Warning: AU. Unedited. Probably cliche and OOC. Read at your own risk.

Word Count: 2,000+

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO.


PoppyOhare: Aye, Miss!

Harris Karwal: Aww! Thank you!

Guest: Hopefully, I won't! Hehe... I didn't think my style of writing would actually please anyone considering that I don't even think it seems good.

Carmen: :) Thanks for stopping by!

Jessica'BlueBell'Potter-JPBBX: Thanks for reviewing! It really made my day. And yeah, my grammar/spelling is probably like dirt compared to the best writers of my favorite books. XD

MusicalBookworm: Hehe. Yeah, we need more Percabeth here. ;) Thanks for reviewing!

WiseGirl087: Thank you! I'll definitely continue for sure. :)


Annabeth's POV

I stood in front of my locker, yawning as I closed my eyes. I had stayed up a couple hours later than usual to talk with my younger brothers until it was time for bed. By the time I had woken up, they'd already left to the airport in order to get back in time for school. I was so exhausted from play with them, which made me wonder how in the world do those younger people stay up, but it was all worth it anyway.

"Woah there!"

I felt myself leaned forward and I jolted awake, my eyes snapping open in surprise.

"Wha-"

I fell into a pair of strong arms and I looked up to meet a pair of concern sea-green eyes. My eyes widened and I scrambled out his arms as I composed myself.

"What's going on?" I asked, alarmed as I made sure to distance myself between Percy.

He crossed his arms. "Nah uh. I'm asking the questions here. Are you getting enough sleep?"

I raised my brow and yawned. "Yeah, why?"

He rolled his eyes at my not-so-hidden attempt to convince myself. "You almost fell."

"Almost, but I didn't."

He gave me a hard look. "Just don't let it happen next time." And with that, he strode off to the next class.

I blinked as I shuffled to class. I must be really out of it, I thought and sighed. Note to self: Get enough sleep or you will be walking around the whole day like a zombie or worse... a carrot. But carrots can't walk, you may protest. Exactly, I say back. Exactly.

I definitely need some sleep.


I walked out of my last class tiredly. I was grateful when the last bell rung, signaling the end of the day. I was happily making my way to the exit of the school when my vision blurred as I stepped around the corner of a hallway (do hallways have corners?) and crashed into someone.

"Ouch! Watch it," my somewhat least favorite person from my group of friends growled.

I blinked rapidly. "Sorry! Sorry! I didn't see!" My vision finally cleared and I saw Calypso glaring at me with her arms around her book.

"Well open your eyes and look. This isn't some place you can just walk around and expect to not run into people," she snarled.

Recoiling back, I frowned. "What is up with you? Why do you seem to hate me so much?!"

Calypso laughed bitterly. "Seem to hate you? Oh no... I do hate you, very much. Do you want to know why?" She took a step closer to me as I raised my brow in a challenging manner. "You are stealing the one thing I've wanting to have these past years."

My mouth opened a little as I stood there, confused.

She took in a breath. "If you knew what's best for you, I'd suggest you stay where you are with Luke." Calypso turned around and left, her footsteps getting fainter as she headed to the exit.

Just when I thought it was all over, a new voice called out to me.

"She's got a problem, doesn't she?" the new voice from, surprise, Drew Tanaka smirking as she leaned against the wall, looking perfectly beautiful with her flawless face.

I blew out a breath. "Yeah, that's correct. Why are you here?" I questioned, not trusting her one bit.

"Oh, you mean Luke didn't tell you?" Drew looked at me in shock.

"Tell me what?"

"I'll be working with you guys on your team." At my look, she went to further convince me. "Code black."

To say I wasn't surprise would be a complete lie. There was no way I could deny that she wasn't with us.

After a couple seconds of silence, I said, "Welcome to the group, Drew."


The next day...

It was a sunny day, a bright one in fact! The sky was blue, the clouds were white, and there seemed to be nothing that would dampen the mood. I felt more calm and collected as I strolled through the school building.

I could help but stop when a I heard a group of girls screaming about something on their phone. So being the curious minded, I started to eavesdrop.

"Have you guys seen this?!" A blonde girl shrieked to her friends as she pointed to something. "Like the news just released the like, newest stuff one Rachel's murder!"

One of her friends, a red haired, gasped. "Really?" She skimmed over the screen and her eyes widened. "That's so sad! They still haven't found out what kill her, what if we're next?! I can't die! I have so much to live for! I'm doomed!"

A green haired girl, who seemed to be the sensible of the two, rolled her eyes. "Quit with the dramatics, Hailey, I doubt who ever the killer is, he wouldn't even care about us."

"Yeah, you're probably right, Stace," the red head, Hailey, sighed. "But why would the killer kill Rachel Dare? She isn't even that pretty to begin with."

"Looks isn't everything, Hails," the green haired girl said. "She must've gone too close to something that she shouldn't have known. The killer found out, watched her like a crazy stalker, waited for the right moment, found that right moment, and BAM! She's dead. Plus, why would a killer be called a killer if he or she didn't kill?"

Both the blonde and Hailey looked at their friend in horror as the bell rung, signaling everyone the beginning of another period. I hurried to my class with a couple of thoughts. Who was this Rachel? Why haven't I heard of her? And how did she die?

Never before had I wanted to know more about this person. I had this feeling in my gut that there was a specific reason why she was important; I needed answers, and I know just the people to ask.


I didn't catch Silena during lunch so my only luck of finding her was right before class. I remembered her locker was down the hallway, on the left, and right next to Beckendorf's locker. I found her there, as I had expected, getting ready for her next class.

"Silena!" I greeted.

She grinned at me. "Hey, Annabeth! How's it going? You know, with lover boy?" Silena winked.

I rolled my eyes as I smirked. "Luke is not a lover boy and to answer your question."

"I totally believe you," Silena said, not believing me the least bit. "Anyway, what's up?"

"I've actually been meaning to ask you a question."

"Go on." She looked at me curiously.

I went on to explain about the girls, what they were talking about (leaving out Rachel's name), and how I wanted to ask if she knew. Silena didn't speak the entire time, just nodding as I talked.

"So do you anything how this girl was killed or who she is? I think one of the girls said Rachel... Dare?" I pretended to struggle with the last name as I looked straight at Silena, waiting for a sign of recognition or a reaction.

Not to disappoint, there was. Silena immediately paled and her mouth opened, then closed. She struggled for an answer as I waited patiently.

Finally, she answered, "I can't really tell you."

"Why?"

"I shouldn't be the one to tell you, Annabeth. It isn't my story to tell-"

"Fine. I'll just get someone else to tell me then," I said, even more determind.

She sighed. "Annabeth, you can't! No one will tell you even if you tried!"

"Why not?" I asked.

"Haven't you heard on the news? No one knows why she is dead. Not even the FBI could find who murdered her! But you can search her up on the internet if you want, I just can't provide you any useful information about her."

I nodded. "Okay. Thanks, Silena."

"No problem!" She was about to leave when she turned around. "Oh, and Annabeth?"

"Hmm?"

"Try to keep out of trouble, for your sake and mine."

I laughed. "Can't promise anything, but I'll try."


As soon as I got home, I went onto my laptop. I clicked onto one article that was the first to be made about this.

Written by A. Paulo's News of the World

This evening, a witness had reported that there was a mysterious hand coming out of a bush on a local park's woods and went to check it out. The witness, preferring to be unknown for the time being, said that the pale hand was not moving when she called out from in front of the bush. She said that she tried to pull out the hand but it was stuck from BEHIND the bush and went to call the authorities. The woman told us that after waiting twenty minutes for the police to arrive and pull/cut the bush around the hand. She tells us that what she saw was like something from a terrible horror movie.

The authorities have told us her family is grieving and offers no clue of how she got say that her body looked like it had been carelessly tossed it the bush. Miss Dare's appearance was frightening, as seen on the pictures, with her neck cut opened, definitely not by an animal. 'It was too clean to be a animal,' said Officer Peanuts. 'But it DID give a clue to the polices that she was dead for over and hour.' Overall, what concerned the authorities the most was not how the body was placed in its area, but it was how she was killed.

Another article stated everything about Rachel. As I read more and more articles, I couldn't believe how hard this was for the authorities. I forced my self to look at the gruesome picture of Rachel's wrangled body. I analyzed the picture closely, inspecting every inch of her I could possibly see through the photo.

Her head looked fine with just a few bruises, and her arms were also norm- no, wait. I looked even closer to my laptop's screen as I traced out a design from the slashes on her. When I was done, I knew who had done this. He had always left a marking on every kill he made. Even when it didn't look like much, like a bunch of random curve lines, it meant a great deal to anyone who knew.

On Rachel's arm was the greek symbol for Omega. The end.


{2/24/17}