Disclaimer: Don't own.

Chapter Ten

Annabeth's eyes met with sea green eyes and she felt her heart pound faster and faster in her chest as she looked at them. It sounded so sappy but there was a familiarity in those eyes that made her feel comfortable, that made her feel wanted.

"Sorry," he said, his voice smooth and rich. He stood up and then offered Annabeth a hand which she gladly accepted. He helped her up.

They stood there, staring at each other for a moment, grey eyes meeting green, storms meeting sea.

And then Annabeth stumbled to make out some words. "Sorry, it was all my fault I wasn't paying attention to where I was going," she said, nervously pulling at her dark blue skirts.

"Neither was I," the man said, grinning. His smile was slightly crooked, she noticed. Not badly but she liked it. It gave him character. "So I guess we're both at fault."

"I guess we are," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "So what are you going to do about it?" She asked. The man smiled at her.

"Offer you a drink," he said. He leaned over and ladled some punch into a glass and then presented it to her with a valiant bow at the waist which was so smooth and fluent it made Annabeth want to smile back at him. She didn't know that people still did that anymore. "For you my lady," he said.

"Thank you my good sir," she said, curtsying to her best of her ability.

"Annie!" Thalia said, running up to them. Annabeth mentally cursed her best friend in her mind. Way to ruin the moment. Thalia seemed to have skill at doing that. Coming in at exactly the wrong moment. Thalia stood in front of the two of them, studying them both. "I see you've met my cousin."

"He's your cousin?" Annabeth asked, pointing at the man. "I never would have guessed, he has much better manners than you do Thals."

Thalia snorted. "That's a first, usually people are complaining about how annoying he is."

"But you know if I was in your position I would introduce two people who don't know each other," Thalia's cousin pointed out.

"I agree with him there," Annabeth said, interested in the man's name. He seemed so familiar but also not at the same time. Was that even possible?

Thalia huffed in annoyance. "Whatever, Annie meet Perseus, Perseus meet Annie," Thalia said, waving her hands in the air. "There, now everyone knows each other. Come on Annie let's go," she said reaching for Annabeth's arm.

"Actually Thalia, I was just about to ask her to dance," Perseus said. Both Annabeth and Thalia's eyebrows shot up.

"You were?" Thalia asked.

"Of course I was, that is if she wants to," Perseus said. Annabeth smiled at him.

"I would love to," she said. He held his arm out for her and she accepted, tucking her own arm in the crook of his own. Thalia huffed in annoyance.

"You're just going to abandon me?" She whined at Annabeth.

"Yep," Annabeth said. Here was her chance.

This was her chance to do something she wanted to do. And nothing was going to stop her.

"Fine, don't do anything stupid you two," Thalia said angrily.

"You worry too much cousin," Perseus called over his shoulder as he led Annabeth onto the dance floor. The music that was playing was a waltz and thank the gods for those few dance lessons back in High School Gym class.

"So your name is Perseus," Annabeth said, trying to strike up a conversation. For someone so good with words, she had trouble coming up with conversations when she was face to face with someone, especially when that someone was extremely good looking and was dancing with her. Written word failed her now.

"Mhmm," he said as he spun her around.

"And your cousin's name is Thalia," Annabeth commented.

"I don't know, I prefer to call her pinecone face," Perseus said, smirking. Annabeth snickered.

"I'm assuming that's because she got stuck in a pinecone tree when she was younger," Annabeth said. Perseus's eyes twinkled. Annabeth liked the color of his eyes, they reminded of her of the sea. There were multiple layers to them, you couldn't tell exactly who he was.

And then of course there was the black mask which didn't exactly help.

"You would assume correctly."

"So did your parents have a thing with Greek names or something?" Annabeth asked. It honestly had been a question she had been wondering for a long time.

"I think the Greek names just come with the territory, I mean her dad's name is Zeus and mine's Poseidon so I guess it's kind of implied that you have a Greek name when you're born into the family. Personally I suspect that they have a long list of baby names and each time one of us is born, they cross out a name."

"Or maybe there's a big book of Greek baby names," Annabeth teased.

"Yes that's it. Brilliant! I mean how else would they come up with all these names?" Perseus asked.

"Mother's intuition?" Annabeth suggested.

"That's what my mom said about me. She named me Perseus because Perseus actually had a happy ending in the Greek myths."

"Ah yes the faults with the Greeks. They really enjoyed their tragedies."

"I know, what's with everyone dying. Honestly why can't they have a happy ending every once and a while? Would it kill the gods to just let the mortals live or something?" Annabeth felt his hands touch her waist and he lifted her up and spun her around. Her dress spread out as he spun her.

She felt light headed.

Was this what it felt like to be a princess? Get a grip Annabeth she scolded herself, but she couldn't help but grin as he set her down. One of her dreams had been to get spun.

"No, they were just writing about reality," Annabeth said, solemnly. "Life isn't always about happy endings."

Perseus's eyes grew soft. "I know what you mean. I've had my own share of hardships in life." There was something in his eyes, something in the way he looked that made her believe him. He had gone through something... something big, just like she had with her step-mother.

"Hey but at least we'll be the strong ones in the end. When it really comes down to it all, we'll be prepared for the really hard times. Others won't be. So I guess we should be thankful," Annabeth said. Perseus looked at her with a strange look in his eyes.

"That sounds familiar to something I heard once," he said. "I read it somewhere."

"You read?" Annabeth said, mocking shock.

"Of course I read," Perseus said indignantly. "Why would I not?"

Annabeth shrugged. "Oh I don't know I would have pegged you as having a brain like sea weed. Hey I like that!" She grinned. "Seaweed Brain!" She laughed. Perseus glowered at her.

"And how did you come up with that nickname?" He asked.

"Well your eyes are like the sea and…" she paused. Gods that sounded too embarrassing. Oh I thought your eyes were like the sea and beautiful and they make me want to swoon. "I don't know it just sounded like a good name."

"Well I don't think it does," he said indignantly.

"Even better," she said, grinning.

As Percy spun the girl whom Thalia had called Annie around the floor, moving in time with the waltz (thank the gods for those few dance lessons back in High School PE class) he couldn't help but smile. And it wasn't the classic smirk that he had worked on perfecting for the cameras; it was a Percy Jackson honest smile.

And he didn't want to stop smiling.

There was something about her, maybe the way she talked or the way she moved, or the way she seemed to think about everything she said. Her conversation wasn't filled with big, meaningless vocabulary made to make her look smart, it was simple and straight to the point.

It was familiar.

When the music stopped playing, Percy and Annie stopped, Annie placing a hand lightly on her chest, breathing in and out hard. "Gods, I am out of shape," she said, grinning.

"Join the club, I keep telling Nico that we should go to the gym but then I realize that actually means working out," Percy said. Annie gave a snort which was highly un-lady like. On any other girl it'd seem out of place, but when Annie did it, it made him smile.

"Nico? Who's that? You're dog?" Annie asked.

Percy turned to look around for him. "I don't know, he doesn't really bear any resemblance to a dog," he said pointing to where Nico was slouched at the table with their friends and now Thalia. He was giving Percy a 'please save me' sort of look.

Annie put her hands on her hips and contemplated him, she shook her head. "No, he's definitely more of a cat." Percy nearly choked. Did she just compare Nico di Angelo to a cat?

"What do you think they're talking about?" Annie asked, looking at the group of young adults in their mid twenties.

"Probably talking about us," Percy said. He liked the way that sounded, us. It was one of the small words that his mysterious letter writer had talked about. There was an importance, a beautiful mystery in the word us. It was a commitment, it was a promise. He didn't want to use the word us with just anyone. He wanted it to be with the one.

And for some reason, Annie didn't make it feel weird.

Annie let out a groan. "Uhg, I don't want to go over there. I don't want to go hear Thalia and all of her fawning over me and how I finally danced with a guy."

Percy gave her a curious look. "How many times were you asked?"

"I lost count after four," Annie said, a small blush creeping up underneath her silver mask. For some reason that statement made Percy feel special, he was the only one to dance with her for this whole night and surely she'd been asked by plenty of handsome people.

And he didn't want to go back and have to share her with his friends. Call him selfish but he didn't want to.

"Then let's not," he decided, grabbing her hand.

It fit perfectly in his.

"What do you mean 'let's not' it's not like we can just disappear into thin air," Annie said, waving her hands in the air.

"Sure it does," Percy said, grinning. He led her into the massive crowd of people, starting to dance to the next song. Sometimes Percy wondered how these people were still upright with how much dancing they did. He was sure they'd wear out their shoes.

Or break a few ankles with the size of heels some of the ladies were wearing.

They ducked underneath arms, dodged between skirts, and slipped through partners, all the while creating a ruckus throughout the dance floor. When they finally came out on the other side of the dance floor near the two large doors that lead to a balcony, Annie was laughing, her hand still tightly secured in Percy's. "Gods we've probably made a bunch of people think we're crazy," she said, brushing away one of her fallen curls from her hair.

"What's life if we don't do something crazy every once and a while, if we don't do anything unexpected?" Percy asked. His words were almost similar to what his letter writer had told him back at Goode High. Annie got a curious look on her face.

"Come on then," Percy said, ignoring it. She'd probably just been thinking about what he was saying. He led her outside into the cold night air. The stars were bright up above, shining down on the two as Percy led her to the back of the balcony. They seemed to twinkle up above as if they knew something, as if they knew fate was playing out right in that moment.

It was the perfect night to tell stories.

Or to create new ones.

There was a little bench in the back of the balcony near a small staircase which led down onto the lawns. "Clever," Annie said as she collapsed onto the bench and kicked her heels off. "I hope you don't mind," she said. "They're positively killing me. I don't know how I got talked into wearing them."

Percy picked one of the shoes up and studied it. "I'm surprised they didn't kick you out for carrying a weapon," he joked.

"Oh please," Annie huffed. "If you think those are bad, you should see half the shoes in there."

"I did, I think a few even stepped on my feet," Percy said, wincing. Annie laughed.

"You poor baby," she said sarcastically.

"I'm glad you finally noticed," Percy said, widening his eyes. "No one else seems to see just how hard it is to be me."

"Oh because it's so hard," Annie said rolling her eyes. Percy was about to respond but he saw her hand slowly creep up to where her neck was. In the darkness, barely lit by a few select torches he could see the outline of what looked like a bruise. It was faint and most people wouldn't notice but Percy had grown used to identifying bruises, a skill he wished he didn't have.

"What's that?" He asked, reaching out to touch it. Annie swatted his hand away.

"It's nothing, I'm just a clutz sometimes," she said dismissively. She reached up and unpinned her hair, letting it tumble down in long curls, kind of like a princess, Percy thought. She looked at the hairpins and then shrugged. "Guess I don't need these," she said, tossing them over her shoulder and onto the lawn.

With her blond hair untamed and wild around her shoulders, Percy thought she looked like a princess who was fighting it, who didn't want to admit it. He liked it. She was too smart to play princess. He bet that when she was little she played doctor or teacher instead of playing princess.

But that wasn't to say every girl needed a Prince Charming. Even if she herself didn't know it.

"Well then we can get rid of these as well," Percy said, shrugging and grabbing her shoes and tossing them over his shoulder. Annie squealed.

"I need those Seaweed Brain!" She screeched. "I can't go back without them!"

"Well what are you going to do about it?" He asked.

"Make you go and get them," she huffed. Percy grinned and headed down the stairs. But he wasn't planning on giving her back her shoes anytime soon.

Annabeth watched as Perseus headed down the small staircase onto the dark lawn. She peered over the railing of the balcony, her blond curls hanging down and framing her face. "Did you find them?" She called to him.

"I don't know, I could use some help!" Perseus called. "It's pretty dark down here!"

"That's what you get for throwing my shoes!" Annabeth huffed indignantly but secretly she was pleased… and maybe a little bit giddy. She hadn't felt like this since she was kissed in the seventh grade (which looking back on it was an experience she wanted to forget… badly).

Perseus disappeared for a moment under the balcony. "Are you okay?" Annabeth called. She was hoping that there wasn't anything bad under there… or worse… spiders. She shuddered at the thought. "Seaweed Brain?" She called. When he didn't respond Annabeth let out a huff of anger. Leave it to a boy with sea weed for a brain to get lost.

Picking up the hem of her skirt she made her way down the staircase. Underneath was pitch black as she walked through, her bare feet cold in the grass. "Perseus?" She asked. "Where the heck are you?" The dark seemed to close in around her, something so small seeming so big. She shivered as she looked around, her eyes trying to adjust to the dark.

She felt something brush up against her arms and she screeched. She heard Perseus chuckle from behind her as he put his hands over her eyes. "Is someone afraid of the dark?" He asked, his warm breath tickling her ear.

Annabeth spun around and punched him in the shoulder. "Don't do that again!" She said.

"Ow… that kind of hurt," Perseus said, massaging his shoulder. "You have a decent punch… for a girl," he added to the end. Annabeth scowled at him and in the dark she could barely make out his two sea green eyes sparkling. "Why did you screech?"

"You could have been a spider!" She said matter of factly. Perseus laughed.

"You're afraid of spiders?" He asked.

"Of course! They're devils!" She shuddered at the thought of the little beasts. "They're just unnatural… I mean they're not actual insects because they don't fit all the requirements such as…"

"Okay, okay I get it," Perseus grinned. "I didn't come here for a science lecture. I got enough of that in high school."

"You didn't go to college?" Annabeth asked, curious. Who didn't go to college?

"Nah, wasn't really my thing. I have ADHD and Dyslexia so I can't exactly focus very well in class so I decided to skip it. I mean I didn't really want to major in anything and I didn't want to become a doctor or a teacher so why bother? I mean who would honestly want me to teach their kids? I can barely remember who discovered America."

"Techincally it's up for debate," Annabeth said. "Some would say Columbus but others would say the Vikings and some would say…"

"It was a figure of speech," Perseus said.

"Oh… sorry I do that a lot," Annabeth admitted, blushing. Perseus laughed.

"So what about you? You go to college?" Perseus asked.

"Can we finish this outside of a place that could be infested by spiders?" Annabeth asked. The sooner she got out of here, the more comfortable she'd feel.

"Oh come on I'm pretty sure that Zeus would make sure there's no spiders under here, but if it makes you feel better." The two headed out from under the balcony. They found a spot under one of the large trees on the lawn that dwarfed them in comparison as they sat down underneath, their backs against the bark.

"I went to UCLA," Annabeth said. "It wasn't my first choice but it was good enough to get my bachelors in Language Arts. I'm got on an exchange program to NYU so I could get my master's. I start up next fall."

"Why did you come to New York right now, you have almost a whole year before next fall," Perseus asked. Annabeth shrugged.

"I just wanted to come back, I lived in New York when I was younger." What she wasn't going to tell him was that she jumped at the chance to get away from her step-mother, to get away from her past. She didn't want to live like that again. She wanted to follow her dreams and be who she wanted to be. "I'm working at a bookstore right now to pay for my rent and everything. It's not a lot but it's not like I'm feeding a family of eleven or something."

"I'd hope not," Perseus grinned. "You'd be like the little old woman who lived in a shoe. Except you're not old… little maybe but not old."

"Hey!" Annabeth said indignantly. "I'm not little!"

"Oh come on, you're like what sixteen?" Perseus joked.

"I'm twenty five for your information! And I'm five foot eleven! Last time I checked I was abnormally tall!"

"But you're still shorter than me which makes you little."

Annabeth huffed in annoyance and crossed her arms. Perseus grinned at her. He poked her in the side. "Oh come on Wise Girl, you know I didn't mean it."

"Wise Girl?" Annabeth asked, her heart stopping for a moment. How could he know her pen name on Writer's Corner? She hadn't told anyone what is was, not even Thalia. And she told Thalia everything. Well except for the problem with her step-mother.

There were some things too deep, too close to your heart that you just couldn't share with anyone, be it a name or a memory or bruises on your body.

"Of course, you seem too smart for your own good," Perseus said. "And if I'm going to be a Seaweed Brain then you better be a Wise Girl. You can make up for my lack of brains."

Annabeth laughed.

Never before had someone made her laugh like Perseus did.

Percy grinned at Annie as she leaned back against the tree next to him, her eyes closed, hiding the stormy grey clouds. He didn't know what possessed him to call her Wise Girl but the way she talked, the way she formed her words was so much like the girl whose story he had been reading and so he thought: why not?

"So what do you do for a living? Or are you like Thalia who just lives off of her dad?" Annie asked him. He grimaced at the mention of his father. Poseidon still had yet to actually publicly claim that the Great Percy Jackson, the American Heart-throb was his son.

Talk about parent problems.

"Unlike Pinecone Face I actually have a job," Percy said indignantly.

"Oh yeah? What is it? Tasting different icecream flavors," Annie said, cracking an eye open and looking at him. Percy crossed his arms.

"For your information Wise Girl, I work with music," he said.

It technically wasn't a lie. "Really?" She asked. "What do you mean?"

"I'm the great Percy Jackson," he said but in such a way that it sounded ridiculous. Percy had found it easier to tell the truth but to make it sound like he was deranged instead of actually serious. It was far easier to keep track of your stories. So whenever anyone asked he'd jokingly tell them he was Percy Jackson. After all, Percy Jackson looked so different on camera than Perseus did.

Annie snorted. "Sure you are," she said, rolling her eyes. "What do you work at a record shop or something?"

"Or something," Percy muttered.

"Don't you wish that you were Percy Jackson though?" Annie asked. That caught him off guard. "I mean why can't we be famous, why can't we be what we want to be? Why do people like Percy Jackson get to have it all while we're stuck working at small stores in New York barely scraping by?" She sighed and tilted her head upwards, the light from the moon and stars glowing on her face.

"I used to think when I was little I'd actually be famous, well not famous, I want to be remembered. I want to be important. I want to change the world. But I can't change the world if I never get the chance can I?" She asked.

"I used to wish on every single falling star I saw, which wasn't that many, I'd toss pennies in the well, I'd blow on dandelions but I guess it didn't work. I guess that dreams don't come true," she snorted. "I used to tell someone not to give up, I told them I wouldn't give up. But I guess I have." She sighed. "Is it worth it? Is the wishing, the dreaming worth it?"

"I used to think it was. But maybe it's not. I've tried everything but it always seems like I'm getting hurt. But I don't know. What else can I do?" Her voice was bitter as she spoke.

Percy stared at her, his heart pounding. Her words were familiar.

They were the ache he felt in his heart.

It was him.

Here he was sitting next to a girl that understood him, who spoke his mind. There was something about her.

And without knowing what he was doing, he leaned forward. Taking her chin in his hands he pulled her so that she looked straight at him, he leaned close to her. "You keep dreaming," he whispered.

And then he pressed a soft kiss on her forehead.