I am SOOO sorry for not updating sooner! D: I admit I haven't been THAT busy, but my mom keeps telling me to get off at 9 PM, and I get on at eight, and then I'm still writing other chapters for other stories I have, and then BAM! It's 9:28! Well, besides my boring life, here's the chappie you've all been waiting for, peeps!

C-Nuggets N.L: Yea-gasp...you're name's HERE too! Whoa, this is kind of scary...C-Nuggets N.L (there it is!) C-Nuggets N.L (there it is again!) Humor? Why, thank y'all peep! Omg, when I read 'let it rain owls and horses' I fell off the chair yelling, "WHAT? THAT'S GOING TO HURT!" But then...yea...*blush* And, yes! Yes they are! I'm thinking about..mm..either the next chapter, or the one after that, but they WILL learn pretty soon.

ILuveBooks99: Whoo hoo! Yet another person who likes my stories! (turns to guy holding tally chart an marks another tally) Awesome. Kiss? S-soon? Uh, oh...Um...Aw crayola...FINE! I'll see what I can do! :D

The Olympian Scribe: Thank you, thank you. Ooo, I like your name...it's very offical...The Olympian Scribe...Yup, what with those capitals and whatnot...

BreeTanner308: I'M SORRY! I'VE PROBABLY MADE YOU HAVE A HEART ATTACK! (SOB SOB) I'M SORRY! WAIT...IS IT JUST ME OR IS THIS ALL IN CAPS? STUPID COMPUTER!

jahfreenalam: I know, right? Ha, it's almost as if I created them and wrote about their lives huh? Oh...*fake laughs modestly* well, golly! I AM writing about them! Haha...yea, almost forgot there...And yep, Paul w-...hold it...You mean late STEP father, right?

J.F xKalieoki: BRING*pause for breath*IT*another pause for uncessary breath*OOOONNNNN! So are you saying this is good read? Cuz if you ARE, well...Thank you. If you AREN'T, well... um...idk...

meeeethegr8: Dude, I literally had to COUNT the 'e's in your pen name. I was like, whoa, wait a second, hold on, what's going on here? Then I realized there were only 4, so...Oh! Right! Here's 'longly-awaited' chapter 9! :D hope you like it.

filmyfurry: Awesome! Good to know...Yes, interesting...VERY interesting...In this chapter, in Annabeth's thoughts, she thinks Rachel's trying to steal Percy from her, but then I have a small portion of Percy's thoughts that explains what REALLY happened, so, yep.

candy0304: Hey, what d'you think of our two favorite PJO girls? Am I doing a good job?

Liberty Girl In The Sky: Yea, me too, though it WOULD be easier if they were mortals and just happen to find their parents (Athena could be Minerva and Poseidon could be..Dylan, which means 'from or of the sea,' or just Poseidon.) and BAM happily ever after...I like where I'm going with this story. Also, *HINT HINT!* What with this, I might even make sequel with Percy going on quests. *shrugs* Haven't decided yet.

Nyxchick: YEA! I UPDATED! WHOO HOO!

man artemis potter: hm...darn, to bad i updated...then I could be evil...er...Uh, yea! I could be eviler!

Riley Coyote: Haha, i know whatcha mean, happens to me ALL the time, bud. 'No gods'? I thought it said in the summary..hm..I'll have to check that...Oh! Right, cough thing, I'll do that, good suggestion. Yay! I luv Bacon and Dorritos! Yes, yes...Randomness is very humorable...Bacon? Of course! Who doesn't? Canadian Bacon, eh? Hmm...I'll have to try that sometme...Oh! But I found this superly random photo of a chocolate chip cookie (regular home made type) that had a maple cinnamon glaze over it, with a piece of Brazilian Bacon on top of that glaze and the cookie. I wonder if it tastes good...I'll put up a link on my proflie just bcuz I'm random like that later. Deja Vu? What for? Yes indeed, Rambling and Randomness are my specialty..Whoo Hoo! I got a good score! :D (i use WAY too many 'dot dot dot's nowadays.)

ENJOY PEOPRRJRVJh-OW! Crap! My cat all but stepped all over my face and I can't see where I'm typing! tydhnr t (sorry, that was my cat..)

ENJOY PEEPS!


Rachel went up to several of those communication devices where you press a button and talk into the speaker, and her brow furrowed when she tried to pick one.

She groaned and turned back to us, "Crap! I forgot which one is whi—"

"What's on your arm?" I asked, still a little off put from when Percy was sitting next to Rachel in the limo and making jokes with her. I mean, it's not like I'm jealous or anything, no, of course not…

Rachel beamed at me, "Yes! Genius!" Genius? Why thank you; Percy actually tells me that too, but now that I get a second person's opin—hold on…What did I do again?

She pulled back her sleeve and we saw writing on her forearm. She read the messy scrawl (seriously, like, worse than Percy's…and that's saying something) quickly, then frowned again, muttering, "Well darn…"

She sighed, pushing her sleeve back down, "Crap. I forgot that they installed new ones today."

She randomly pressed a button and waited, still pressing. An irritated voice said, "Ms. Dare, how many times do I have to tell you that mine will always be at the far right?"

Rachel blushed and said, "Sorry, Cleo, I forgot that they installed the new ones today."

"Right…" 'Cleo' sighed, "If you need your butler, it's the first one."

Rachel shrugged and pressed it. Her butler answered, "Good afternoon, Ms. Dare, how may I help you?"

Rachel rolled her eyes, "Oh, psh, I dunno Max, maybe you could…hm…open the freakin' gates?"

"I will find someone to do as you say, Ms. Dare," and the butler's voice was gone.

Rachel rolled her eyes at us, "Max…he's always sucking up to me for another paycheck."

The gates opened and immediately a golf cart came up, with some buff guy in the driver seat. When he spoke, I knew it was Max, "Hello, Ms. Dare, would you like a ride?"

Rachel grumbled, already walking away, "Suck up."

We followed her, not knowing what else to do. I mean, does it look like I want to stick around with a buff butler staring at us? I looked around at the enormous mansion and the yard that was at least two football fields long and wide. Well, golly, this makes your average two story house look like a shack. A really pathetic shack, at that.

Okay, I admit it; maybe I'm a little jealous that Percy laughed when Rachel stumbled over her feet in surprise as the golf cart sped past us, super fast at first, then painstakingly slowly, as though waiting for Rachel to start flapping her arms like a chicken and chasing it as she yelled, "Wait! Max, I have your next paycheck right here for being polite!"

Anyway, Percy grabbed her arm and steadied her(growl), but then what he said made me bust up laughing; "Walk much, Butterfoot?"

She looked at him weirdly as we bust up laughing like the idiots we were, until I calmed down just enough to say, "I-ins-si-side j-joke," then I continued.

We kept walking, chortling about something nobody else knew, and occasionally, after we'd calm down, Percy would say vaguely to me, "So…where's my butter-graph?" And we'd go off about that again.

When we approached the huge front doors at last, R.E.D. stopped and said, "Care to explain?"

Percy snickered and said, "It was when we were eight and we were walking out of the market with all our groceries. I'd been teasing Annabeth the whole time we were in there about how her writing was really sucky, and that if she grew up famous, nobody would want to get an autograph from her if it looked like a scribble imitating a fat cow that people would mistake as a self portrait." I stuck my tongue out at him childishly, and he laughed before continuing.

"I was eating a banana and when I finished I dropped it in front of Annabeth, who was carving her name into one of those Smart Balance butter containers—we were eight, give us a break—or whatever you call those things."

I cut in here, "And so when I slipped on the banana peel, I fell on my butt, just like on the cartoons, and I accidently dropped the butter. Percy—being the jerk he's always been—didn't help me up, just kept walking and laughed at me. I got up and tried to jump onto his back as he walked by to tackle him, but my foot was in that little tub-or-whatever-it-is of butter, and it broke open as I fell flat on my face.

"When I got up, to see Percy continuing to walk—"

"I said over my shoulder to her, "Walk much, Butterfoot?"

"And when I looked down at my feet, one foot was splattered with all the butter," I concluded with a snigger.

Percy smirked at me, "Right before we got home I had turned to her and said—"

We said this part together, "'so where's my butter-graph?'"

Rachel laughed and said, half seriously, "You two had a lot of good times together."

Percy smiled, but he looked at me and we could both tell that we were thinking the same thing; if only they could have lasted longer.

When we gave Gabe his dinner, he tasted the smoked salmon we had made and growled to me, "Where's the butter, brat?" I gulped back a whimper and told him shakily, quietly, "We don't have any."

"SPEAK UP, BITCH!"

"She said we don't have any, Gabe!" Percy shouted, pulling me by the arm behind him protectively. "They ran out by the time we got there, but we spoke with the manager and he said they'd have the next shipment by next week."

Percy's voice was so firm, so certain and unfaltering, the large fib sounded like the truth; I was the exact opposite. Gabe had someone go check the market after he finished his supposedly 'stale-because-of-the-absence-of-the-butter' dinner and sent us to our room.

In thirty minutes we were covered with black and blue bruises for lying, and Percy got a cut four inches wide on his right shoulder for trying to protect me several times during the beating. I had a broken wrist and ankle for the fun of it all and around midnight, when everyone was asleep (or totally wasted and screwing someone, in Gabe's case), Percy set the bones for me. It hurt like hell.

I blinked, returning to the present, and grimaced miserably at the memory, looking up into Percy's compelling sea green eyes. As usual, Percy understood, and he turned to a now perplexed red head, saying, "Care to lead us inside?"

She nodded, eager to shatter the tension, and led us inside. I didn't even pay attention to the high ceilings and the fancy stairs, beautiful carpets, intricate vases full of flowers and whatnot; I stared down at my feet impassively, or so I hoped.

Percy tentatively brushed his fingers against mine, wondering if I was okay. I was so surprised by this action, being taken out of my thoughts that I recoiled from his touch. Immediately I felt guilty and looked up to see Percy walking faster to catch up to Rachel. I was about to grab his hand back, but as if sensing me, he stuffed his hands into his pockets and asked Rachel in an amused voice, "Which room does the Queen live in?"

Rachel laughed, "Shut up, Percy, it's not that ridiculously big."

He snorted, "Sure, Rach., whatever you say."

I frowned miserably again, crossing my arms over my chest; we've just met 'Rach.' today, yet Percy's already got his little nickname for her. Fabulous.

I watched as Percy paused and held the stem of a flower in a nearby vase gingerly, asking Rachel what type of flower it was.

I wish Percy was holding my hand right now, but he isn't, and it's all because of me.

I jealously glared at the flower as though it were its fault, until I heard Percy laugh and my head flashed up. He joked around with R.E.D. for a couple of seconds, then as Rachel started up the stairs, he said over his shoulder to me as he followed, "C'mon…she's taking us up to her room."

I pursued them from behind, thinking about how he hesitated. Other times he would throw in a little nickname and instead say, "Catch up, slowpoke, or is Anna Banana having trouble with her Butterfoot?" But he didn't, though I don't know why this bothers me so much.

He turned a little to see me and flashed me a small, reassuring smile like he's always done, and kept going. My heart fluttering, a weird, unexpected happiness filling me at this, I started to catch up.

I wanted so badly to slip my hand into his, but something made me pause. Why was that?

Then Rachel said to him, leading us down the endless hallway now, pointed at another flower, "Hey Percy, this flower's a red tulip; it stands for undying love." She whispered something into his ear, winked, and continued walking, leaving him rubbing his neck sheepishly, his cheeks a little flushed.

And I could've sworn Rachel was moving her hips a little more than necessary for walking.

I glared at the flower as I walked by it. Not even I made Percy blush! And then Little Red Riding Hood comes along and BAM.

Then I realized why I'd paused back at the stairs:

I had competition now, so I'd better watch my back.


I noticed immediately when Annabeth stared down at her shoes and automatically brushed my fingers against hers. She snatched her hand back and I shrugged it off, walking a little more quickly to catch up with Rachel; Annabeth hates Gabe almost as much as I do, but she's mostly just afraid of him, though she would never admit it.

She just needs some time to cool off and accept that we're not going to see Gabe ever again, which means no more abusing.

I put my hands in my pockets, thinking about how my fingers seemed to be burning when they touched hers. I was actually a little embarrassed; what if my hands were all red? Oh worse! What if I was blushing and she noticed! Aw man...

Smirking at how big the 'house' was, I asked teasingly, "Which room does the Queen live in?"

She laughed, "Shut up, Percy, it's not that ridiculously big."

I snorted, "Sure, Rach., whatever you say."

Whoa, what the heck? Where did that come from? I sounded so stupid! 'Rach'?

I spotted this elegant looking flower and caressed it as I asked, "What type of flower is, Rachel?"

She thought about it, frowning, "Um…Crap, lemme think…uh…Gosh, I should know all of these! A friend of mine named Katie Gardner is practically obsessed with plants and whenever I visit her she tells me about a bazillion flower meanings."

I smiled at the flower, "It's very pretty."

"I know, huh?"

"Do you get bored with her when she does that?"

"I make the expression 'die of boredom' look like a fact," she concluded.

I snickered, "Does your expression look a little like this?" I gaped like a fish at her.

She laughed "No! But it's close, I'll tell you that. We're getting sidetracked; I'll take you two to my room."

I followed her and told Annabeth over my shoulder, "C'mon…she's taking us up to her room." I was about to call her a nickname, but I almost tripped over a step right there—Whoa, there I go again.

Jeez!

I looked back to her and gave her a small smile. She's probably thinking hard about something. Knowing her, she's most likely planning on escaping.

I kept going, until Rachel pointed to another flower and told me, "Hey Percy, this flower's a red tulip; it stands for undying love."

Then she whispered into my ear, "Maybe you should give one to Annabeth sometime." She winked and kept walking, swaying a little; she'd told me how much her shoes hurt her feet, which makes me really glad I'm not a girl. Stupid shoes.

This time I blushed; she knew how much I cared—okay, fine, how much I loved Annabeth, I admit it.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that Annabeth is still kept in the dark.