Chapter Eleven

Percy

Percy stretched and turned in his bed, shoving his face back into his pillow. The heat of the day had crept in during the early morning like some kind of sadistic wake up call, and it appeared to be here to stay. Percy had no desire to confront life, especially his life, so he squeezed his eyes shut with all his might. Slowly those stupid rays of sunshine carelessly pried open his eyelids and he had no choice but stumble out of bed. He almost tripped over the pile of blankets on the floor and some colorful words slipped out in ancient Greek. He knew he hadn't left those there…

He groaned aloud when he remembered his guest who had taken off during the middle of the night. He had vaguely heard her come back at some point earlier in the morning but didn't have the patience to deal with it. As far as he was concerned, as long as she wasn't bursting off the property or killing people, he was making progress. Essentially that's about ten steps up from where Annabeth originally was; so he's as far as he's concerned, he's a very successful rehabilitator.

He rolled out of bed with a groan and curiously sniffed at his t-shirt. He hadn't been wearing it for that long, just three days, but it smelled atrocious. He flung it off carelessly, chucking it into the pile in the opposite corner of the room. He looked briefly in the mirror over his dresser before freezing. He could just barely spot the full length mirror across the room and he saw something he hadn't expected. He stumbled backwards, trying to get closer while still being able to see. Right in the center of his back was a massive owl, and not a cutesy one either; it had massive wings outstretched to where they brushed the bottoms of his shoulder blades. The bird was in mid screech, and its talons were in mid strike. He swallowed nervously as he ran his fingers over the newly inked skin. He had no memory of getting it, hell he hadn't even noticed. It seemed like Annabeth wasn't the only one with a forced tattoo, and that was something that definitely needed to stay under wraps, it wasn't exactly helpful to his image, or his control.

He hurriedly yanked a t-shirt over his head, carefully stopping himself from staring at the marred skin. No one could know about this. It just wasn't an option. He scanned the room in a rush, as if someone could possibly be hanging around a corner just waiting to reveal how messed up he was. He needed to get it together.

He found himself looking in his mirror for a long time, wondering when he got so old, and when those dark circles showed up, and when he got so exhausted. He couldn't remember.

He was standing like that when a coarse voice called in from the door way.

"Done preening yet Jackson?" The snarky voice called out.

"Look Clarisse, I know you haven't looked in the mirror in ten years but that doesn't mean the rest of us break them too." He sneered back at her. Even though he and Clarisse were on better terms than they had been a few years ago, their conversations were still sharp and occasionally nasty.

"You're such a child, and Chiron wants to see you and your skank for your assignments sometime before breakfast." She sighed, quickly getting bored, mostly because he always won, but she kept her natural bitchiness at full force.

"Jeez Clarisse, take it down a notch, you've never even seen her." He sighed, skank was exceedingly harsh of a label and the term "Jackson's skank" wasn't exactly helpful to the situation at hand.

"Sure I have, I was around when she and Luke left, she was young but we all saw how she had him wrapped around her finger, I know she was the one who convinced him to leave." Percy paused for a moment, wondering if it was true. He hadn't heard that version from Grover or Chiron, but that didn't mean it wasn't reality; he wouldn't put anything past Annabeth. It was definitely food for thought, but at the moment, he just need to get these rumors minimized quickly and efficiently.

"Just cool it with the "skank" alright, this isn't easy for anyone, but she's not going anywhere." His conversation with Thalia had made him realize that he had to get used to having Annabeth around and find a way to make it work.

"Wow Jackson, crumbling so quickly? I thought it would be at least a week before you got soft. Do you need me to handle her? I bet I could get her to feel remorse quite quickly." The absolute insanity in Clarisse's eyes was a bit concerning, but she was an excellent fighter and he had relied on the madness more than once in the thick of it.

"Just go, and try to be less of a psychopath for like five minutes, will you?" He dismissed her casually, and could sense her rolling her eyes at the back of his head as her headed into his bathroom.

"Fine Jackson, but don't forget you have a snake at your heels." She called casually as she closed the door behind her.

"I won't." He answered, too quietly for her to hear as he looked at his reflection again. He wondered if it was as obvious to everyone else as it was to him, how destroyed he was.

...

Raven

"Where were you?" Jackson snapped the moment she walked in the door. Luckily Raven didn't give a shit about his concerned father act, especially considering he was neither of the two. She breezed by him with little concern about her bedraggled appearance or his protests.

"Went on a run. Now, if you don't mind I'm going to go hop in the shower, stay the hell out of the bathroom." She called over her shoulder. A shower sounded like heaven right then, especially since she would be in easy reach of razors. It never hurt too know that she had a weapon on hand.

"Do it later, we have to go see Chiron." He grumbled something else under his breath and grabbed her arm to pull her out the door. She shook him off; she didn't need anyone else to lead her around.

…

"Wait a minute, okay." He called just as she reached the door. There were still little flecks of her blood on the wood but she could barely feel the sting on her hands. She was very used to ignoring minor aches and pains.

"What?" She growled. She had very little patience left for this buffoon. She needed to get out as soon as possible. Her shoulder twitched slightly but she focused on minimizing the movement.

"I just want to make this clear. I know you've heard it from everybody else and this doesn't change anything. I still hate your guts." He started dramatically, fidgeting slightly since he had the maturity and self-esteem of a twelve year old.

"Spit it out." She snapped, tapping her foot. She needed to be doing something right now or she would implode.

"I won't touch you." He said as if it was some major declaration.

"What?" The word fell from her lips without a thought and she found herself lost again, which had happened more in the last twenty four hours than in her whole life beforehand.

"If I ever touch you inappropriately you have my permission to claw my eyes out." He seemed uncomfortable at the declaration, but sure of himself at the same time. She saw it for a moment, that innocent, naive chivalry and decency. For half a second she saw why everyone talked about him as if he was the good hearted hero. Her shoulder tingled slightly as if the tattoo was agreeing with his statement. It was a strange sensation, closer to the feeling you get when your hand has just started to fall asleep than anything really pleasant.

"Good to know." There was a heavy moment where both of them waited for the other to speak. This was the most sincere that they had ever been to each other and it left them both on edge. "I appreciate the gesture, but I still despise you, Jackson." She reminded him and herself. That was all it took for that brief flicker good to fizzle out and he was back to the arrogant ass he always had been.

"Please, I give it a week." He scoffed, all bravado and arrogance. He smirked as if he knew something that she didn't.

"Excuse me?" She growled, she didn't know what it was exactly he was implying, but she didn't like any presumptions he could possibly make about her.

"Annabeth, Percy, please come in so we can begin." Chiron called down to them suddenly from the porch and they both looked at each other briefly before filing in.

…

The meeting was awkward to say the very least. She felt like common practice probably shouldn't have been to stick war criminals on fluffy love seats but it was a very efficient way of ensuring that she couldn't stand up and make a break for it with any degree of speed. Jackson lounged comfortably in the arm chair beside her, looking decidedly comfortable in the space. It figured that the golden boy spent all of his time basking in his glory.

Jackson noticed her staring and glared at Raven for a moment, challenging her to look away. She didn't. Just like the animal kingdom, the first one to break eye contact was always the subordinate one. Jackson with his animalistic pea brain must have sensed it as well because he held her gaze with the same level of intensity. The air crackled with tension and it seemed to thicken as if it were a syrup.

"He-hem" Chiron cleared his throat with all the delicacy of a horse, which wasn't too far off from reality. "You're both aware what the purpose of having you here is, but you will not be a burden Annabeth, you will pull your weight. I'm expecting you to teach a class in order to help pay off your debt to society." The centaur gave her a stern look, as if she was supposed to feel guilty. She didn't, not even for a moment. She smiled back at him, her eyes tightening into her raging bitch expression.

"I'd love to teach a class, I can tell you right now what the subject would be- how the gods couldn't care less if we live or die." She spoke with a saccharine tone. Despite her panic this morning, she was still strong and he walls were never going to get any weaker.

"I had much more of an artisitic goal in mind." The centaur countered, his face showing a lack of amusement.

"Weaponry and sword fighting it is." She smirked, if he gave her a weapon she would be out of here so fast.

"Beginners painting." He continued as if she hadn't spoken. Her amusement flagged when she saw that he was actually serious.

"Are you insane?" She snapped. She was a strategist, she had a brain, and she wasn't going to be dumbed down to teaching some children how to pronounce "palette."

"I've heard it can be very therapeutic and some of our younger campers have requested a class for their level. You will be teaching it." She looked back and forth desperately between Jackson and Chiron, hoping someone would budge. She supposed that she could resist and refuse to even show up, but Jackson would just invoke her shoulder's spell, not to mention, she couldn't imagine what the alternatives were to this job. This might have been demeaning, but at least she could keep her mind occupied. Anything would be better than being trapped with Jackson all day.

"Fine, I'll do it." She sneered at the both of them but Chiron seemed satisfied.

…

The pair walked out of the Big House in silence. Neither was willing to let their guard down, even for a little while. Jackson cleared his throat and peered at her out of the corner of his eye as if he was assessing an unwieldy horse.

"Don't worry, it's Leila's class, I'm sure she'll help you pick up the basics." His words might have sounded kind to the casual observer but Raven could make out his sarcasm clear as a bell.

"I know how to paint Jackson." She sneered. She didn't have any patience for him anymore, but at the same time, there was some kind of comfort in the fact that she could always rely on him to be an asshole. Everyone needs something to rely on. She supposed she could rely on him being a dink.

"I meant on how to not terrify children." He sneered back at her. He seemed to be embracing her humiliation with gusto.

"Children like me just fine." She argued back and it was true. She had spent plenty of time around children when she was taking care of Hunter. She wondered for a minute how her favorite toddler was doing, and felt a little nauseous at the realization that she might not get to see him for a really long time.

"Don't worry, they'll learn to hate you soon enough." He smirked as if he might be kidding, but his green eyes were as hard as emeralds. She glared back for a moment until she realized where he was leading her.

"The dining hall, really Jackson?" Was he absolutely brain dead? She hadn't heard a worse idea in years.

"Well we had to skip dinner last night because you were being a brat, and I'm hungry." He stated matter a-factly, and the way he didn't even bother to look if she was complying was a smack in the face.

"You do realize that everyone up there hates me correct?" She wondered if he had actually forgotten the fact that she was a prisoner of war. Shouldn't they be delivering food to her cell?

"I'm well aware." He said coolly. Apparently they had moved past fiery hatred and were going for callous disdain. She could appreciate it.

"What the hell happened to that flicker of chivalry from earlier?" She hissed. The asshole had finally shown a smidge of decency with his allowance earlier, and now he was sending her to the wolves, unarmed no less.

"I'm not a rapist, that doesn't mean I care about your comfort, Annabeth." He snapped, and that seemed to be the boundaries he had set for himself. He could still embrace his cruel twisted nature and be able to look in the mirror to do his hair. She didn't exactly have a good response, so she focused on what she could argue.

"Raven." She corrected coolly.

"You're still harping on that?" He looked back at her incredulously.

"Yes." There were some things that she couldn't give up on and this was a battle she had already decided she would win.

They finally had walked far enough for the Dining Pavilion to be in view and Raven felt a little bit sick to her stomach. Every fiber of her being told her to not walk into this den of lions. The odds were definitely not in her favor the moment she surrounded herself with a pack of campers.

"Come on," He said, irritation seeping into his tone. She saw his refusal to budge in his face and squared her shoulders. She supposed that breakfast might be worth a little risk.

…

Percy

Grover was already sitting at Percy's usual table when Percy finally succeeded in herding Annabeth into the Dining Pavilion. As he guided her towards the table the space slowly fell into silence as the room took in the girl. He scanned his campers, assessing their faces, many of which he knew just as well as his own. Most had looks of hatred, looking as if they might slaughter the girl at that very moment. Others looked apprehensive, as if she may slaughter them all at any given moment. Very few didn't react, and an even smaller amount seemed to not know what was happening, those were the best in a way. It was hard to imagine the camp's gossip channels failing to hit every camper.

Percy sat down beside his friend and met the other boy's jittery expression with a steely one of his own. The other boy cleared his throat before looking across the table with a little bit of awe and quite a bit of fear. He had to remember to keep Grover as far away from Annabeth as possible.

"So how are you?" The satyr blurted the question out and Percy peered at him in disbelief. Annabeth on the other hand just looked bored and angry, but that just seemed to be her face.

"Just peachy." She sneered and it made her face wrinkle in weird ways. For an "esteemed soldier," Annabeth didn't seem to look very healthy. There were deep bags under her eyes and her skin seemed unnaturally pale. He hadn't recognized her from that night on the mountain because her hair was lighter then, even though it was mid-summer and should've gotten paler, it was now a few shades darker. He wondered for a moment how much time she was forced to spend inside preparing a strategy for what would ultimately be her own destruction.

"You remember how this works right?" Grover tried again eagerly, he had gained so much confidence in the past couple months, and this girl had succeeded in destroying it in two days.

"Yup." She popped the 'p' so she could drag out the last syllable long enough to roll her eyes. She really was such a bitch.

"Can you try to be civil to other people or is that just too difficult for you?" He snapped, she might be a little brat but he didn't have the patience for her cruelty with Grover.

"Civility implies civilians." Yup, and there was that militaristic brainwashing peeking through. It was good to know that the reason so many of Kronos' troops had no moral compass was because he had beaten it out of them.

"No one is fighting you Annabeth. We can all be friends here. This could be a good opportunity for you to start over." Grover switched tactics drastically, his features softening as he put his hand on her arm. She stiffened and her face was painted with uncertainty. It seemed that Grover had discovered the way to get through to her- pretending like he cared about her.

"He's right Annabeth, we all make mistakes and you need to try to move on from yours." Percy chimed in; apparently he should've kept his mouth shut because his words yank Annabeth out of her momentary trance.

"Can you stop talking to me like that? You're both acting as if you're my parents." She snapped, brushing Grover's hand off of her arm and glaring alternately at the two of them. It seemed as if he needed to back off from the direct approach for a little while.

"Hmm… speaking of parents, do they know where you are?" He asked carefully, trying not to wig her out. Thalia mentioning his mom last night had reminded him of the crucial fact that even hags had parents.

"No." She tensed and he realized that he may have found a sore spot. "Why do you care?" She averted her eyes, staring down at the empty plate in front of her. He caught Grover's eye, who looked apprehensive. He knew he had to tread very carefully here if he wanted to make actually progress. She might be a murderer but this was still his duty.

"I don't know, um, I know my mom freaks out when I'm gone for a long time." He shared honestly, he could just picture Sally's face when he told her that he had decided to stay at camp year round.

"How cute, a mama's boy!" Annabeth laughed cruelly, wrecking any façade of compassion,

"You can be a harpy all you want, I just need to know; should your parents know where you are?" He clenched his hands, it was so difficult to be decent around this girl.

"Nope." She popped the final syllable again and cocked an eyebrow to challenge him.

"Fine." He sighed, it wasn't even nine yet and he was exhausted just from being around her.

Campers started to file up to the fire as their plates filled. Percy lifted his own plate by habit and started to walk forward before he remembered to watch out for his terrible charge. She was stubbornly sitting down with her arms crossed. She had flipped her plate over so there was no place for the wood nymphs to put the food.

"Not hungry?" He asked, it wasn't like he really cared but he couldn't exactly have her passing out at inconvenient moments.

"I'm not sacrificing anything and your nymphs seem to know that I don't like them." So it wasn't about the food, it was about the sacrifice. Too bad for her. That part of the meal was not optional.

"I don't think the nymphs know that." Grover contributed helpfully.

"Maybe they're just sensing my nausea from being in your presence." She tilted her head and directed her sarcastic curled sneer at the satyr.

"Just ask for some food, scrape a piece off and move on. You could use some amnesty from the gods right now." Percy sighed, he could feel the pressure building up in the back of his neck from stress.

"Did you think SAT word was going to impress me Jackson?" She laughed, the tone sounding more like a jeer than anything else. The sound echoed in a brief lull of the cacophony of the pavilion.

"Is there a problem Percy?" Clarisse called across the Pavilion, the girl had the most finely tuned radar for a fight of anyone he'd ever met. There were twits at his schools who prized themselves on being the first to the scene whenever anything happened but they didn't have anything on Clarisse.

"It's fine." He called out. He didn't need the rest of camp swooping in to fight his battles, it didn't look good. Grover seemed to crumble with frustration.

"I'm not going to burn any of my food for your precious gods and that pisses Jackson off." Annabeth announced, standing up so that she could aim her glare at every person in the space. He had to give it to her, she had certainly mastered the shock factor.

"Who do you think you are?" A voice snarled from one of the tables, but Percy couldn't catch who. He supposed it didn't matter, this soon after the war and the funerals, no one had the patience for this kind of disrespect.

"My name's Raven and I'm the head strategist under the Titan Army." She announced, actually puffing up with pride. A chorus of harsh laughter greeted her proclamation.

"Ha good one, that army doesn't exist anymore, and frankly, you're just as irrelevant." Clarisse snarled, staring down the blond girl with the same intensity that she took on anything and everything.

"What's actually very relevant is how I tricked your father when I was twelve into to doing my bidding. I was the one who knew that Ares and his children have been hit in the head so many times that they barely know their own names." Annabeth held Clarisse's glare and even stepped closer to the other girl. Clarisse's hands were itching for a weapon and he knew that at least one of her siblings had to be carrying. Annabeth would get slaughtered if she went up against Clarisse unarmed.

"Woah, let's just take it down a notch, Annabeth shut the hell up. Clarisse, back off okay? I'm handling it." There were grumbles among the crowd that had been eagerly watching for a fight to break out. Unfortunately, leading didn't always mean being well liked. "Come on" He barked, dragging Annabeth with him towards the cabins.

"Where are you going Jackson, I thought you said that we needed to eat?" She taunted, her voice sing-songy as she allowed herself to be dragged.

"We'll eat when you stop being a brat, I've gone longer without food and honestly don't really care about your well being all that much." She muttered something under her breath, but he didn't catch it. It was probably for the best anyways.

"Come on, I'm dropping you off at the art center and then I have to catch up with someone." He sighed, he really wished that there was some way to make this easier, but there wasn't.

"Got a date Jackson? How exactly will you tell your girlfriend that you own a teenage girl?" She challenged, smiling as if she was being helpful but her eyes were just as malicious as always.

"Stop insinuating shit that you know isn't true. You're acting like a child." He snapped, Annabeth huffed, but seemed to accept that he was right. Within moments they were standing outside of the Arts and Crafts center. He could hear Leila puttering around inside and felt a twinge of sympathy pain for the poor girl. "Try to not be an incredible pain today all right? Just do what Leila says." He sighed and gestured for her to go in. She did, loudly letting the screen door slam shut behind her. Maybe it was shitty of him to leave poor Leila with his burden but there was only so much that he could take in a day.

…

He and Nico had a productive chat, the younger boy was making headway with his designs for his new cabin; he had even worked out where he would get the needed labor. He seemed like he was definitely in a much better place than he had been in years previous, but there was always an anxiety about him, as if he might take off at any moment. He never knew what to expect with the other boy. They at least had made headway toward becoming friends recently and he was determined to make sure the poor kid had some interactions outside of ghosts. He sighed as he left the group of cabins, heading towards Annabeth and Leila to grab them for lunch. It was almost like having a little kid. He supposed he'd have to train all of those bad habits out of her. It couldn't be that difficult.

…

He heard the crying first, and then he saw the outpouring of a group of seven year olds from the long wooden cabin. That wasn't a good sign. Then he saw the sniffling and the teary eyes. One girl was sobbing considerably harder than the others. He crouched down beside her so that they were eye level.

"Sweety, what happened?" He asked quietly.

"Miss Raven (sniff) said (sniff) that my dad (sniff) forgets about (sniff) me and (sniff) wouldn't care (sniff) if I died. " Then she broke down sobbing hysterically and got enveloped by hugs from the other kids. He figured they were better equipped to handle that problem. He looked up and straightened cautiously. To his shock, Annabeth was standing in the doorway smirking.

"What? I just told them the truth." She chimed innocently, batting her eyelashes to prove the point.

A/N: Hey everyone, so this chapter is a monster and there's a lot of stuff happening all at once. This is going to be a fairly condensed fic as far as the time line of the plot goes so that's what it seems to be moving kind of slowly. I have a lot to talk about happening in a single day. I really appreciated your reviews from the past chapter so I worked extra hard to get this one out for you soon. The next chapter might take a little longer, but I'll try my hardest for you guys. Please leave me a little love by reviewing. Did you expect Raven to be that cruel? Who do you think would have won the fight between Raven and Clarisse? What do you think of Percy's tattoo? What do you think the significance of it is? Send me your thoughts, good or bad.