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Annabeth

Annabeth lead the way to Pantheon Hall. She gripped Riptide in her fist, it was only a small comfort. If Percy, or whoever was controlling him, wanted to attack her, Percy would just have to knock Riptide out of her hand. It would reappear in Percy's pocket and she would be in trouble.

But of course, she still had a dagger on her.

Piper and Hazel kept glancing between Percy and Annabeth. Percy had tried to give her a hug, but she shrugged him off. Of course she wanted her seaweed brain back, but she just couldn't trust him right now.

Memories of yesterday flooded back. The way he came running, saying he escaped. How genuine it all felt. How his goofy, lopsided smile looked at her. His comforting hug, the warmth he flooded into her body. Just to see him after days, when the last time she'd seen him was when he had attacked Jason.

Then the way he went cold. His eyes lost their light, and Riptide was at her throat. She was so stunned, she couldn't forget it. Percy had seemed so real last time, this might be the same. And she couldn't be betrayed again.

Annabeth stopped at the stone wall and grabbed the ring. The group walked into Pantheon Hall, Frank, Leo, Jason, Harry and Ron stood around the fire. Annabeth headed over to them, Percy in her wake.

Percy addressed the group, his eyes shining in the firelight. "Obviously, I've escaped the siren." He thought for a moment. "I'm not sure how to sugarcoat this, so here it goes. Dawn is the siren that kidnapped me."

"How do we know the siren isn't controlling you?" Leo asked. "She could be getting us off her trail."

"I don't know how to prove it to you," Percy said. "But you just have to trust me, please."

The group exchanged a series of glances and mumbled words. Frank was the first to speak up.

"We trust you."

"You said Dawn was the siren," Annabeth said. "How could the Mist trick us for so long we didn't notice."

"I don't think it's a trick," Percy said. "I think the monsters are changing. The can take on mortal forms now, or at least what I'm going with."

"What if you're lying to us?" Annabeth pointed out. "Then we go and attack Dawn. She is affected by our weapons, she might just be a legacy that the siren wants us to kill off."

"I thought you said you trusted me," Percy retorted.

"There is a difference between trust and blind faith," Annabeth shot back.

"Okay, for arguments sake, let's say Dawn is a siren," Jason said. "That the monsters have evolved, what would be our next move?"

"We could try to get Dawn to reveal herself," Piper said. "Then if she really is the siren like Percy said, we'll deal with her then."

"She's not just going to reveal herself," Percy said. "We need to set a trap. I'll let her catch me by the lake. She'll transform and bring me to the bottom of the lake, then you guys attack her."

"If she really is a siren she can control us with her song," Annabeth pointed out. "She could be setting a trap to get all of us using Percy."

"Why don't you trust me!" Percy shouted. "What do I need to do to get through to you? Name your price."

Annabeth stared at Percy. She wanted to trust him, she really did, but if it was a trick, she refused to fall for it so easily. This could be the sirens trap, to get them all to either off a legacy of the sea god, or to catch them all at once.

But how could Percy prove it was really him? Yesterday he mentioned things that only Percy would know, so she had his memories. At the moment, Annabeth was death gripping Riptide so that was out. Basically now it was just if she had faith in his statements or not.

"Percy, if you can prove that Dawn is a siren, I'll believe you."

Percy smiled. "Then, how do we catch her in the act?"

"If she goes to you at night," Leo said. "Meet her at the edge of the water, well hide nearby and try to catch her."

"Percy will be very vulnerable to fall back under her control," Annabeth said.

"It's a chance I'm willing to take," Percy said. "Let's go."

The group trekked over to the lake. Annabeth could see Percy standing alone from behind a tree. After a few minutes, Dawn came walking up to him.

"How did you get away?" She asked.

"I'm smarter than you think," Percy said.

"You probably have all your friends in the bushes," Dawn said. "Please, come out, it's not a good hiding spot if I know you're there."

The group slowly emerged, Annabeth couldn't help but think of how she could easily take them with her song. How exposed they were.

"Oh come closer, no need to be afraid," Dawn said. They slowly got closer.

Dawn threw an arm around Percy. "Thank you my pet, you did your job perfectly."

"So you were tricking us!" Annabeth shouted.

Percy pulled Dawn's arm off himself and walked over to Annabeth. "I'm not under your control anymore."

Dawn laughed. "Maybe not, but you're so predictable I knew this would happen."

Dawn gave a long, high whistle. Shadowy figures emerged from the forest, monsters of every shape and form. Demigods drew any weapons they had, Annabeth tossed Percy Riptide, the wizards pulled out their wands.

Dawn dove into the water and transformed into a siren. Her skin scaly, her eyes glowed. Annabeth couldn't resist.

"How do you do that?"

"I may as well tell you," Dawn said. "I am what monsters are calling a halfling. A siren that has merged with a human, a wizard to be specific. We are now one."

"That's why the monsters were kidnapping students!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"Oh you're a clever one," Dawn said. "A perfect disguise. In fact, I am not the only one in that school that is a halfling."

"But none of the other kidnapped students reacted with any of our weapons," Annabeth said.

"Who said they were kidnapped," the siren taunted. "In fact, I think some of the other halflings are here right now."

Dawn dipped under the water and all the monster charged at them. Annabeth told them to run back to the school, they couldn't beat this many. They ran across the yard in the darkness, deadly adversaries on their tail. They climbed the stairs and entered the school. The monsters lingered outside, eventually they left, and Dawn came up to the school. She strolled in without a care.

Leo lunged at her but Frank stopped him. "There is still a normal person in there."

"See, he gets it," Dawn said.

She vanished into the darkened halls. They waited until they heard the deafening sound of silence.

"So how do we know who else is a halfling at the school?" Percy asked.

"We keep a close eye on everyone around us," Annabeth said. "We can't trust anyone."

"Let's go to bed," Leo said. "We can not trust people in the morning."

The group wandered back to the Gryffindor common room. Annabeth got into bed and fell asleep after a few minutes despite the dizzying amount of thoughts that ran through her mind.

Dawn really was a siren, and there was nothing they could do about it.

Annabeth awoke to mid morning sun pouring into the dorm. She stretched and got dressed, the other girls were awake and probably in the common room. Annabeth headed down the stairs and saw them all talking by the fireplace.

"Look who's finally up," Percy said.

Annabeth walked over to her boyfriend and he wrapped an arm around her, placing a kiss on her head. "Can we go get food now, I'm starving."

They left for the Great Hall, a spread was laid out on the tables. Percy filled up his plate and ate it up in a matter of minutes. Annabeth ate a few pieces of toast with jam and an orange. She downed a glass of milk and spoke her thoughts.

"So, who do you think are the halflings?"

"We watched all the Gryffindors this morning," Jason reported. "No one acted suspicious at all. No one made an attempt to talk to us, and no seemed to act differently."

"I asked Ron and Harry, but they only came up with the entire Slytherin house," Piper added.

"So we have a bunch of dead ends," Annabeth summed up.

"Pretty much," Percy said.

"Hey guys," Ginny said, sitting down beside Harry. Hermione settled down next to Ron, her nose in a book.

"Hey," came a couple of voices.

"So you guys showed these two idiots a game from where you're from," Ginny said. "Do you think you could show us?"

Annabeth quickly came up with an excuse. "We would love to, but last time we played we lost our flags. Without them we can't play the game."

"Actually, I have them," Leo said, pulling two flags from his belt.

"Great, can you teach us. Please," Ginny pleaded.

"Sure," Annabeth said, glaring daggers at Leo.

The group finished their breakfast while the Greek campers explained the rules. Every so often Hermione would look up from her book to ask a question, or Ginny would ask for clarification. But for the most part, the girls caught on quickly.

The group headed outside and split into two teams. Annabeth's team was Percy, Piper, Leo, Ron and Ginny. Jason's team was Hazel, Frank, Harry and Hermione. They omitted the swords, instead using their wands to shoot sparks to ward off other players.

Annabeth took her team's flag and hid it in a tree. She stationed Ron and Leo nearby, but not too close. Piper was to be their scout, going back and forth between offence and defence. Annabeth, Ginny and Percy would lead the charge.

Annabeth got ready and ran once the signal went off. She bolted through the yard, Percy close behind. Everything else was closed off for now, she was playing capture the flag, she couldn't lose herself in her thoughts.

Just keep smiling and focused, everything would be okay. Everything would be okay.