Please enjoy this update before school ties us up and attempts to murder us again.

"Are you out of your mind?" Annabeth yelled, staring at me as if I had just told her I was moving to Siberia.

After Rachel had called and I had spoken to Paul about going to New Hampshire, my mom and Annabeth hadn't returned home until night had fallen. It probably wasn't the smartest thing for me to do, or maybe I was just being a coward, but I had waited until late night to tell Annabeth what was on my mind.

Annabeth had gotten her clothes back from her dorm and she and my mother had managed to drive home safely despite the icy streets. My parents had already gone to bed and I was sure it was past midnight when I had started telling her about the phone call with Rachel as we sat in my room. We had just been talking at first and everything was fine. Annabeth looked truly concerned as I told her about Rachel's break down.

The second I had even mentioned Rachel asking me to come to New Hampshire or the fact that I was thinking about it, Annabeth had done a three hundred and sixty degree flip with her mood. She looked outraged, nearly crashing noses with me as we stood.

And here we were. I took a deep breath. "Just hear me out," I tried to say. "Rachel can't handle the monster attacks by herself, it's not possible-"

"I'm not questioning the fact that Rachel needs help," Annabeth said, cutting me off heatedly. "I just can't believe you would even think about seriously going up there."

"Why not?" I asked, feeling a tinge of annoyance that wasn't there before.

"Why not?" Annabeth repeated incredulously. "There are more than a hundred reasons why not, Percy! It's not even safe for you to go. We don't even know what this is yet; camp needs to know before you try to handle the monsters yourself. Besides, it will be impossible getting out of the city-"

"Paul has a way to avoid the road blocks," I argued. "He said he'd take us."

Annabeth looked bright red. "Why are you so anxious to go see Rachel anyway?"

I blinked, staring at Annabeth for a second to make sure she was serious. "Are you kidding?" I asked, almost laughing. "She's being attacked by monsters coming straight out of the Underworld, Annabeth! I'm asking you to come with me."

Annabeth turned her head, staring at my desk up against the wall.

I exhaled. "Look, I'm asking you to come with me. I can't do this alone. I don't understand what the problem is with both of us going up there to take care of the things that Rachel can't do alone."

I knew Annabeth wanted to suggest that we send someone from camp, but I had a feeling that she knew as well as I did that it would be a bad idea. Getting the gods or other demigods involved might have made it more dangerous for Rachel. The situation was too delicate. I didn't know what was making Annabeth angry, but I knew that she wanted the best for Rachel. Despite Annabeth's initial dislike of Rachel, she had grown to like her ever since Rachel became the Oracle. But, as I stood there in front of Annabeth, I couldn't help but feel like her annoyance with the red head was coming back. It was something I couldn't understand even for a second.

Annabeth moved her eyes, looking directly at me. "That's not the issue," she said

"Then, what is?" I asked, praying she'd be straightforward with me for once. I had to admit that Annabeth hadn't been easy to talk to these past few days between her conversations with her father or her dreams of Luke.

Annabeth stiffened. When our eyes locked, it was like electricity was sparking between our gazes in the heat of the moment. "I don't even know what to think anymore," Annabeth said, suddenly. As she spoke, she rushed her words, getting angrier by the second. "One minute you're talking to me and the next you're worried sick about Rachel. What was Nico saying anyway about her being your ex-girlfriend?"

"What?" I asked. The memory of the when Nico had accused me of being too worried for Rachel, calling her my ex-girlfriend came to me slowly. "Nico doesn't know what he's talking about. We never dated, Annabeth."

"Did you guys ever kiss?" Annabeth kept her eyes fixed to mine, a bunch of different emotions I couldn't recognize were swirling around in gray irises.

The heat rushed to my face quickly and I felt like Annabeth was being the most unreasonable she had ever been. "You never bothered asking that before," I told her, as calmly as I could manage. "Why is that suddenly so important now?"

"Because I never knew you liked her that much," Annabeth accused. Her voice was rising, there were equal sparks in both of our eyes.

"I don't like her!" I said, matching her tone. "I like you, Annabeth. You're my girlfriend."

"Well, you're not making it any easier for us by doing all of this."

As I stared at her, a type of anger suddenly flared up inside of me. I thought about how Annabeth had been pushing me away lately, locking me out. She barely let us kiss anymore and anytime we were alone we were either talking about our worries of Nico and Rachel or arguing like we were now. I was doing my best to keep everything running smoothly, but Annabeth had been complicated lately. "I'm not making this easier for us?" I asked, disbelievingly. "The last time I checked, Annabeth, I was the one who was still telling you what's my on my mind."

The last thing I wanted to do was explode out about everything I was feeling, giving Annabeth more to stress about between all the things that were already wrong and whatever she wasn't telling me. But, it was as if something inside of me had finally lit the fuse and I couldn't take it anymore.

Annabeth crossed her arms over her chest tightly, keeping her eyes on mine. "What are you talking about?"

"You act like you don't want us to date anymore."

A wave of expressions crossed over Annabeth's face. It was as if she was just realize for the first time that this might have been the way I was feeling. "I can't believe you would even think that," she said, angrily. "Just because I'm going through-"

It was my turn to cut her off. I spoke over her, our voice cancelling each other's out in the intensity of the moment. "You haven't been telling me what you're going through! You're mumbling about Luke in your sleep, Annabeth, and the only think you have to say about it is that you don't want to talk about it."

She stared at me as if she couldn't believe I had the nerve to bring up his name, and I felt like it was a sensitive subject for her all over again. "Luke has nothing to do with this- with us."

"You obviously have a problem telling me about it," I said, raising my voice to match hers.

I had a feeling Annabeth was digging her fingernails into her arms. When she spoke, her voice was loud and shaky. "Percy, Luke is-"

She stopped midsentence, catching herself with whatever she was about to say. "Luke is dead, Annabeth!" I said, not realizing how harsh it sounded.

We were past screaming now. I didn't care what time it was or if we woke up the entire apartment building.

Annabeth was about to say something, when someone knocked on my bedroom door. Annabeth took in a sharp breath, and we both suddenly realized how loud we had gotten. I turned, trying to burry my anger and emotion of the fight as I called, "What?"

The door opened, revealing my concerned step father in the doorway. He was wearing his pajamas and he squint his eyes, obviously disturbed by the light. "What's going on?" he asked. "It's nearly two in the morning."

Both Annabeth and I stood in our places, not speaking. There were a million thoughts rushing through our minds and different emotions surging through both of our veins. Annabeth met my eyes, they were still fired up like mine, and a sharp look seemed to pass between us just for a second.

Without another word, Annabeth shoved past me, straight out into the hallway where I could hear her heading towards the bathroom.

I knew our argument was over no matter how unresolved it may have been. Taking in a breath, feeling the same anger, I walked straight out of my room, past Paul, to go to the couch.

…...

It wasn't surprising that I couldn't sleep that night.

I lay on the couch, the cushion under my head feeling too stiff, staring at the dark living room surrounding me. The light in my room had gone off a while ago and I knew Annabeth was trying to sleep the same way I was.

Finally, sighing, I threw my blanket off, sitting up and holding my head in my hands. I had always known that fighting Annabeth was a terrible feeling, but it never felt as bad as it did now.

I stood up, walking to the kitchen in the dark. The tile under my bare feet felt bitterly cold as I searched around for a glass, filling it up. Sipping the water, feeling the cool substance going through my body, usually calmed me. I leaned against the kitchen counter and for the first time that night my anger seemed to fade as I breathed.

I flashed back to a very strange memory from a year ago; it was something that I thought I had forgotten long ago. Annabeth and I stood on Half Blood Hill after returning from the Labyrinth. Back then, there was so much I wanted to tell her, much I needed to say to her but I couldn't work up the courage. Annabeth had walked away without looking back.

Tonight wasn't much different from that feeling on Half Blood Hill. I wanted to talk to Annabeth but she wasn't letting me in.

I wanted to tell Annabeth how much I cared about her or exactly how much she meant to me and always would. This winter I had planned on us finally being able to kick back together and forget about all the post-war tension. With us snowed in together, I expected us to be closer than ever, but the opposite was happening and I didn't have control anymore. I felt like Annabeth was growing distant even though she was just a few feet away from me down the corridor. The feeling hurt.

In the dark, I didn't realize when the water in my glass had begun swirling around like a miniature whirlpool. I loosened my grip around the glass, pouring the rest of the water down the drain before returning to the living room.

As I sat back down, there was another worry on my mind. I thought about if Rachel had left her dorm tonight or if she could hear monsters growling outside her windows.

When I really thought about it, I realized Rachel had been giving me as much to think about as Annabeth had tonight. Rachel was easy to talk to and an escape from all the tension. But, I didn't know what she was thinking a few months ago when she was being just at complicated. She had walked away without giving me any time to hold on; it was the story of our life. I thought about how Rachel had called me a distraction now that she was the maiden Oracle or the way she had turned her back on me as we stood near the hearth at Olympus. I didn't know how Rachel had done it, but she had broken up with me before we ever officially dated. I had never thought about it before, but I couldn't help but feel a little sad.

The hollow feeling in my chest didn't leave when I tried to close my eyes, lying down. The exhaustion from all the worries and all the hurt seemed to take over when I let my dreams invade my thoughts.

That night I dreamed that Rachel was walking on her campus, towards the library. I wanted to tell her to watch out, to be careful, but I was nonexistent in the dream. The sense of a monster was vividly prominent around her.

I only heard Rachel's scream as my dream blurred. The next thing I knew, the monster was tearing Rachel apart. Its claws dug into Rachel's flesh as she tried to kick back.

Blood trickled, staining the scene. Rachel's punching and kicking barely scratched through the creature's scaly skin.

I felt like the Rachel in the monsters grasp seemed to drag on forever, playing itself over and over again. The next things seemed to happen in slow motion in my head.

Just for a while, the monster flinched back upon being swung at across the face by Rachel's hand. Rachel took the opportunity to run away as fast as she could.

The monster was faster.

It plunged at her.

I woke up abruptly, nearly sitting up. The morning sun was peaking into the living room through the heavy curtains. It was early dawn and I rubbed my eyes, knowing right then that I wasn't going to be able to get to sleep again.

Before I could think about what I had just dreamed, there was another thought congesting my brain. Horrible memories of just a few hours earlier filled me. My first thought that next morning was of Annabeth.

I hope this chapter was interesting and enough drama-filled. :) For questions, comments, or concerns please hit the review button below and I will be sure to reply. Your words will definitely motivate me to squeeze in a few more updates before school. None the less, I will do my very best to update soon.