Disclaimer: All PJO characters belong to Rick Riordan.

Chapter Eight

Annabeth

"When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That's the message he is sending."

(Thigh Nhat Hanh)

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Leo was restless. He wouldn't stop moving. While Annabeth put away her crown and dress in a brown sack that contained a spare outfit from Thalia, he sat on the edge of Percy's bed, watching her intently. His fingers fiddled together and his right knee wouldn't stop bouncing.

Overall, he was a nice guy. He hit on her a lot, but many guys did back home, so she knew how to deal with flirting. He talked a lot, cracking jokes that he thought were funny, but really weren't, but Annabeth didn't mind. It was nice to hear something other than Percy's voice yelling at her.

"So," Leo asked, "have you chosen a husband yet?"

Annabeth glanced back at him and found him wiggling his eyebrows. She shook her head. "No," she said quietly. "Not yet."

"Well, too bad it's only princes you can marry," he said, "because I would totally volunteer to be your husband. Do you think if I dressed up like a prince like Percy did, your parents would be fooled and you could marry me?"

Annabeth swallowed. She didn't want to tell him that she had turned down countless suitors just like him. She thought that wouldn't boost his self-confidence.

She heard Leo get up off of the bed and walk over to her. "I'm kind of irresistible," he teased and wrapped an arm around Annabeth's waist.

She was in the palace chapel, walking down the aisle. Her dress was the envy of every girl in the kingdom; long and silk, intricate beading decorating the bodice. A lace veil covered her face. Her blonde curls fell down her back, bouncing with every step she took.

Her heart was pounding and her hands shook. She wanted to run back. She didn't want to reach the alter and give her life to this man. She glanced at her father next to her, trying to send a message through her eyes that she didn't want to marry, couldn't marry, wouldn't marry. But he stared straight ahead, a radiant smile on his face.

She glanced ahead at the alter. And she locked eyes with the sixty-year-old man who's antiquated eyes held a hungry glow as they skimmed her up and down.

Annabeth exhaled sharply and ripped herself away from Leo. Plastering herself against the wall, she sank to the ground and put her head between her knees. She focused on breathing, pushing every other thought out the window.

In.

Out.

In.

"Annabeth?" Leo called out warily. "You okay?"

Out.

"I'm fine," she whimpered. She was thankful when she didn't hear footsteps. She didn't think she could be near him. She didn't think she could be near any man right now. She was glad Percy was gone.

In.

She was scared of being taken advantage of, of being used. She was scared of some of the motives of these men who wanted to marry her. That was the only explanation for what she saw.

Out.

What a stupid fear to have. So many girls younger than her married men decades older than them. They lived the rest of their lives with these men. She didn't have a right to be afraid of it when her people were facing it everyday.

In.

But it was one of her fears. And she needed to deal with it.

Out.

"Sorry," she apologized to Leo, pulling her head out of her knees. "I didn't mean to...freak out."

"What happened?" he asked, ignoring her apology. He sat back on the bed, distancing himself from Annabeth. Annabeth was thankful for that.

She gazed at Leo. His funny, joking exterior had deteriorated. Now, he just looked concerned and curious. Annabeth had never told anyone about her disease. A select few people knew about it: her parents, Piper, and, eventually, her future husband. She didn't want the kingdom finding out and questioning her power to rule. But Leo had seen the effects of the sickness. He would question and wonder about it, probably for the rest of his life. And for the first time ever, Annabeth wanted to tell someone what was wrong with her. She wanted someone to know that her life wasn't as perfect as everyone thought it was. That even blessed people have trials and problems. No one has it easy.

"I'm sick," she told him, keeping her voice low just in case Thalia and Jason heard her from outside. Percy had gone somewhere, Annabeth knew from hearing him run off. She didn't know where and she didn't care to know.

"You're sick," Leo repeated, like he couldn't quite grasp this new fact. "With what?"

Annabeth shook her head. "I don't know. Nobody knows. It's a rare disease. I have a tumor in my brain that makes me see things that scare me. It happens randomly, and I can't stop it without medicine."

She didn't say anything about another problem, one that happened long before she was kidnapped. The hospital that provided her medicine had run out. They were getting more, but they didn't know how long it would take. She'd had a stash of it at the hospital that would last her about a month, but after that was gone, she'd be on her own until another shipment came in, and who knew how long that would take?

But now, she didn't even have that small stash. She didn't have anything to help. She didn't know how long she'd be able to keep this from Percy. She didn't know what he'd do when he found out.

A sudden fear pierced Annabeth's chest. "You can't tell him," she insisted. "You can't tell Percy. Actually, you can't tell anyone."

Leo got up off of the bed and made his way over to Annabeth, who was still sitting against the wall. He crouched down in front of her and held out his pinky. "I pinky promise," he said, grinning.

Annabeth reached out and wrapped her pinky around his. And she smiled for the first time since she'd been kidnapped.

Percy chose that moment to come stomping into the shack. His eyes were red, probably from crying, and Annabeth wondered why. She didn't know he was capable of feeling anything other than pleasure from hurting her. She wanted to ask what was wrong, but she knew that probably wasn't the smartest choice. She hadn't even been here a full day, but she knew better than to call Percy out on his showing vulnerability.

"We're leaving now," he informed her. "Grab your stuff."

He walked back outside to talk to Thalia and Jason. Annabeth scrambled up and grabbed her sack that contained her things. Her hands shook. She was about to go off into the woods to a cabin weeks away from her home with a man who hated her and she hated back. She fingered the small dagger Thalia gave her, wondering if she'd get desperate enough to use it.

Her and Leo walked outside, Leo keeping a respective distance from Annabeth, which she was thankful for. Her heart was still racing from her vision earlier. Right as she got out there, Percy shoved a bag against her chest. With an oomph, she dropped it, and he shot her a glare.

"Careful," he chastised. "That has your supplies for the next week. If you damage anything in there, you're not getting a replacement from me."

Annabeth glared back and shouldered the bag, trying to make it seem like it wasn't a problem, though that was a lie. The thing weighed at least fifteen pounds. But she didn't want to look weak in front of him.

Percy smirked at her. He saw right through her.

"Annabeth?" Thalia called. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Annabeth glanced back at her. Despite the situation, Annabeth liked Thalia. She was nice compared to her cousin. And she'd given Annabeth the dagger to defend herself in case Percy went off on her. So Annabeth walked over to her without hesitation.

"Yeah?" she asked. They were a few feet away from the boys, behind some trees. Annabeth could feel Percy's piercing stare behind her and she had to suppress a shiver.

"Can you promise me something?" Thalia asked. She had a worried look on her face and she kept looking back at Percy. Annabeth wondered why.

"Um," Annabeth said, not sure how to answer. She liked Thalia, but she didn't know if she trusted her enough to promise her something.

"Listen," Thalia gripped her arms and her blue eyes were electrifying. "Percy's had a hard life. He's going through some tough things right now. Just, don't judge him too harshly, okay? He has his reasons for what he's doing. Go easy on him."

Annabeth glanced back at Percy. Their eyes locked, green on gray, and Annabeth felt that same spark she felt the first night. She wondered if she had mistaken what she felt that night for something else. Maybe instead of feeling love, like she thought she had, his hate for her had radiated off of him and into her and that spark had been a premonition for what was to come.

"I'll try," she told Thalia, "but he is my captor."

Thalia bit her lip and looked back at Percy. "Okay," she said finally. "As long as you try."

They walked back to the boys. Percy's eyes never left Annabeth. His stare was fierce and a bit unnerving. Annabeth didn't meet his gaze; instead, she stared at the ground.

"Be careful, man," Jason warned Percy. "You never know what kind of creatures are out there."

"But I'm sure they all fear the great Percy Jackson," Leo teased. Then he turned serious. "Watch out for Annabeth also."

Annabeth's breath caught. No. He promised that he wouldn't tell anyone. Surely, Leo wouldn't go back on his promise, right?

Percy shot him a confused look. "Sure," he drawled. "Okay."

"Wouldn't want our princess getting hurt!" Leo saved, laughing. Percy just shook his head while Annabeth's heart slowed down to normal speed. Quickly, Thalia, Jason, and Leo said goodbye and shot off into the trees. Annabeth's heart sank while she watched them go. Those three being here made it less awkward to be around Percy.

"You better be able to keep up with me," Percy informed her, beginning to walk in the opposite direction than the others took, "because I'm not slowing down for you."

Annabeth exhaled, wondering what she could have possibly done to deserve this. Then she began to follow Percy into the mass of trees.

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Annabeth would rather be tied up in the hut. The sun had beat down on them all day, unforgiving and uncaring, until Annabeth's back was drenched in sweat. Then, when the sun finally went down, the temperature went down with it.

Annabeth suppressed a shiver and leaned a bit closer to the campfire Percy had made. Her chain rustled in the leaves on the ground. Percy had chained her to a tree so she wouldn't run away in the middle of the night. She wanted to laugh when he told her that. The last thing she wanted to do was run off into the dark woods in the middle of the night.

They were eating a small meal of stale veggies and lukewarm water. Percy glared at the ground the entire time, so Annabeth used this time to study him. Thalia's words had bothered her all day. She kept wondering what had happened to Percy that left him like this. She didn't know that something could have that effect on someone. But her sickness had affected her, she supposed. She wondered if Percy had some sort of disease. Maybe he had a tumor in his brain also that caused him to be immune to other people's feelings.

Immediately, she felt bad for thinking that. She shouldn't be so quick to judge. Percy could have something really serious, and here she was making jokes about it. Maybe he didn't even have a disease. Maybe he'd had a traumatic experience in his past that caused him to act this way. In all honesty, she had no idea.

The silence was deafening. She felt suffocated. She was tired of being trapped in her own thoughts and needed to talk.

"So," she started, "do you have a family back home?"

Percy was silent, but Annabeth didn't miss the way he tensed up.

"Any siblings or anything?" she continued. His tense shoulders were making her nervous. Had she hit a sore spot? Suddenly, fear coursed through her, and she prayed that she wouldn't have see any vision or image of her fears right then.

"Why do you care?" Percy grumbled. "What could you possibly gain from that information?"

His tone rose with every word. Annabeth swallowed and answered, "I was just trying to be friendly."

That seemed to make Percy lose it. He stood up and marched over to her. She clasped her small plate of food as tightly as she could and kept her head down as he said in a barely controlled voice, "You and I will never be friends. We will never get along and there's no point in trying. We're from two different worlds, you and me. You're a spoiled brat who's gotten everything she's ever wanted while I've had to work for every single freaking thing I have. So please, for the both of us, stop trying, because you're the last person I would ever want to be friends with."

Annabeth stared at her feet, utterly shocked that he would even think something like that. She wanted to tell him that she didn't want to be friends either, she just wanted to make the best of the situation they were in. She had to bite her lip to keep from screaming at him that she might have a lot of things, but the one thing she wants, she can't get. She could never be healed from her disease. It was a part of her now, and if you took that away, you'd take part of her, and she hated it.

But she didn't say any of that. Instead, she looked him right in the eye and said as calmly as she could, "I hope they catch you. And when they catch you, I hope they kill you."

Oh. My. Gosh. You guys are amazing! I got way more feedback than I thought! Like, I was literally squealing and jumping around on my bed. I was so excited.

Um, I apologize if this chapter isn't as good as my others. I'm a little scatter-brained today. But I'd still appreciate favorites, follows, and reviews!

Next update won't come as quickly as these past ones have. I have to go back to school tomorrow, which completely stinks. The earliest I can update will probably be Tuesday or Wednesday, and the latest, probably next weekend. *sighs* Darn it. I really like writing this, I just don't have a lot of time during the week.

"But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." Luke 35, 36