Disclaimer: All PJO characters belong to Rick Riordan.

Chapter Seven

Percy

"The world tends toward chaos, you know...I'm just helping it along."

("The Beginning of Everything" by Robyn Schneider)

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She was insufferable. She was infuriating. Percy didn't know what he was thinking when he kidnapped her. Her words kept on echoing in his mind.

That's really low, even for you.

Percy spit on the ground. She had no right to tell him that what he was doing was low. His sister was dying. His family was broke. His whole world was falling apart while she sat around at the palace doing what? Arguing with her parents about marriage.

Percy leaned against a tree. He was a good thirty minutes away from the shed. Thirty minutes away from Annabeth and her big gray eyes that made Percy question whether he was doing the right thing or not.

Was he doing the right thing? That was the question on his mind. Was it right to take someone away from their family as if they were nothing more than the money they were being held captive for? Percy hated Annabeth – there was no denying that, but no one deserved to be taken from the only world they've ever known in exchange for money. Does a good, pure motive justify the crime committed? Percy was scared of the answer.

And another thing Annabeth had said bugged Percy. She had told him that the money he had asked for, the hundred thousand gold pieces, would cause Olympia to go bankrupt. He had only asked for that much to ensure that his family would have enough money for the years to come, as well as for doctor's visits and medicine. But if demanding for that much money meant that he would tear other families apart because of bankruptcy, was it worth it?

Yes, Percy assured himself. Yes, it was worth it. His family was worth everything.

A picture of Annabeth flashed through his mind. Not one of her in the shed, battered and broken, but one of her at the palace, the night of the ball, laughing and smiling. Happy. Maybe her family was worth everything to her too.

Percy glared at the ground and took off running, not sure where he was going. He just needed to get away from the princess, had to get away or he would explode into tiny pieces of fear and determination. He ran until the ground beneath him fell away and he was flying in the clouds, high above his problems.

He arrived at the back of his mom's house. She lived against the tree line, and although Percy would never admit it, he sometimes climbed up a tree and watched his family through the window, wishing he could be apart of it. That night, they were all gathered together in the living room. His mom and Paul sat next to each other on the couch, Paul eating his dinner and his mom patching up a hole in one of his spare shirts. Macy sat on the ground, playing with her doll, as always. It was the only toy she owned, Percy was pretty sure.

They looked so happy and content. Percy wanted nothing more than to be there with them. He hardly ever let himself break down, even if no one was there. Crying would do nothing to help the situation. But at that moment, Percy let a tear slide down his cheek. He wished he hadn't chosen the life of a criminal. Sure, it was fun and exciting, but he'd never get to know quiet nights spent inside with his family. He'd never get to experience walking around the town and causing trouble with Macy. He'd never get to threaten her first boyfriend, or sneak a bite of stew from behind his mom's back, never get to go to work with Paul and provide for them like he should. He never got to before, and he'd especially never get to now that he had kidnapped the princess.

Macy opened her mouth and Percy heard a faint scream coming from inside. He watched his mom and step dad hurry from their places at the couch and sit on either side of the toddler. His mom hugged Macy to her chest and Paul stroked her hair and whispered soothing words that Percy couldn't hear from outside.

His heart hardened from watching them. Whether he regretted it or not, this was the life he had chosen and it wasn't going to get any better. He had to do what he had already started. He'd do it for Macy.

Quietly, he slithered out of the tree and ran back to the shed.

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Annabeth was already asleep when Percy got back two hours later. He had taken his sweet time, leisurely strolling through the woods and managed to turn and hour's walk into a two hour's one.

Annabeth was curled up right where he'd left her: in the middle of the room. Her pile of puke was still next to her, though she'd wisely scooted over a couple feet to escape the stench. Her chest rose and fell rhythmically and her eyelashes fluttered. Her cheeks were wet, which told Percy she had probably cried herself to sleep.

He quietly walked around her, collapsing into his own bed. Thalia and Grover had told him they'd stay with Thalia's brother in town so that they wouldn't make any trouble with the princess. Percy strongly suspected they just didn't want to get involved in case his plan didn't work. He thought their friendship was stronger than that, though when your life is on the line, friendship kind of flew through the window.

Percy watched Annabeth as she slept. Not in a creepy, stalker-ish way, he just wanted to study what she looked like when no one was looking.

She looked innocent. If anything, she looked innocent. A small smile teased her lips, which Percy didn't understand. Shouldn't he plague her nightmares as the man who kidnapped her? Why was she having good dreams?

He let out a small, frustrated sigh and rolled over, facing the wall. He pushed all thoughts of the girl on the ground next to him out of his head, and let the sound of the wind through the trees lull him to sleep.

It felt like only five seconds had passed when Percy was violently awoken by pounding on the door. With cat-like reflexes, he jumped out of bed and ran to the door just as the person on the other side yelled, "Wake up, Perce! I wanna see our princess!"

Percy rolled his eyes and opened the door to find Thalia's electric blue eyes staring him down. She stormed past him and immediately started studying Annabeth, who had been woken up by the pounding on the door also, just not as quickly. She stayed sitting on the ground, unable to get up due to her bound hands and feet and studied Thalia with her calculating gray eyes.

"How did you do it?" Thalia asked Percy.

"Where's Grover?" He ignored Thalia's question.

"Over at my place still, snoring loud enough to wake up Atlantis," a voice said and Percy whirled around to find Thalia's brother, Jason, and his best friend, Leo.

"Dude!" Percy exclaimed as him and Jason hugged. "I haven't seen you in forever!"

Sure, Percy passed between the two boys' houses to get in and out of the kingdom, but he rarely actually saw the guys. The last time he had talked to Jason had been a couple of months ago, even longer since he'd talked to Leo.

"Thalia told us about what happened," Jason explained when Percy asked why they were here. "We couldn't believe it."

"Didn't know Percy Jackson was capable of doing something this big," Leo added, "and could succeed in doing it."

Percy glared at the Latino boy and shoved him. Leo and Jason were both younger than him by only a year, but Jason acted older than him and Leo acted years younger.

"Excuse me," Thalia interjected. "Let me repeat my question: how did you do it?"

Percy started explaining how he had sneaked into her room and taken her once she walked in. Annabeth glowered at him from the ground, but he ignored her.

"Wow," Jason said once Percy was done. "Do you think the guards will find us?"

"Of course they will," Annabeth said, just as Percy said, "Of course they won't."

"They might," Jason argued. "We are pretty close to the kingdom."

Percy scoffed. "Please. They can't possibly think that a girl like her could survive for long in the woods. She's too weak and fragile."

"Right here, you know," Annabeth piped up, annoyed. Percy shot her a glare that he hoped conveyed, shut up.

Leo, who was crouched on the ground next to her, wrapped an arm around her and backed her up. "Yeah! She has ears that can hear."

Annabeth elbowed him and he toppled over in pain.

Thalia grinned at Percy, who had his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. "I like her," she stated, gesturing to Annabeth. "Pretty and fierce."

Percy rolled his eyes. In a lame attempt to change the subject – he wasn't fond of his friends' immediate liking to his enemy – he asked, "So how are things in the kingdom?"

The three others were quiet. Percy got an uneasy feeling in his stomach. What could be so bad that they were wary to tell him?

"The guards are searching everywhere," Jason finally spoke up. "They're raiding houses and basements, tearing people out of their homes. Everyone is a suspect. And they haven't stopped since they discovered that she was missing. Soon they're going to start searching the woods."

"Wait," Annabeth said. "Exactly how long ago was I kidnapped?"

"Counting today," Thalia answered, "three days."

Annabeth shut her mouth and stared at the ground as the information that she had been unconscious for the majority of those days sunk in.

"They're going to find her eventually if you keep her in the shack," Jason continued.

"Well, what are you suggesting?" Percy asked angrily. "That we move her? Where?"

"Anywhere but here," Jason said. "Maybe even another kingdom. If you two stay here, then the guards are going to find her and your going to be arrested and put in prison."

Annabeth harrumphed, "Good."

Percy turned and shot his best death glare at her. He was getting sick and tired of her comments. She needed to learn to keep her mouth closed. Isn't that what he told her last night? He wasn't sure how much more he could take of her smart mouth.

"Shut up, Wise Girl," he muttered. The nickname surprised him. He hadn't meant to call her that. It was kind of a lame insult, anyway.

Annabeth, the infuriating girl that she was, raised an eyebrow. "Fine, Seaweed Brain," she shot back, her gray eyes penetrating him. Her gaze told him that he could kidnap her, but she wouldn't put up with his rules.

Thalia looked between the two and gave Percy a questioning look. He ignored it. "You could go to the cabin," she suggested.

Percy's eyes widened. "No," he said immediately. "No. I'm not taking her there. That's nearly a two weeks walk from here. Too far."

Of course, that wasn't the real reason he didn't want to go. That cabin was built by his dad – his real dad – for his mom when they were Percy's age. He had been there a few times, when he was younger and his mom dared to sneak out of the kingdom and travel there with him. The cabin was full of memories not only for his mom, but for him. Memories of a father he never knew. Just the thought of taking a girl he hated there was too much. It would be like showing her a part of him that he'd rather keep locked up and buried.

"Percy," Thalia said in a gentle voice, "that's why it's such a good spot. It's so out of the way, out in the middle of nowhere. It's perfect. The palace guards don't even know there's anything out there."

Percy knew she was right, even though he hated to admit it. It was a perfect spot. And as much as he hated going over there with the memories tucked into every nook and cranny, he would rather go there than risk getting caught. If he got caught, he couldn't help his family, and family came first.

"Fine," he gave in. He looked over at Annabeth. She was still in her dress, which was now ripped and snagged at the hem. She couldn't travel in that without it falling apart at some point, and he didn't want to travel with a girl in just her birthday suit.

"Get her some clothes," he instructed Thalia, nodding his head towards Annabeth. She walked over to the crates stacked in the corner and pulled out a pair of slacks and a shirt. Then she crouched down and cut apart the binds around Annabeth's hands and feet.

As she helped Annabeth to her feet, Thalia glanced back at the three boys. "Get out," she demanded. "I know you guys wouldn't mind, but I don't think Annabeth wants to strip down in front of you."

Percy's, along with Jason's and Leo's, cheeks turned red and they filed out of the shack.

"So how are you going to get supplies and stuff while traveling?" Jason asked. "It's not like you can carry two weeks worth of food on your backs."

Percy thought about this while leaning against a tree. Food would be easy. He could hunt animals and there were many edible plants along the way. Water would be harder. There were ponds and streams here and there, but he knew from traveling there before that they would have to stray a bit from the water sources in order to get to the cabin. And what were they going to do for matches for fire or extra clothes?

"One of us could ride down and meet you guys halfway," Leo suggested. "They could bring food and water and anything else you guys might need."

Percy and Jason both stared at Leo. This was the first good idea he had come up with ever. Usually, his ideas were outrageous: running down the streets naked while screaming random things at the top of their lungs as a distraction so that one of them could steal something, or letting a tiger loose in the streets so they could rob the bank and give the poor people their money back (though where they would find a tiger was a mystery to them all).

"Wow, Leo," Jason said.

"That was actually...intelligent," Percy agreed.

Leo shrugged. "My madness is genius," he replied. "You guys just never realized it until now."

Jason clapped his hand on Leo's shoulder. "And you just ruined it, buddy," he said sadly. "Sorry."

Percy laughed at Leo's pouting face and Jason joined him. They only stopped when Annabeth and Thalia came out of the shack.

Turned out, Annabeth was Thalia's exact size. The slacks hugged Annabeth tightly, showing off her curves and muscles. The white shirt was loose and partially tucked into the pants, the black tank top showing underneath the shirt. Her hair was still down and falling over her shoulders. Her face was pale and her hands seemed to shake slightly, probably from lack of nutrition, but she still seemed so strong, like she could go months without eating and still have the strength to stand.

Percy realized he was staring and scowled. Jason and Leo were openly staring and he didn't blame them. She was a princess after all. Even if she was annoying and had a smart mouth, she was still pretty. It was, like, in the princess handbook.

"Where'd you get that?" he asked, just noticing the sheathed knife hanging loosely off her hip. He didn't remember her grabbing the knife off her bed when he kidnapped her.

"I gave it to her," Thalia answered. "Figured if a girl was going into the wilderness with a guy who hated her, she probably needed a weapon to defend herself."

Thalia stared at both of them. Since when did Thalia offer help to someone who had grown up with everything just a snap of her fingers away? And why did she give his prisoner a knife? Didn't she realize that Annabeth could use that to hurt him and escape?

Annabeth shot him a sweet smile. "Don't worry," she said. "I'm not going to attack you. Unlike yourself, I'm not fond of hurting people for no apparent reason."

Thalia disguised her laughter as coughing. When Percy turned to glare at her, she mouthed, good luck.

Anger boiled inside Percy. He would not be a laughing stock. This girl had no right to make fun of him. He wanted to set her straight, but knew it would do no good. Instead, he said, "Annabeth, get back inside the shack. Leo, go watch her."

Leo, who seemed overly excited about the job he was given, hurried over and wrapped an arm around Annabeth's shoulders and guided her back inside. She shot Percy disgusted look before ducking inside.

Percy turned to Thalia and Jason. "I'm going to go see my Macy," he told him and darted off into the trees, wondering how him and Annabeth would get through the next two weeks without killing each other.

He sure hoped the ransom would get paid soon.

I don't know about this chapter, guys. It was kind of a filler chapter. The next one they start their journey, so that should be exciting. But anyway, what did you guys think? Can I get to 55 reviews? I know that's kind of a lot for one chapter, but you guys are amazing! Maybe, if I get enough feedback, I'll try to update again tomorrow. Maybe.

"But if anyone obeys His word, love for God is made complete in them. This is how we know who we are in Him: whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did." 1 John 2:5,6