behind their shelter and watched the stars. Well, Luke watched the stars. Annabeth was watching the way the star shine and moonlight glinted on his blonde hair and the scar on his face, thinking he looked like a fairy tale character. Or maybe like one of the gods. God of starlight, maybe. She suppressed a laugh at the thought, picturing his face if she ever called him that. Eventually he turned to face her, and she braced herself, knowing what he was going to ask.

"Tell me about it," Luke murmured, still holding her hand. Annabeth closed her eyes and sighed, telling him about her dream, knowing he would understand because they shared the memories and the trauma that went with them. Luke had been even closer to Thalia, so it was probably harder for him. But by the time she finished her recounting she was in tears.

"Shh," he told her, sitting up to pull her into a hug. Annabeth took comfort from his warmth and his strength, closing her eyes as the tears leaked down her cheeks. "It was just a dream, it can't hurt you…I won't let anything hurt you," he promised.

Exactly what Annabeth had told herself. But somehow, coming from him, it sounded more convincing. Something about the way he said it just made it sound more believable. She was able to relax and calm down, and it didn't hurt quite so much.

"Thank you, Luke," she murmured, smiling up at him. He grinned at her, and Annabeth's heart thumped.

"No problem, Annie. I'm glad I can help. Are you ready to head back?"

She sighed. "I guess…" She didn't want to. She wanted to stay out here, and hold his hand, and watch him under the starlight, and enjoy the strange wistful pang of longing she got whenever he grinned at her. But she didn't say any of that. She just stood and stretched. Luke walked her to her cabin, hugged her one more time, then ruffled her hair with a grin and wandered back to his cabin. Annabeth watched him go until he vanished into his cabin, then sighed and slipped into her cabin, curling under her covers.

Her dreams didn't bother her again that night.

For the next several days, Annabeth tried to stay busy. She focused on reading, combat, archery—whatever she happened to be presented with, she threw herself into it. Anything to keep from thinking, remembering, feeling. She didn't want to think, didn't want to feel, didn't want to remember. She buried herself in anything that could distract her, going to bed exhausted every night and doing it all over again with a groan the next day.

She also discreetly kept tabs on Percy. He had shown potential that first day with the Toilet Incident, but ever since he had been keeping a low profile. Annabeth had to admit she was somewhat disappointed. She had just hoped for…more. More from the kid who defeated the Minotaur with no training. More from the kid who could control the plumbing. More from the kid who was supposedly so powerful Chiron himself had gone to investigate him when Grover alerted him to Percy's presence. But now, he seemed to be no more special than any other camper. He couldn't run very fast, he was too scrawny to be good at any kind of combat other than swordplay, he wasn't particularly clever…Annabeth just didn't know what to make of him.

She gave him lessons on reading Ancient Greek, but her heart wasn't really in it. She was often off in her own little world, speculating, calculating, planning. Her mind was constantly working, racing, thinking up new ideas and strategies. She was starting to worry about Capture the Flag on Friday. She had been excited at first, when she asked Percy to join her team and he accepted. Now, though, after watching him get bested at just about everything this week, she was starting to have doubts.

There had to be some way she could turn him into an asset. But whenever someone asked, he insisted he didn't know how he'd controlled the toilets, so she doubted he'd be able to do something like that again. Okay, so what else was there? There was always a plan, always a strategy. You just had to be smart enough to figure it out.

Annabeth spent three days wrestling with this. She got so frustrated she started to blame Percy—it was all his fault. Why couldn't he just be good at something? Then she wouldn't have to work so hard to come up with a way for him to be useful rather than weighing them down. It wasn't until Friday, however, that she finally thought of something. It was right before the game, in fact.

Annabeth was suiting up, feeling anxious and irritable, when she noticed Clarisse and her cronies giving Percy—who looked even scrawnier than usual in his battle armor—venomous looks and muttering to themselves. Quickly Annabeth pulled on her Yankees cap and crept over to them.

"…don't care!" Clarisse was growling. "That punk has to learn that he can't mess with us unless he wants to get messed up. We're going to pulverize him." The others looked annoyed but they didn't dare disagree with their cabin leader, so they muttered "Fine"s with various levels of enthusiasm.

Annabeth followed their angry gazes to Percy, and one word came to mind as she watched him strap on a blue horse-plumed helmet:

Bait.

And just like that, she had a plan.

[A/N: Soooo. Thoughts? How did you like my Chastellan interaction? Did you love it—hate it—want me to put in more or less of it? I always kinda wondered about Annabeth and Luke's relationship cuz it never really explains it that well, in my opinion, so I'm going to kind of explore that possibility in this story, I hope you guys don't mind. I find telling this from Annabeth's perspective surprisingly enjoyable. Do you think I do it well? Am I accurate or way off-base? REVIEW AND TELL ME AND I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER! Keep it real, guys—I'll probably update this every other week or so. That's what I'm gonna aim for, anyway.]

Love always,

Makenna