Disclaimer: All PJO characters belong to Rick Riordan.

Chapter Ten

Annabeth

"Your eyes, stormy seas, and suddenly I have a taste for drowning."

(Tyler Knott Gregson)

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After Annabeth told Percy about her brain tumor, he started treating her better.

It wasn't much. He let her use his blanket last night instead of telling her to man up against the cold. He hadn't scowled at her as often as he usually did. Every time Annabeth stumbled, he wouldn't make some snide remark. Instead, he let it pass.

Annabeth hated it. He was just treating her like this because he pitied her. She hated being pitied. Just because she was sick didn't mean she was weak. She was still strong enough to get through the day without a problem, although the fit she threw last night might say otherwise. Sure, she got spooked from time to time, but that didn't necessarily mean she was weak. In fact, she thought that the fear drove her to be stronger, to move faster, to distract herself from her fears by busying herself with not tripping over the rocks and branches scattered on the forest floor.

But Percy was acting like he felt sorry for her. And she hated it. She couldn't believe this, but Annabeth actually missed getting held at by Percy. At least he acted like she was normal. All of her life, she had been treated differently from others, either because of her disease or because of her royal title. While she hated getting yelled at and slapped by this man who had taken her, at least he didn't care about who she was. She wished he would go back to treating her like trash.

Percy was walking a few feet in front of her. Her breaths were heavy. They had been walking for a few hours that day already, and the sun was already high above them. She hadn't seen anything yet that day, and it made Annabeth wary. If she hadn't had any visions yet, then that meant that they would hit her that night. Her visions were ten times scarier in the dark.

She thought back to the palace, her home. She thought longingly of the little vials of medicine in her cabinet in her bathroom. She wished so strongly for those right at that moment. If she took her medicine, it stopped the visions and she could pretend she was normal, though she was far from it. The more she thought about her home, the more she longed for the clean sheets on her bed, the worn-out fairy tale books in the library, the silk dresses hanging in her closet. She wished she was meeting more suitors right then, which was an absurd thought. It showed her how much she hated being stuck in the wilderness with the man who had kidnapped her.

"Would You Rather," Annabeth said surprising even herself. Percy faltered a bit and glanced back at her a quizzical expression on his face. Then he continued walking.

Annabeth quickly caught up to him to where they were walking side-by-side. It was a struggle to keep up with his long, graceful strides, but she had to talk to someone. She couldn't stay locked up inside of her own thoughts a second longer.

"Would You Rather," she repeated. "You know, the game? Do you want to play?"

Percy shot her a look of irritation, but just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared and a blank expression took its place. He shrugged.

"Great," Annabeth breathed, looking down at her feet. Gods, this was awkward. Percy seemed like the person who never said a word unless angered. And then, he blew up at you.

She thought hard and decided to go with a basic one. "Would you rather die from drowning or be burned alive?"

Percy made a face. "What kind of question is that?"

"It's a game," Annabeth said. "The questions don't have to be relevant to the situation. So would you rather drown or be burned alive."

Percy was silent for the next few seconds. Annabeth wondered if he even planned on answering her. Finally, he said, "Drowning."

"Why?"

Percy shrugged. "Beats being burned alive."

Annabeth swallowed. She couldn't stop her mind from conjuring up an image of him in the palace prison, imprisoned in a tank that slowly filled up with water. She felt guilty immediately. Nobody deserved that kind of death.

"Your turn," she said timidly, trying to take her mind off of Percy's answer.

Percy was quiet for the next minute. Annabeth silently waited for him to ask her his question, wondering – again – if he was even going to say anything. Percy wasn't exactly the best person to play a game with, she decided. He was too serious.

"Would you rather," Percy finally said, "spend you life chasing a creature that was destined to never be caught or running from someone destined to always catch you?"

Annabeth shot him a surprised look. That question would take some deep, serious thinking. Something Annabeth didn't think Percy was capable of. She answered, "I think I'd rather be the one running."

Percy shot her a look of surprise. "Really," he said. It sounded like more of a statement than a question.

"Really," Annabeth agreed.

"Why? I'd rather be the one catching."

Annabeth shrugged. She really didn't know. "I guess, I just hate the feeling of failing. If I spent my life chasing something that could never be caught, then I'd fail at catching it. At least if I was the one running, getting caught wouldn't be the end. I could outsmart my captor and escape."

As soon as the words left Annabeth's mouth, she clamped her lips shut. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she thought. Percy was her captor. She had basically just told him that she was going to try and escape. Even though she wasn't.

Fear pierced through her. Fear of what Percy could do to her.

"Well," Percy said, a quiet deadliness clear in his tone, and Annabeth did her best to suppress her shiver, "at least now I have a heads-up of your plan."

"Percy, I didn't mean it like that," Annabeth pleaded lamely.

"I think you did," he replied, clipping his words.

"No, Annabeth, you did mean it." Percy was angry now, she could tell. It scared her, but she forced herself to stand straight and look him in the eye, trying to convince him that he didn't scare her. "You might not have said it consciously, but you still meant it."

"You don't know-"

"Tell me, Wise Girl, that the moment those words left your mouth, you didn't even give a thought to escaping from me. Tell me it hasn't crossed your mind at least once of twice." He waited for an answer, but all Annabeth could do was stare at him. "That's what I thought. You have thought about escaping. You want to. I don't blame you."

Annabeth was shocked to hear the guilt in his voice. Anger at himself. Maybe this guy who Annabeth really did hate wasn't as evil as she thought.

"I'm sorry," she said.

Percy snorted. "Yeah. Whatever."

It was then that Annabeth noticed the sound of rushing water.

It couldn't be that far away. The roar of the currents was loud, telling her that it was mere yards away. She shared a look with Percy and, for the first time, an understanding passed between them. They both took off running towards the sound of the water, their heavy breathing getting washed away in the sound of the roaring rapids.

The broke through the treeline and skidded to a stop at a ridge. Annabeth's heart was beating wildly with exhilaration and adrenaline and fear. She wobbled a little and felt her body leaning forward, towards the edge of the cliff, but she couldn't stop herself. Percy grabbed her arm and pulled her back, away from the edge. She shot him a grateful look, which he ignored.

About fifteen feet below them was the river that they had heard. Annabeth peered down and noticed all of the rocks that would kill her upon impact. She could see the currents that would tear her apart of she didn't die on the rocks first. She raised her eyes from the river to the other side, where another cliff that was identical to theirs stood another twenty feet away.

"How are we going to cross?" Annabeth demanded. "You know, without dying?"

Percy stared intensely at the ridge across from them, scrunching up his eyes in thought. Finally, he shrugged. "I don't know. Whenever I traveled here with my mom, there was always a bridge that we crossed. Someone must have destroyed it somehow."

Annabeth bit her lip in frustration and stared across the river, her expression matching Percy's. She was confused as to why that was. Shouldn't she be happy that they couldn't cross? Didn't that mean that they were going to end up closer to the kingdom than they originally thought. She supposed so, but in Annabeth's mind, this was a puzzle. A puzzle that needed solving and, just like she'd told Percy, she hated failing.

Her gaze lifted and landed on their packs. She hadn't actually gone through its contents. Percy had more things than she did in his pack, but surely Annabeth had to have something useful in hers. She slid it off of her shoulder and knelt down on the ground, rifling through it. She was surprised by some of the things in there: an extra change of shoes, some string to put her hair up with, a small shovel (she had a feeling that the shovel was to be used when she had to relieve herself, but she quickly pushed the thought out of her mind). But nothing appeared useful to getting across the Roaring River of Death. That was, until she found some rope at the bottom of her bag.

"Hey," she called, getting Percy's attention. "Can this be of any use to us?" She held up the rope.

Percy's solemn face broke out into a grin. "You're a genius," he told her as he took the rope out of her hands and walked to the nearest tree and began to climb it.

Annabeth's cheeks colored. She had never been kidnapped before, but she was pretty sure that your captor wasn't supposed to compliment you.

She pushed his comment out of her mind and turned her attention back to whatever he was doing in the tree. He had climbed fairly high, to the point where the branches obstructed her view of him. It was then that it struck her: she could escape. It was so impossibly easy, the perfect opportunity staring her in the face. Here she was, alone on the ground while Percy was high up in a tree. She could just sneak off quietly and have at most a two minute head start on him. She could go home.

She gazed longingly at the path she had taken in getting here.

Percy suddenly appeared in front of her and she yelped. He snorted. "Calm down. I just jumped down from the tree."

She nodded. The look on his face told her that he knew what she was thinking about and that it was unacceptable. She took a step away from him – they were practically chest-to-chest – and gestured to the tree and the rope in his hand. One side of the rope was connected to something up high in the tree, probably tied to a branch. "What are you doing with that?"

"This," he answered. He lifted the other end of the rope and swung it around a few times, then threw it across the chasm. It landed on a branch in one of the trees and expertly wrapped around it. Annabeth stared at it in shock.

"How – how did you do that?" she demanded.

Percy shrugged. "Grew up in the slums. You learn stuff."

Annabeth nodded. "Right," she said sarcastically. "What are we going to do about our packs? Can you throw them over?"

Percy shrugged. "I can try. Let me see yours." He held out his hand for her pack, but Annabeth didn't give it to him. Something in her didn't want to. This pack and its contents was all she had. If Percy didn't make the toss, she was going to lose it, which was something she wasn't willing to risk.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Listen, I would throw mine, but I've got more stuff in it. Important stuff that we can't risk losing. So let me throw yours over to see if I can make it."

Annabeth stared at him for a few seconds before giving up and thrusting her pack at him rather violently. "Here," she muttered and he shot her a surprised look before snorted and taking it.

He threw it across without trouble.

Annabeth let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. Percy fixed her with a triumphant look and then proceeded to throwing his over. Now they just needed to get themselves where their packs had safely been thrown.

"So what are we going to do?" Annabeth demanded. "Swing right across?"

Percy gave her two thumbs-up. "Bingo," he said, and before Annabeth could protest, he threw himself off of the ridge and grabbed onto the rope.

All she could do was watch as Percy swung himself across like the rope was a one-sided monkey bar set. He put one hand in front of the other, swinging his body for momentum. He was graceful, which shocked Annabeth. Where was the boy who had yelled at her, his face blood red, only a few nights ago?

He landed safely on the other side, a winning grin spreading across his face like a wildfire. "Come on!" he yelled at her, struggling to be heard over the roar of the river. ""Hurry up!"

Again, Annabeth was staring freedom in the face. Percy was on the other side of the chasm. She could take off running and have an impressive head-start on him. All it took was the turning of her back. She stared at Percy, their eyes locking, and she wanted to run. So badly. This was living Hades for her. She wanted to turn around and run, run back to her home, her parents, her best friend, her medicine. She wanted to turn away from this man whom she hated, she loathed with a fiery, burning passion. That's all she wanted; to get away.

Yet, something kept her feet in place. Her eyes were still locked with Percy's, which were dark with warning. A feeling was growing inside her, one she couldn't seem to identify. She guessed it was a premonition of some kind. She felt as if she should stay and follow Percy. Maybe there was something more behind this kidnapping. Maybe Annabeth hadn't heard the whole story and her initial judgment had been wrong. Maybe something was going to happen, something good if she stayed.

Like him getting caught.

She started running. The edge grew closer and closer and Annabeth's heart beat faster with every step she took. Then she jumped. She felt a sensation, like she was flying instead of falling. Flying and flying and flying...

Her flailing arms found the rope and she grabbed on tight. Her body came to a halt in the air and for a few seconds, she just swung back and forth on the rope while he heart beat wildly.

"Well," Percy yelled. "Move!"

That jarred her. Slowly, Annabeth began to move just as Percy had, just not as swiftly. The rope swung back and forth in the wind. The material irritated her skin. Her breaths were rapid, her stomach twisted, and her palms grew sweaty. All signs of fear.

Please, she prayed. Please. Don't let me see anything here. Not now. Please.

For the first time, it seemed, the universe was on her side. Fear slowly nipped at her, like she was tied to a stake and flames were licking her feet. But it never overwhelmed her. She blinked multiple times, expecting to see some horror every time she opened them, but she was met with the same scene she had seen before.

She moved her right hand in front of her, then her left. Her body followed through with the motion.

She was fully aware of the river below her. One wrong move, one wrong placement of her hand, and she'd fall to her death. She paused and closed her eyes, inhaling and exhaling slowly, trying to control her breathing. She could hear Percy's cries for her to keep moving, but she ignored him. She had made it halfway across. Wasn't that enough for him? She deserved a break, needed one. Her heart was beating too quickly now, getting ahead of her. She needed to get this fear under control.

Crack!

Annabeth's eyes flew open. She didn't just hear what she thought she had. She couldn't have. The branch wasn't breaking. But one look at Percy's horrified expression told Annabeth all she needed to know. The branch on Percy's side was breaking and she still wasn't across.

She had to think quickly. She had maybe two, three seconds at best. Her mind raced faster than humanly possible, going through every possible solution. All of them were useless. They needed time, something Annabeth didn't have.

She locked eyes with Percy again. She could feel her weight bringing the rope down. She was slowly getting lowered into the roaring river. In mere seconds, she'd be dead in that river.

"Jump!" he yelled, his voice cracking from fear. Annabeth didn't even think; she threw her body back then forced it forward and let go of the rope. She was flying again, flying through the air. Her arms were flailing, so she tucked them close to her chest. She could feel her heartbeat underneath her fingertips. It was unnaturally fast. She looked with wide eyes at the ground on which Percy was standing on. It was yards away. There was no way she could possibly make it. She'd come short and fall into the river and die.

Apparently, the universe was not on her side.

She swallowed and shut her eyes, feeling white hot tears pricking and welling up in the corners. She was going to die. Shouldn't everything be in slow motion? Isn't that what happens when you're about to die? She'd read about death in books. Just moments before they died, the character's surroundings would go still and he'd spend his last few moments reflecting on his life. But for Annabeth, everything was moving much too fast. Death had its dark fingers around her and it wouldn't let go.

She felt herself falling, faster and faster, until she landed on something warm and soft. "Oomph," it groaned and Annabeth's eyes shot open. She hadn't fallen short and landed in the water. Instead, she had gone farther than necessary and landed right on top of Percy. Their eyes were locked, gray on green, and for the first time since the ball, Annabeth noticed how impossibly beautiful they were. The shade of green wasn't bright; it was soft, like the ocean after a storm. They swirled like a storm too. They were stormy seas, Annabeth thought.

His arms were wrapped around her waist. Everywhere their skin touched, sparks of electricity danced across her. He was touching her. Disgust swelled up in her, eating away whatever feeling she had just experienced, erasing the moment they had just had. This man had kidnapped her, and now she was touching him.

She rolled off of him, laying on her back in the dirt. Her heart was beating even faster than when she had been over the chasm and she was blushing like crazy. She had no idea why.

She lifted her head and looked over to find Percy staring at her strangely. His eyebrows were furrowed, like he didn't understand something. She glared at him. "What?" she snapped, sounding a lot meaner than she had intended to. For some reason, that made Annabeth feel better about herself.

Percy shook his head and stood up. "Come on," he said in his usual low voice. "We need to keep moving.

Oh, sure, Annabeth thought bitterly. Let's keep moving. It's not like I just had a run-in with death of anything.

But she got up and scrambled after him.

"Oh, by the way," Percy called over his shoulder at her, "you weigh more than you look."

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Annabeth chewed halfheartedly on her apple. It wasn't as sweet as apples normally were and it was kind of soggy, but she ate it without complaint. Percy, on the other hand, was chowing down on his meal like there was no tomorrow.

The campfire crackled between them. Annabeth threw her core into the flames and watched it burn to ashes. Her eyes flicked up to Percy. The moment they had had after she had jumped across the river was still fresh on her mind. Her skin still tingled. She wondered if this was how it was going to feel when she was married to someone she didn't want. Was her skin going to crawl every time he touched her? Was she going to feel dirty and unclean every time he stared at her?

Percy was looking at her. Oh, gods. Annabeth's eyes shot down to the flames again. She wondered if he was having the same feelings as her. She wondered if he was as disgusted as she was about the events that had taken place that afternoon.

Her vision flashed.

The prisoner was pushed up onto the stage. He was in a commoner's clothes, filthy rags hanging off of his body, which at this point was just skin and bones. Annabeth could hear his pitiful pleas of mercy and that he'd work harder, he'd make the money, he had a family to take care of. She rolled her eyes. They always said that.

The executioner looked at her at her place on the balcony, overlooking the whole crowd there to watch. He was asking permission to begin. She nodded slightly.

"This man," he yelled out over the roar of the crowd, "is charged with the inability to pay his taxes for the past six months. And, as you all should know, the price of this crime is death."

All was quiet except for the small whimpers of the man as the executioner raised his ax and brought it down on the man's neck. Then, a collective gasp from the crowd as yet another reminder sunk into their heads of what would happen if they didn't pay their taxes.

Annabeth smiled.

Annabeth jumped, her fingers scraping at the ground on either side of her. She looked down to assure herself that she wasn't the queen yet, that she wasn't draped in the finest silk, that a crown wasn't on her head, that she wasn't sentencing anyone to death. No, she was fine. She was out in the woods with a man who had kidnapped her. Funny how that was more reassuring to her than what she had just seen.

Her mind was racing. She had seen something like this before. She knew she had. It had been the first day she realized she'd been kidnapped, when she woke up. She had seen herself surrounded by the mutilated bodies of her victims. Somehow, those two scenes were connected.

Could she possibly be afraid of killing people?

Of course, that was a legitimate fear to have. Maybe not for someone who had grown up in the slums (Percy), but for a princess. Sure, she had trained almost her entire life in combat, but not once did she think she'd ever have to use it. She was guarded well. No one would dare go up to her and attempt to murder her. As far as she knew, Olympia loved her (except for Percy). But this new vision made Annabeth realize something. As the queen, she'd be given the responsibility to punish criminals. She'd have to sentence them to death. Would she be able to do that?

While she'd never kill someone because they couldn't pay their taxes – that was a little extreme – would she be able to kill someone else who committed a serious crime? Annabeth guessed she'd just have to wait and see.

Her body was still scared though. She shook violently, and it wasn't because it was cold.

"Annabeth?" she heard Percy call out warily. "You okay?"

She could hear the fear in his voice, the guilt. She wondered why it sounded like that. Surely he didn't care that much about her disease.

"I-I'm fine," she answered, her voice quiet. The next few minutes were silent. Annabeth pulled her legs in and wrapped her arms around her knees. She thought about Percy. Her thoughts from earlier that day were coming back. He was pitying her and she hated it. She didn't want it.

"You can stop," she half-whispered, half-snarled.

Percy furrowed his eyebrows. "Stop what?"

Annabeth glared at the fire. "You can stop being nice to me. You're just doing it out of pity, and I don't need it or want it."

"What makes you think I'm treating you kindly because I pity you?"

"Because you told me you never wanted to be friends with me two nights ago."

Percy chuckled, a sound Annabeth never thought she'd hear. It made her uneasy. "Fair point."

He surprised her by getting up from his spot across the fire and walking over to sit next to her. There was only a couple inches of space left between them. Annabeth could practically feel his body radiating heat. "Listen," he started, his hands twisting nervously in his lap, "you just...you remind me of someone I know."

Annabeth waited for him to explain further.

"My little sister. Her name's Macy. She's three and she suffers from the same thing that you have. I guess I just – you remind me of her and I could never treat Macy the same way that I treat you."

Now it was Annabeth's turn to feel guilty. All of those awful thoughts about his pity towards her that had run through her head that day...and the whole time, she had reminded him of his sister. And by the way he talks about her, Annabeth could guess that Percy loved his little sister, Macy, more than anyone else in the world. Annabeth respected that. Admired it, even. She'd always wanted a sibling, someone to do anything for.

The pieces suddenly fell together in Annabeth's head. Percy was poor, which meant that he probably couldn't afford to get his sister help. He'd kidnapped Annabeth to hold her ransom, or in other words, to get money.

"You took me to get money for your sister," she concluded. Her voice sounded shocked and maybe even a little impressed. "Why did you go through all of that trouble, put your life on the line, to kidnap me? Why not just ask for my help at the ball? Or my parents'?"

Percy snorted. "Yeah. Right. It's not like you could do anything about it, being only a princess. And your parents wouldn't have listened." He paused. "No one listens anymore. That's why I steal. No one will help us and my family will die if I don't do something."

"Wow," Annabeth breathed out. She felt a pang of sympathy for this guy next to her. Suddenly, he didn't seem so much like a man. In that moment, when his guards were down, he seemed younger, more like a boy. "I never realized things were so bad in the village."

"How could you?" His tone was sharp and accusing. Annabeth reeled back on accident, but then saw the miserable look on Percy's face. It was like all of the awful things he had one in his life were just catching up with him and he couldn't live with himself anymore.

"Tell me," she said quietly in hopes of taking his mind off of their conversation. "Tell me about your sister."

As she hoped, his face brightened a bit. "Macy is incredible," he stated like it was a well-known fact. "She's strong too. She can't talk too well, but she doesn't have to. She'll just look at you with those big brown eyes of her and you'll drop everything to help her, whether it's with holding her during a vision or playing dolls with her. You'll do it in the blink of an eye. And she's caring. On time, I was helping my mom cook, and I sliced open my thumb while chopping some cabbage. Macy came and wrapped her arms around my leg while my mom wrapped it up. She's hope in the midst of a storm – no, she's the eye of a hurricane. Like, you go through all of this hard stuff and junk, and you want to give up, but then she's there wanting to give you a huge hug and you know that you can get through the rest of the storm because she filled you up with strength. She's amazing, and I want the very best for her. She deserves a better big brother than me. She deserves a better life."

Annabeth looked at Percy. He was staring at the ground, his nostrils flared in an attempt to keep back tears. She couldn't believe that something so kind and beautiful had come out of his mouth. She couldn't believe that he was being so open with her, allowing himself to look so vulnerable.

Tentatively, she reached out and slipped her hand into his and gave it a quick squeeze. He looked down at her and his lips twitched into a hint of a smile. Then she let go and whispered, "Thank you. For telling me about her."

That night, they fell asleep side-by-side, but not touching.

Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it! Review!

(Sorry. No verse today. I've won the award for the World's Worst Headache, so I'm just gonna go and bask in eternal sorrow and pain.)