Percy's Pov

It was finally Friday and the school day had ended. Annabeth and I headed back to camp right after school without even stopping by my parent's to say 'bye'. Annabeth hadn't really gotten a good chance to talk to me about my dreams but I didn't mind, in fact, I was hoping that she forgot all about it. The chance of that happening were about at one percent. I knew very well that she was just waiting for a good time to talk to me. A time when I was willing to talk more than usual.

That time was at camp. By the time we arrive at camp, it was about five in the afternoon. Most of the campers were out swimming with the nereids but Annabeth and I chose to not participate. She had somethings she had to do in the Athena cabin and I, myself, needed to speak with Blackjack. So, when we arrived, I walked Annabeth to her cabin and kissed her on the forehead before I went to my cabin to dump my stuff on my bed. I made sure to bring the box of donuts I had bought with me to the stables.

Blackjack was at the back. Because he kept whining and annoying me (and eventually the other campers) we had to give him the biggest stall there was. When I walked into his stall, the first thing I saw was one of his black wings sprawled on the ground. He was sleeping peacefully but he normally didn't sprawl out his wings. I placed the donut box on a stack of hay and kneeled in front of Blackjack.

I petted his head and said, "Hey, Blackjack."

And he slowly lifted his head.

BOSS! He whined, did you bring me my donuts?

I laughed, "yes, Blackjack. But first tell me, is your wing okay?

Yeah. I just sprained it a bit. He moved his head as if trying to find something. Now, where's my donuts.

I shook my head fondly as I stretched to get the donut box and sat behind him and he slowly sat up. I placed my back on the wooden wall and placed the box on my lap. Just as I opened it, Blackjack stuck his muzzle in the box. Well, he tried but I quickly pushed him away.

"Calm down," I said as I handed him one, "we're sharing this. I don't want your saliva all over it."

Thanks, boss. It's really good.

"I thought I told you to stop calling me 'boss'," I protested.

Sorry, boss.

I shook my head fondly. I only ate three donuts because Blackjack 'accidentally' pushed the box off my lap. He quickly fell asleep after he finished eating them, his muzzle on my lap.

"You're like a huge teddy bear," I murmured as I petted his head.

Somehow I managed to get him off me without waking him up. I left the stalls and made my way to the Athena cabin. Annabeth, as always, was on her desk with a blueprint she had made. She was probably making some changes to it. I knocked on the doorframe and she turned around with a jump.

"Oh," she sighed, "hey Seaweed brain."

"Hey, wise girl," I pointed inside, "may I?"

She nodded and sat on her bad. I took a seat next to her.

"Watcha doing?" I asked.

"I was making some edits to Olympus but I'm drawing a bit of a blank."

I laughed, "that's new. Normally you're full of ideas."

She chuckled. "yeah."

Then silence filled us. The silence wasn't awkward like it was when she hated my guts. It was more of a we've got nothing else to say, we'll enjoy some quiet together type of silence. She grabbed my hands and pursed her lips and something told me that she was getting ready to mention what had happened the other night. Even thought I knew that was what she was trying to talk to me about, I made no effort to assist her in her 'request' to speak of it. I preferred to keep it hushed but she eventually got the courage to ask.

"I was wondering about your dreams," she said as she stared at our intertwined hands. "Do you want to talk about them?"

"You mean, tell you what happened with Gabe?"

She nodded. I didn't want to talk but I knew that Annabeth would find a way to get them out of me, so I just nodded, and broke our intertwined hands to push myself against the wall.

"The first time was when I was five," I closed my eyes. "I was playing with a game my mom bought me and then he just called me. I went to see what he wanted and he showed me the knife…"

I kept telling her the stories and kept my eyes shut throughout it all. As I spoke, I felt shifts on the bed and I knew Annabeth was trying to find some position that she could use to comfort me. Finally, when I told her of the last time that he got me, she was against the wall next to me holding my hand. I turned my head to face her and opened my eyes.

"Why didn't you tell anyone, Perce," she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

I shrugged, "I don't know." I was surprised to find that my voice was shaky. "I guess, I guess that I was afraid of him hurting my mom if I even tried to hint anyone. Gods know what he did to her while I was away at some boarding school, I didn't want to add anything to her plate."

She looked at me with worried eyes as she placed a hand on my cheek. "Ok, I can understand that, but why did you hold it in afterward?"

"It didn't seem worthy to mention anymore. Not after what happened to my mom and then our quest and the wars. I shoved it all to the back of my mind to make room for much more important problems."

"Percy, what you went through is not an 'unimportant problem'." She looked at me sternly. "Just because it's in the past doesn't mean that it won't come back to haunt you. Just look at what we went through in Tartarus," we both shivered lightly. "it's still haunting us. You can't expect this-this-this child abuse to just go away!"

I tried to look away from her but her hand didn't allow my head to turn the other way.

"You're still hurt from that, Percy." She said. "And I know, not because of your dreams, but your eyes. I see all the hurt and all the pain and you haven't released any of that. You hold anger and pain, hurt and sorrow and you're trying to cheat your mind into thinking that you can get all those feelings out by killing monsters and fighting the bad guys but that's not how it works."

I tried to look away again but my eyes seemed to be suddenly glued to Annabeth.

"What I don't understand is why you just won't let go," she placed both her hands on my face. "Percy, if you think that crying is a sign of weakness, then that's where you're wrong! In fact, crying is a sign that you're human because it shows that you feel pain and that you're hurt. You're strong, physically and mentally, you have a right to let go of all your pain as much as anyone else. So tell me, Perce, why don't you."

I tried to look away once more but instead I placed my head on the crooked of her neck. I didn't cry or do anything. All I could feel was numbness run down my mind and into my spine. Annabeth did nothing but held me and rubbed soothing circles on my back. I don't remember whether I cried or not but I felt myself slipping away and eventually, I fell asleep.