Disclaimer: I don't own the PJO characters

Chapter Six

Annabeth woke up to the sound of someone hammering nails and whistling. Groggily, she tucked herself deeper into the sheets before she remembered the day and her eye caught the clock on the wall. Monday. School. Great. She had play babysitter for Rachel Dare all day. Her window was open at the far side of her room through which the hammering persisted. She turned over in bed, refusing to get out, and froze when she saw who was on the other side of the bed.

Percy's head lay on the side of her mattress. The rest of his body was sprawled on the ground and his arms were outstretched on either side. One of his hands skimmed her pillow. Annabeth could see a trail of drool coming out of the side of Percy's mouth. She tilted her head, trying to catch where his lamp was. How'd Percy end up here?

Last night hit her like a tsunami. Annabeth sat up in bed with a jolt, running her fingers down her cheeks but there were no spots or cuts that Athena gave her. Her breath caught in her throat. Though she would never admit it to him, it never ceased to amaze her what Percy was capable of with his magic.

Annabeth glanced at Percy again. He wasn't loud but if she paid attention, she could hear his soft snores. Percy was so calm when he was asleep, she didn't want to wake him up. His forehead was scrunched and his chest was rising and falling at a regular pace. Usually, Annabeth could see his shoulders tense and alert like he was waiting for something to go wrong, but now she could see he was completely relaxed.

"Percy."

Annabeth shook his arm and Percy woke up with a start. He wiped the train of drool down his arm. He stared at Annabeth like a muzzled bear before he snapped back into reality.

"Wait, what am I doing here?"

"I don't know."

Percy's eyes went wide. "Did I feed Blackjack last night?"

"… I don't know?"

Percy swallowed forcefully. He sat there, staring stoically at the ground at what Annabeth realised was his lamp. A few seconds later, he mumbled something inaudible and disappeared into the lamp in a swirl. Annabeth threw her over the side of her bed to grab his lamp on the ground and set it on her bedside table. Her room was uncomfortably happy this morning. A thick carpet of sunlight warmed her floor and her curtains were flapping in the breeze flowing through her semi-open window. Annabeth grabbed a towel and stepped into the shower.

Once again, she inspected her face in the mirror for any cuts and once again, she couldn't find anything. It wasn't the first time Athena lashed out at her but it had been a while since the last time. Part of Annabeth was frustrated Percy didn't grant her the wish but she knew he was right. No matter what Athena was, she was paying for a lot of expenses Frederick and Helen couldn't cover. Even if it was a contract relationship, Annabeth had to hang around Athena for a little more time.

Annabeth stepped out of her pyjamas and into the shower. She vaguely heard Helen's voice yelling at her little brothers through the walls over her bathroom.

"Hey," Percy's voice came from his lamp as she strolled back into her room. "Are you taking me with you to school today?"

"Yeah. I mean, it's not like you can come out but my friend, Leo, has been begging to see your lamp anyway."

"Mm, I've always known my lamp was prettier than most."

"Percy."

"Yeah?"

"I wanted to say thank you. I didn't want anything more to see Athena dead yesterday but you didn't grant me the wish because you said I'd regret it. You were right. So, thank you. Thank you for stopping me and thank you for healing me."

Percy went silent and Annabeth moved to rub the side of his lamp. He sprung out as usual, giving her smile she hadn't seen on him before. His eyes crinkled and it made Annabeth chest swell. He had been an absolute pain in the ass back when she first met him but it turned out, their friendship was working on a level of trust she never thought they'd get to.

"Honestly, it was the least I could do," Percy said finally. "I don't know if any other human would come into the lamp with me or even promise to try to help get me out. Anyone else would hand me over to the authorities the second I showed the inside of my lamp."

Annabeth threw her arms around Percy and buried her face in the crook of his neck; he was a whole head taller than her. Percy made a disgruntled sound of surprise and he stumbled back a few inches before calmly wrapping one arm around her waist and patting her back awkwardly with the second hand.

"Annabeth! We're going to be late!"

Annabeth sighed, stepping back from Percy's arms pointing at the lamp. "Get in. We have to go now."

She put Percy's lamp upright in the front pocket of her bag with the spout sticking out for the fresh air he wanted before swinging the bag over her shoulders. Another day of school. Time was just ticking away now before she graduated and finally left.

aoaoaoaoaoaoaoao

The first thing that happened when Annabeth arrived to her first class, calculus, was a conversation with her teacher before she could even enter. Rachel was inside, apparently, curled up in one seat while everyone else around her was deathly silent. All Annabeth had to do was "give Rachel a friend." Annabeth doubted that would be easy but the teacher promised that they'd take care of everything else. The teacher was grim and admitted that something had already gone wrong but per say Rachel's mother pleading and Rachel's clean record (and money, probably), they were ready to give Rachel a second chance under constant supervision.

Annabeth entered her classroom, her eyes narrowing at the silent room. Not everyone had arrived yet but it was unheard of for a classroom in the morning to be so silent.

Frank Zhang and sat in the front of the room, staring at a pile of worksheets on the teacher's desk. Piper was behind him, sitting with Katie Gardner. They both sent Annabeth small smiles and Piper motioned at the free seat next to her. Annabeth shook her head. Near the back of the classroom, Charles Beckendorf looked ashen. His girlfriend, Silena, was glaring at the redhead sitting alone.

Annabeth dropped down next to Rachel. "Hey."

Rachel sniffled.

"Hey, Rachel. Are you excited for your first day?"

"I have art next."

"That's exciting, right?"

"Don't talk to me like I'm a child."

Annabeth blinked. She hadn't expected such an outright answer.

Rachel finally turned around. Her cheeks were pale and hollow. Her red hair was hoisted on the top of her head in a bun with three coloured pencils sticking out of it. Her hands were shaking and obvious tear tracks stained her face.

Annabeth stare shifted to the paint-ridden clothes Rachel wore before travelling back to Rachel's green eyes. "Are you okay?"

Rachel snapped, and a giggle escaped. She scampered on the seat, sitting on it like a spider before reaching forward to tug at Annabeth's curls. "You have white hair!"

"Rachel?"

"Look at me! We're opposites; I have black hair!"

"I know," Annabeth muttered. "What beauty in black and white."

"Sing with me! I followed the stars to a place I don't know."

Annabeth watched Rachel go off, humming the song. Rachel's genie lamp sat in front of her on the desk in its golden glory. Rachel's fingers lazily stroked the lamp as she went on singing. Annabeth wondered what song it was. She considered searching up the lyrics of the song but decided against it when she saw Piper's eyes bearing into her.

What? Piper mouthed.

Annabeth pointed to the teacher, herself, and then knocked her head to the side to signal Rachel.

Piper made an 'o' with her mouth and turned back around to sit down as other students entered one by one.

Annabeth sunk into her seat as the teacher began the lesson. Rachel switched from singing in the middle of class to bursting into tears. At one point, the teacher had to take Rachel out and the entire class started talking the second Rachel went out. Charles Beckendorf was the first one, freaking out about how the school had to kick Rachel out or some "serious shit" was going to go down.

"Why?" Annabeth shot him down. "Okay, so, she's a little out of place. But that's what our school is about. Helping those who can't help themselves. It's not like she asked to be mentally ill."

"She's crazy! Have you noticed how Luke isn't here?"

Annabeth glanced around the classroom. It was true. Luke was in only one of her classes and it was marvelling how she missed that.

"Yeah, that was actually really weird," Piper said. "Poor Luke."

"What happened?"

"Shit happened," Charles said. He made the gesture of a bomb exploding with all the sound effects and Silena slapped his arm. He rubbed the spot. "Geez, okay, I'll get to the point. Rachel came in with her mom and Luke was already here with us. He was doing last minute homework. Then the teacher and Rachel's mom stayed outside to talk and Rachel attacked Luke!"

"I walked in halfway through," Piper continued. "Rachel was screaming like a lunatic. I mean, she is a lunatic. She swung a fucking chair at Luke's face and broke his nose. Then her mom and the teacher came in and stopped her. The second Luke left, Rachel was fine again and started up singing. It was like someone flicked a switch."

Charles shuddered. "I've always hated redheads. If Luke can't play in our football game tomorrow, I'll go insane."

Annabeth frowned. She was too hung up on the fact that it was Luke this happened to. Why was it Luke Rachel attacked? It didn't help his case knowing Percy thought of Luke as a crazy escapee. She glanced at her bag on the ground, hoping Percy was listening to everything happening.

The teacher and Rachel came into the class and the conversations died out. Rachel hugged Annabeth on the way back to her seat. She stroked Annabeth's curls. During the rest of the class, Annabeth scribbled down note after note from the board and solved the math questions as the teacher dished them out. All throughout, she heard Rachel's voice quietly singing her song on loop: "I followed the stars to a place I don't know. I landed the moon on the sun. I can't tell why but I can't tell us apart. If only you'd just tell me how."

The song was stuck in Annabeth's throughout next period. She had her elective then: design and technology. The rest of the time passed through quickly and when she saw Rachel again at the end of second period, she was happier than Annabeth had seen her all morning. Art, it seemed, really was therapeutic for Rachel. But then Rachel sat up straight for social studies, answering one question correct after another and left the entire class baffled. Annabeth could only stare at the way Rachel's eyes glittered and she wondered if it was a version of a completely sane, normal Rachel she was seeing. And then there was Rachel's genie lamp. Rachel was more than just protective of it. She was kept it hidden in her bag and every few minutes, she'd open the zip and whisper to her genie. Once in a while, she took it out and lifted it, talking to her genie about how everything looked around her.

Lunch came around at the end of social studies and once again, Rachel was glued to Annabeth.

"So you're on babysitting duty," Leo stated. He and Annabeth leaned against their usual tree at lunchtime, watching as Rachel whistled and drew shapes in the dirt on the ground. A teacher stood nearby with their eyes glued to Rachel.

"Still think she's hot?"

Leo made a show of considering it. "I mean, she's kinda cute. In the crazy kind of way."

"You're both insane."

"Nah, only one of us. Literally."

"I feel kind of bad," Annabeth said. "Apparently when her mom and the teacher were talking, some people overheard. Rachel's mom said this whole mental illness thing was a very recent thing. Less than a year ago, Rachel was completely normal and wanted to be an artist. She used to paint Claude Monét type sceneries of bridges over water. It was a quick decent into madness."

Leo and Annabeth slid down the tree. Annabeth took Percy's lamp out and grinned at Leo's expression. He grumbled, complaining that Annabeth got one of the rare coloured lamps while he had one that was a boring silver. Their fingers left prints on the side of the clean lamp and Annabeth knew she'd have to wipe it before she could let Percy see it. He had a bit of an OCD keeping the exterior of his lamp clean.

"So he's not an asshole anymore?"

"I think he's just that kind of joke-y personality with a twitch of arrogance," Annabeth said. "Athena came over on Sunday and slapped the hell out of me until her nails left me bleeding and Percy just healed me and I found him drooling on my bed in the morning."

"Yeah, you've also been in his lamp. Seems like you're finally getting along."

"That too. Did you talk to Hazel about her captivity?"

Leo shook his head. "I saw the smoke trail you were on about though. I know she can't move far away from her lamp. So, okay, maybe they're chained. What can we do about it? I don't want to bring it up to her because Hazel's that kind of small, meek personality. She's great but I don't think she wants to talk about the chains. Besides, what will I even be able to do about it? Nothing."

Annabeth shrugged. "I don't know."

Percy's lamp warmed under her fingers momentarily.

"Hey, where'd Rachel go?"

Annabeth scanned the grounds. The park benches a couple yards away were steaming with students and on the other side, people went on in and out of the building. But Rachel was no where to be seen and nor was the teacher who had their eye on her.

"Do we go look for her or…?"

"Nah. I bet the teacher who was watching her has followed her to the bathroom or something. She'll be fine if she went off alone anyway. More than half the teachers here are watching her like hawks."

That theory shot itself down when the same teacher ran up to them, frazzled. "Do you know where Rachel went?"

Annabeth squinted at the teacher from where she sat on the ground. It was too bright with the sun and no clouds to shield its glare. "No, I'm sorry. We weren't paying attention when she left. We can help you find her if you want?"

The teacher glared at her and Annabeth got the feeling she was supposed to have been watching Rachel as well. The teacher said, "I followed Rachel inside but she started running out of nowhere and I lost her."

"We'll look in the art department first," Annabeth offered. She stuffed Percy's lamp in the front pocket of her bag and grabbed Leo's hand to pull him up with her. "And if we find her, we'll bring her to the main office?"

"Yes," the teacher cursed and Leo snorted at the foul words. "I don't think sending Rachel to any school but a mental institution is beneficial for her like her family believes it is. We have to call her mother."

Annabeth and Leo went their own way from the teacher. Leo groaned into the sleeve of his hoodie. "Great, we lost a full grown redhead. I don't lose even my tools back at the shop or my math homework because of how scary my teacher is. That girl needs to go. Especially all those rumours of her attacking Luke and now Luke isn't able to see properly."

"He isn't?"

"You haven't heard?" They rounded the corner to the art department and went on peeking through all the windows of the classrooms to find Rachel.

"I know she attacked Luke and he went to the nurse."

"He's got a broken nose and a swollen eye. I guess we finally found someone who can beat down the oh-my-gods-look-at-his-muscles Luke." Leo wiggled his eyebrows and Annabeth went red.

"That was so long ago," she scoffed. "I don't think like that anymore."

"Shh, you can't hide from your best friend. I know what goes through your head every time you see him."

"You have it all wrong, Leo."

An awfully familiar scream tore through the art department and Annabeth shared an alarmed look with Leo. They ran after the scream, ducking past overhead decorations and dodging sculptures on the ground. Annabeth's bag weighed her down but she kept her speed, heart thumping wildly. Rachel's wailing, gut-wrenching cries got louder as they reached the end of the hallway and barged through a door.

Leo sucked in a loud gasp the second they entered. Rachel sat curled in one corner of the room, her head thrown backwards to scream while her arms wrapped around her legs protectively. All around her were A4 sized canvases of artwork. Annabeth bent down to pick one up. Her head spun. The painting was of a genie who was sparking, their blond hair doused in golden glitter. The genie was tied up in chains and blood matted the ground. In the painting, a shadow of someone else, also sparking, stood in the background with a whip in their hands. It was a dark, twisted painting of someone mentally sick. Every canvas on the floor had a different image of screaming, captured genies being whipped that sent chills up Annabeth's spine. Rachel was insanely protective over her genie but here she was, drawing genies over and over again in pictures no one wants to be in.

She pushed the canvases aside and kneeled next to Rachel. Rachel quieted as Annabeth stroked the redhead's back. Annabeth lifted her gaze to give Leo a grim expression of confusion.

Then, Annabeth noticed Thalia Grace.

Thalia Grace, the school gymnastics champion, stood near the door with her arms crossed over her chest. With a start, it dawned on Annabeth what was going on. Rachel was cowering. She was terrified. Of Thalia Grace. Annabeth leaned into Rachel, wrapping her arms around her. She felt strangely protectively over Rachel who couldn't defend herself. A baby, who needed someone to look out for them. Rachel hiccuped in Annabeth's arms, her screams nothing but soft sniffles now.

Thalia Grace. Annabeth's mind whirred. How did Thalia Grace fit the equation?

aoaoaoaoaoaoaoao

Annabeth was standing over her locker three hours past school ended. Leo was around with her until the two hour point before his dad called him for help with the mechanic store and it left her alone until her debate team was done with their day's work. Almost everyone else had already left and Annabeth was past the point of exhausted and hungry. She slipped the few books she needed for the night into her backpack before stumbling towards the bathroom to splash water on her face.

A thumping sound came from behind her as she exited the bathroom and Annabeth turned around, watching for movement in the well-lit hallway. There wasn't a teacher, a student, or even an ant anywhere around it and despite the lighting, she found it creepy.

The same sound of thumps returned and Annabeth spun around. Luke Castellan was at the end of the hallway, leaning against the lockers, his breathing shallow. His clothes were torn and blood splattered down his bare chest. They were all right to say Luke broke his nose but Annabeth couldn't see the swelling in his eye from where she stood. He was covered in mud and Annabeth's hand flew to her mouth when she saw angry red burns around his wrists. Did Luke get attacked?

Before Annabeth could say something, Luke pushed himself off the lockers and continued his way down the hall. He was stumbling with his eyes barely open. Luke passed by Annabeth without acknowledging her presence and she gasped at his eye. Rachel had hit him hard: the eye was so red, black, and big that he couldn't open it. His other eye squinted in the direction of the exit.

Luke disappeared through the doors of the school and into the parking lot. Annabeth stared at the way he had gone. First, Rachel and her terrifying paintings. Then Thalia Grace standing in the art room with a murderous expression. Then Luke, limping down the hall after what seemed like a fight with a bull.

Then Percy telling her Luke had escaped his lamp, telling her that Luke was a friend of his gone insane.

Every cell in Annabeth screamed at her to go home. But somehow, she couldn't. She started towards the doors Luke had left through. Something was happening and Luke was in the middle of it. Somehow, it connected to her genie who Annabeth was supposed to keep safe in the lamp. Annabeth wanted answers. And she was going to them one way or another. There was no one there to stop her anyway. Where was Luke going? What had he done?

She launched into a light jog, masking the sound of her feet hitting the ground.

It wouldn't be hard, Annabeth thought. To follow someone who can't see out of one eye.

SORRY I KNOW THIS IS LATE. But in my defence... it's less than a day late so um... hehe? Thanks so much for all the reviews, guys, seriously :))) I got like 23 reviews or something on the last chapter and here I was thinking it was the shittiest chapter ever. I really hope this story still interests you guys and if it isn't, let me know so I can fix it up!

As for the BROMANCE, Percy and Jason won by a long way but I didn't want to leave out Grover 'cause in the original plot, the losing bromance was never going to meet. Soooo I changed the plot! Now both bromances will happen with equal importance, just at different times. I hope that makes everyone happy :)

Anywaaayy... I'll try to update on Friday next week but I have the ACT on Sat. so it doesn't seem likely :( Whenever I do update next, though, it'll be on a Friday!

Review, Follow, Favourite!

~Ami

P.S.: So far, no one's prediction about the story has been correct (one got close but somehow is still very far)!