Annabeth's POV

...I can do this... I don't need him. I could do it... No, I can't...

I sighed. Two hours of flipping books and searching the internet came with fruitless results.

Sure, I found some interesting theories on the matter, but nothing concrete. Some of the witnesses claimed they saw something but I can't be sure. I could ask Percy but he already made it clear that he didn't want to help.

What really intrigued me though, was that they never found the body of the hi-jackers. Turns out, the place wasn't bombed like what I originally thought but it was crashed by hi jacked planes. But oddly, they never found the pilot's body. It was a suicide assassination, so his body must be in the ruble. If there was no pilot, how did the plane arrive? Perhaps by remote control? Or maybe some magical force?

I let my head fall on my desk. This is hopeless.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Annabeth, it's time for dinner."

"Not now, Thalia." I moaned not looking up.

"I know how you feel." Thalia said sympathetically. "I was in your shoes once. Sit up and I'll tell you a story."

I sat up. "Are you going to tell me how your parents died?"

"Yeah. Well, what happened to my mom, anyway. I never knew my dad."

"Oh." I said. "Go on."

"Well, my mom is this famous tv actress. But she couldn't handle fame. She's always pulling foolish stunts and she's always drunk. I remember we used to fight all the time." She paused.

"Then?" I prompt.

"There was an accident. A car accident. It's funny since there were no cars at that time. No witnesses. Just a smashed up car in the middle of the road."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not. I never liked her anyway." But Thalia's eyes told a different story. "Weirder thing was my mom was expecting a baby. I don't know, my mom just told me that my dad was visiting her secretly or something. We were going to name him Jason. She was driving home from the hospital, supposedly bringing Jason home. But after the car crash, he was never found."

"What happens next?"

"Well, I ran away. I tried to investigate on my own. I wanted to know what happened."

"Did you find out anything?"

"Nope. Eventually, I found Luke and somehow we ended up here." Thalia stood up. "Okay, story time's over. Hurry up. Now we are really late for dinner."

A/N Please, please PLEASE REVIEW!