Hey everyone! I meant to update a few days ago, but it kept slipping my mind. So here's chapter twelve! I like this chapter because after this one, things start getting good...:D

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO. Never have, never will (sadly).


Relief or Sinking Feeling?

When Percy went back to the apartment that night, Annabeth had already gone to bed and she had made sure to lock her door.

Percy wasn't sure what this feeling in his stomach was. As he lay on his leather couch, he contemplated what it could possibly be.

It just felt like someone had dropped a twelve pound bowling ball in his stomach. It felt like guilt, but it went deeper than that. He felt God-awful for calling her a bitch. But that's what made him so angry at himself! Why would he care that she was ignoring him now? Didn't he want her to leave him alone? Why would he care that he had called her that? Was it the hurt look on her face that made him want to punch himself in the gut? Or was it the guilt that was now gnawing away at him?

All Percy knew was that he shouldn't be feeling this way. It was weird and unfamiliar to him. He had never hurt someone this much, and it oddly bothered him that he had hurt Annabeth this much, because despite their arguments and despite their fake involvement with each other, she didn't deserve this.

But then again, was he just making a big deal out of it? Was she just taking things a little too personally?

Of course not, Percy thought, I just seriously called her a bitch. She has the right to be upset.

But maybe it's more than that…

Percy's brow furrowed. What if there was something else that caused her to get so mad? What if something triggered it? Annabeth wasn't one to get so upset unless it had a deeper involvement.

Percy sighed. My head hurts…

With that lovely thought, he fell into a restless sleep.

Annabeth, meanwhile, tossed and turned in her own bed, experiencing her own nightmare.

An eight year old Annabeth was running through a huge house, one that she hadn't seen in years.

She ran up a winding staircase and stopped at the top. Breathing hard, she pushed open a door and stepped inside a room with drawings taped on the walls. She looked into a full length mirror and saw her eight year old self with shorter blonde hair staring back. She was wearing a white dress with her pure white sandals.

She remembered that outfit. She remembered what was going to happen. She wanted to wake up, but she couldn't. She was practically screaming at herself, but she remained sleeping.

Annabeth grinned at her reflection and then stepped outside into the hall.

"Mom!" she yelled. She ran down the hall to see if her mom was in her room. She pushed the door open and stepped inside. "Mo—"

"Please, honey, don't go!" Dr. Chase, Annabeth's dad, pleaded with her mother, who walked by Annabeth with her suitcase in hand.

Annabeth's mom didn't say anything. She just continued walking down the stairs. Annabeth ran after her.

"Mom!" she yelled again. Her mom stopped and turned to stare at Annabeth with a longing expression, but then her gaze turned steely and she promptly turned around and walked out the door.

Annabeth finally snapped out of it and woke up, breathing hard. She swallowed dryly and got up to go to the bathroom. She splashed some water on her face and sighed. She stared at her reflection in the mirror for a good ten minutes before finally deciding to go back to bed.

The next few days were hell for Percy. He still wasn't sure why he was feeling what he was feeling. And to make things worse, Annabeth completely ignored him. She didn't greet him in the morning, she didn't joke around with him…she didn't even fight with him. Granted, before the fight whenever she greeted him, it was something snarky and sarcastic, but it was something. Now, she didn't even bother to acknowledge him.

That awful feeling would punch his gut again whenever he saw her or whenever he thought of her. The feeling was there more often than not, because when he wasn't around her, he was thinking about her, and vice versa. It was a double edged sword.

And it still bothered him that he was feeling this guilty. He'd rather take a raging Annabeth who fought with him and threw stuff at him than a quiet Annabeth who ignored him and gave him the cold shoulder. It just added to his guilt, and he felt like a huge jackass.

"Umm," he started awkwardly Sunday morning after she had finally come out of her room. "Morning."

She just mumbled, "Morning," and then walked into the kitchen to have breakfast.

Percy sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

The next day, on Monday, everyone in the office could tell something was wrong. Annabeth was working harder than she had before, and she stayed in her office all day. Percy had tried to stay in there (like he was supposed to), but she had kicked him out. It gave him a little spark of hope that maybe she was returning to normal, but that hope was squashed when, three hours later at lunch break, she left without telling him.

Poseidon and Mike knew something was wrong. They could see the rift starting to slowly grow between them, and they didn't like it.

"I had a feeling this was going to happen…" Mike mumbled.

"Maybe we can fix this," Poseidon said.

"I don't know," Mike sighed. "I think we should stop meddling in their lives."

"Nonsense!" The serious part of Poseidon that was rarely shown was starting to emerge. "We didn't come this far only to give up! If we nip this 'rift' in the bud, it'll be like it never happened and life will go on."

"I just don't think it's that easy."

Poseidon sighed and scratched his head. Then, an idea smited him.

"Maybe it would be difficult here, but they may be able to make up somewhere else," Poseidon said, smirking.

Mike narrowed his eyes. "What are you saying?"

"Two words: Private. Island."

Annabeth had just finished some blue prints for the building that Poseidon wanted to expand his company in. Clutching them in her hand, she made her way to Mike's office to deliver them.

She knocked on the door. "Come in," she heard Mike call. She stepped inside, closing the door behind her.

"Ah, Annabeth," Mike greeted from behind the desk. "What can I do for you?"

"I have the blueprints done," she replied.

Mike raised his brow, surprised. "You're done already?"

"Well I worked really hard on them."

"So I've heard…well, that's good. I'll look them over for you today."

She nodded and gave him the prints. She turned to leave, but Mike stopped her.

"Annabeth…are you okay?"

Annabeth stopped and sighed. "I'm fine. Really, I am."

"…If you say so. Listen, if you need to talk, you can always talk to me."

Annabeth blinked. "Thanks, Mike. I really appreciate that."

"Oh, and Annabeth?"

"Yeah?"

"I hope everything works out."

Annabeth's brow furrowed. "What are you—"

Suddenly, she felt something hit her head, and she lost all consciousness.

Mike pursed his lips. "You know, we could probably go to jail for this," he told Poseidon, who gingerly picked Annabeth up.

"No we won't. As long as no one finds out, we'll be fine," Poseidon replied. "Now, we need to get Percy."

Percy was mixing some coffee in the worker's lounge. He was scowling at the swirling dark liquid. He was starting to get ticked off with how Annabeth was treating him. At first it was understandable, but now she was just acting childish.

Well he was going to give her a piece of his mind!

After taking a swift drink of the hot liquid and burning his tongue, he dumped the rest into the sink and then rushed to get to Annabeth's office.

He was stopped at the lounge door by his dad.

"Jesus!" Percy yelled. "You scared the crap out of me!"

"Hmm…" his dad just hummed. "Whatcha doing?" he asked, rocking back on his heels, his hands behind his back.

"I'm going to talk to Annabeth," Percy replied, trying to walk around his dad.

"Funny you should mention that," Poseidon said, stepping in front of his son. "She actually wanted me to come get you. She's downstairs. I'll take you to her."

Percy's brow furrowed. He found the whole thing a bit odd, but he complied. As long as he got to talk to Annabeth, he would take the oddity.

Poseidon led his son into the elevator. "So, you're going to talk to her, huh?"

"Yup. I'm going to give her a piece of my mind."

The doors of the elevator opened and the two stepped out. Poseidon led Percy outside, and Percy was starting to get confused.

"Dad," he started. "Where are we—"

Suddenly, he was gagged with a cloth and there was a blindfold tied over his eyes. He felt his hands being tied behind his back. He squirmed around and tried to somehow get out of this, but he was thrown into a van and driven away to some other place.

Percy didn't know what was going on. He just knew his dad was behind it. He didn't know what time it was, he didn't know where he was or where he was going…he didn't know what to expect. He eventually succumbed to the sleep that threatened to overpower him.

When he woke up, he felt something hot hitting his face. He slowly opened his eyes, but then groaned.

Too bright!

He opened his eyes again and let them adjust to the light. He heard seagulls and the crashing of water. Confused, he slowly sat up.

Open sea was what lay ahead of him.

He looked down to see what his hands were sinking into and saw white sand. He picked some up and let it slide through his fingers, getting more confused by the second. He stood up, his legs feeling like jelly. He slowly turned around and saw palm trees, bright flowers, a few monkeys, and a forest that waited to be explored.

He slowly realized he was on an island.

He blinked. "Oh, fuck."


Tee Hee :D Speaking of tee hee's...has anyone seen the cartoon 'Making Fiends'? It's so cute and it's actually really funny.

Want to hear a funny story? My friends and I were making a movie and my friend had to get in his car and drive off. First, he couldn't get his car started. Then, when it did start, he revved it up andwhen he pulled out, he forgot to look and he pulled out in front of this person. The funny part? The person he pulled out in front of was my dad.

:|

Needless to say, my dad wasn't happy and I'm forbidden to drive with him...Oh well. I don't trust him anyways.

Thanks for reading and review please!

-Akatsuki Child