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Piper Pov

"I can't stay here and wait around for news about Percy." Annabeth said, already set on her random plan to go back to the facility and find Percy.

Crazy? Yes, but then again, this was Annabeth, so I honestly wasn't too surprised.

She definitely looked shaken up and on edge.

I wondered what had happened in that room with Jax.

Leo's eyes practically bulged out of his head. "Are you kidding? Annabeth, I'm not going back there!" He exclaimed, spreading his arms out and waving them. "You almost got killed there!"

Annabeth refused to back down. "I'm not leaving him there." She insisted, refusing to back down from her crazy, and probably reckless plan. "It's fine if you don't want to go. I just—" She faltered, struggling to hold everything together. "I can't stay here knowing that Percy's out there."

She turned around and began packing her backpack—a heavy duty backpack the facility provided—examining a sharp knife before shoving it in.

"Annabeth where the hell did you get those weapons?" I asked, eyeing a pistol and a bag of bullets next to her backpack.

Annabeth hesitated before answering. "They came with the backpack." She said quickly, shoving in the bullets and gun.

I admired her bravery. How she didn't care that she was about to go alone on some suicide mission to save Percy.

"Annabeth's right." Jason piped, glancing at Annabeth, who continued to pack her bag with numerous weapons and health supplies.

I really didn't want to think about where she'd gotten those from.

I stared at him, unable to believe the words that had just came out of his mouth. "Jason, you can't be serious."

Jason met my eyes, his jaw set. "Piper, if there's a chance that he's alive—"

"Dude! We all saw him sacrifice himself!" Leo exclaimed, his eyes wide. "I'm not going on some suicide mission to rescue Percy when we don't even know whether he's alive or not!"

"I know that he's alive!" Annabeth snarled, whirling around to face Leo, who jumped back in shock.

"Annabeth, you really don't." I said with a sigh, taking a step towards Annabeth, who looked ready to murder me.

"Piper, you can take your opinion and shove it up your—"

"He is alive."

We all turned to see Nico step out from the shadows, his dark eyes sweeping across the room. "They don't kill people at that place. They take them to the workhouse."

Reyna frowned. "The workhouse? What the hell is that?"

Suddenly, it dawned on me.

The workhouse. They make you make guns for them.

"They force you to make guns for them." I said slowly, glancing at Nico, who nodded sullenly.

"My sister...she was taken there." Nico looked pained. "A big factory thing. There's no escape."

"Exactly why we shouldn't go back there." Leo muttered, extending his hand out to Nico, who shook his head, his hands shoved into his pockets as he looked out into the barred window.

"We have to get him. Or else he'll never get out."

"What—"

"Really?" Annabeth asked, her eyebrows raised in surprise, like she didn't expect Nico to agree with her.

"The—"

Nico nodded, giving Annabeth a half smile. "I'm in. My sister's in there too."

Reyna stood up from her bunk, glancing around the room. "I'm also in," She announced, glancing at Nico with a nod. "If what you're saying is true...then my sister might be alive."

"What the fuck, guys!" Leo shouted, glaring at Nico. "What the hell, man? I thought you were on my side!"

Nico bit his lip. "My sister's stuck in there. I have to help her."

Leo whirled around to Hazel, who had been so quiet the whole time that I'd forgotten she was even there. "What about you, Hazel?" He asked, taking a step towards Hazel, who looked conflicted.

"I don't know...but if everyone else is going, I'll go too." She decided, looking up at Leo, who let out a deep breath, running a hand through his hair.

"Wonderful. Just wonderful."

Then, Leo turned to me, his eyes

practically pleading with me, reminding me of when he used to beg me for my last piece of gum all the time back in school. "Come on, Beauty Queen," He begged, gently touching my arm. "Tell then you're with me."

Fuck.

I was the deciding vote.

Well, not deciding. Annabeth was probably going to march in there anyway, backup or no backup.

Jason gave me a gentle look, his eyebrows raise in concern. "Piper, if you don't want to—"

"I'll go." I said quickly, looking down at the ground so I wouldn't have to look at Leo.

I couldn't help it. I glanced up at Leo, who looked hurt and betrayed, his eyebrows raised in surprise and his mouth hanging ajar. My stomach twisted with guilt in betraying my best friend.

You chose a boy you've been with for about two days over your best friend that you've known for eight years. Way to go, Pipes.

"It's decided then. We're all—"

"Woah, woah, woah. Hold the fuck up." Leo glanced around the room, a pained look on his face. "We're all just going to go with Annabeth's suicide plan and go back to the people who tried to kill us? Bill? Jax?"

Jason cleared his throat. "Actually, Percy killed Jax."

Leo shot him a glare. "Wonderful. Now they'll be even more angry this time around."

"Leo, are you coming or not?" Annabeth asked with a roll of her eyes, her arms crossed.

Leo groaned, running his hands through his hair. "Well shit. I'm not staying here alone." He began to pace around the room, like he used to whenever he got the parts for an invention wrong.

Annabeth zipped her backpack up and turned around to face us, her startling grey eyes sweeping across the room. "I have a plan." She announced, giving Jason a look, like he already knew of her plan.

"Wonderful. She has a plan." Leo muttered sarcastically as he plopped down onto a bunk. He shook his head in disbelief, meeting my eyes.

I tried to smile at him, but he just looked away, ignoring me.

"We all go to lunch, and then dinner and do whatever they make us do until night. Then make our exit in the dark, where we would be hidden from view." Annabeth said slowly, as if we were a class of children learning the abc's. "Now, yes, there's zombies, but we would be ready. Always travel in pairs."

"And there's exactly enough for pairs." Nico interrupted, glancing around at everyone. "Everyone watches for their partner."

"Partners." Leo corrected, shooting Annabeth a glare. "I don't know if you're just used to always having a partner, but we've got an uneven number." He said, glancing around the room.

I mentally winced. Taking jabs at Annabeth definitely wasn't necessary and wouldn't end well for Leo.

I glanced at Annabeth, who looked ready to strangle Leo. Jason laid his hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. "Make sure to scope out the place too, guys." He said, wisely changing the topic of conversation. "I don't trust this place."

Reyna nodded in agreement. "This whole camp seems a little fishy."

"Like fish sticks." Leo said from his bunk, nodding slowly with a very serious expression on his face.

We all stared at him.

"What? Does no one appreciate a good pun anymore?"

Annabeth just rolled her eyes, muttering something inaudible under her breath, still salty over Leo's jab. "Whatever. Who's pairing up with who?" She asked, her eyes scanning across the room.

Now comes the hard part.

The whole room fell silent.

This was literally partnering up in class all over again.

"Partner up everyone! Only two to a group." My chemistry teacher called out from the back of the room.

"Hey, Annabeth, want to be my partner?" Marcus, one of the popular jocks in my class, asked, giving Annabeth a cocky smirk. Annabeth gave him a forced smile, trying to inch away from his hands, which were slowly working themselves up her skirt.

"Hey, Jason." Drew said, giving Jason a flirtatious smile as she took his hand in hers. Jason looked very uncomfortable and glanced at one of his jock friends for help.

I was always forced to work with Rachel, a nice, but unpopular girl in the school. She was new, but had already tarnished her reputation when she made the mistake of picking a fight with Annabeth on the first day of school.

Not a good choice.

The only person who didn't have a partner was Percy, who always worked alone. Not that he really did any work.

I cringed at the thought of those high school memories. Although the apocalypse had only been going on for a few days, the thought of high school sounded so far away in the past.

"Piper?"

I blinked, looking up at Jason, my brain foggy. "Uh, what?"

"Do you want to be my partner?" Jason asked, giving me a brilliant smile.

I grinned, taking his hand in mine. "Of course." I replied, reaching up and kissing his cheek.

I glanced across the room, curious to see how the others paired up.

"Reyna, Hazel, wanna pair up?" Leo asked, shoving his hands in his pockets as he grinned at Reyna and Hazel.

Reyna shrugged. "Why not?" She glanced at Hazel, who nodded with a smile.

"I'd love to." She agreed, giving Leo a small smile. "Do you always wear that tool belt?" She suddenly asked, glancing down at Leo's trusty tool belt.

Leo nodded. "Yup. You never know when it'll come in handy." He said, patting his tool belt.

On the other side of the room, Nico approached Annabeth, hands shoved into his pockets.

What is it with boys shoving their hands in their pockets?

"Hey, Annabeth, right?" Nico asked, watching as Annabeth pulled a white sweatshirt over her head.

"Yep." Annabeth poked her arms and head out through the holes of the sweatshirt and gave Nico a quick smile. "Want to pair up?" She asked, pulling a hair tie from her wrist and tying her hair up in a tight ponytail, curls bouncing.

Nico nodded with a half grin. "Sure."

I turned to Jason with a grin. "How the hell does Annabeth have a hair tie at this point?" I asked, glancing back at Annabeth, who was already deep in conversation with Nico about some book.

Jason shrugged. "Who knows. It's Annabeth."

"Good point."

Annabeth was always the prepared one.

At school, she always had an answer, whether it was to a teacher's question or an argument with a classmate.

"I always have a plan." Annabeth said as she led our team in gym class in the basketball game.

Hopefully her current plan would work.

I didn't even want to begin imagining what would happen if it didn't.