"It's nice," Annabeth said. "We did a great job."

"At least we don't have to sleep in tents anymore," Percy rubbed his shoulder dramatically. Annabeth bumped his hip with her own, walking inside their cabin. It'd taken three months, but finally they were finished building the exterior. Now there was only the interior and painting. Annabeth dreaded the painting. But she despised wallpaper.

"We still need our sleeping bags. We don't have furniture."

"Ugh, don't remind me." Percy picked up a stray hammer, plopping it into their tool chest. "I like this place. It's cozy."

"And quiet." Annabeth wrapped her arms around his shoulder. "Nobody can hear us." Percy leaned down, kissing her.

"Do what?" Percy asked. He kissed her neck.

"That," Annabeth laughed, kissing him with a renewed vigor.


Lou Ellen was proud to say that her involvement with the whole Percy-Annabeth situation was none, according to the public. She'd acted surprised that he 'killed' her and even volunteered to look for him. Of course, she wasn't going to tell anybody about what happened. She wasn't risking her neck for them. Jason Grace was out for Percy's blood. Apparently he was being pressured into finding him by Zeus. She'd heard a rumour that his sister, Thalia, had disowned him for his crusade.

"So what do we do?" Travis Stoll asked. Clarisse looked around.

"Split into groups of two. A person who looks like him was spotted here."

"It's a ghost town," Katie said, standing beside Katie.

"Great place to disappear. Witch, you're with me." Lou followed Clarisse to an old apartment building.

"Doubt he's here," Lou said as Clarisse broke down a board to enter the building. "I mean, Jackson doesn't seem the type to hide out in an abandoned apartment complex."

"Yeah? He's also not the type to kill his girlfriend." Clarisse began searching the lobby.

Lou Ellen stopped. "You don't think he did it!" she realised. Clarisse glowered at her, warily. "I mean, I don't, either, but it's surprising that you of all people believe he's innocent."

"Why is it surprising?" Clarisse asked, slamming her shoulder into a door.

"Weren't you guys rivals?" Clarisse didn't respond. Lou followed her up a staircase. "So why are you searching for him, then?"

"If I can find him first, maybe we can figure out what really happened. I know Jackson. He wouldn't kill the princess. Not even for his own mother's life. Grace… he'll kill him. I don't know what Zeus said or did, but he's obsessed with finding him." Well, even if Percy was found, he'd be with Annabeth so people would just be plain confused. Lou wanted to see that.


Poseidon coldly stared out the window. He was devastated, angry and on the verge of murder. He forced himself to focus back on the meeting at hand.

"So there's been no news of the traitor?" Athena asked.

"None," Jason Grace confirmed. "He seems to have vanished completely. We have nearly every demigod out there looking for him, but there's been no news. We're following up on every lead we get."

Poseidon sighed. What led Percy to this? Tartarus? Or was it Mt. St. Helen's? When he first discovered how truly powerful he was? Poseidon wanted to know.

"Anything to add, brother?" Zeus asked, looking at him. Poseidon bit back an angry retort.

"Nothing." Zeus seemed disappointed at his lack of an outburst. Poseidon had to know what had happened to make his son lose his mind. Or maybe nothing had happened.

Maybe it was Poseidon's blood running in his veins.


"The gods are hypocrites," Nico announced, sitting beside Thalia. "'He's a murderer', they exclaim. As if they haven't killed at least a thousand people."

"They're gods," Will said, handing him a plate of fruit. "What do you expect? Thalia, make sure he eats them."

"Fuck you," Nico called as his boyfriend left. Thalia was staring ahead of herself, glumly. "Hey, you okay?"

"I had a dream."

"A demigod dream?" he asked. Had she seen Percy?

"No," Thalia said. "It was of Annabeth. She was… cutting wood. I don't know why I dreamt that. I've never seen her cut wood. And now I'm imagining her cutting… other things."

Nico blinked. "What?"

"Tartarus. After they got back… they were worse. You… you went there but you weren't like that. Why?"

"Maybe because of my dad," Nico shrugged. "But yeah. I saw it. Percy was like that as well. They were different after Tartarus. Percy was darker. Afraid. Annabeth seemed scared when they were without each other."

Thalia sighed. "So you haven't found her soul?"

"No." Nico jumped up and tossed his fruit in the bin. "Let's go see Mrs Jackson!" Thalia smiled softly.

"Sure."

Nico was glad they did.

"Where is he?!" Nico jumped at the sound of Jason's voice. Nico stepped back, preparing to sneak in but Thalia stalked further inside of the apartment. Nico hurried after her, holding his sword out. Jason, Hazel, Leo and Sally were inside. Leo was standing off to the side, his arms folded but he did look shocked by Jason's outburst. Hazel was standing beside Jason, who was glaring at Sally.

"Jason!" Thalia exclaimed, glaring at him. "What the fuck!? Get away from her!"

"Hazel?" Nico asked. "What's going on?"

"We were checking to see if Jackson had visited." Jackson? Since when did Hazel hate him?

"What is wrong with you?!" Thalia exclaimed. "Percy's not a murderer! And Sally did nothing wrong! Leave her alone!"

"You're blind," Jason said. "I get that he loved her! I do! But his severed arm was found beside her body! Her dead body! She was your best friend! He killed her! Why can't you see that?!"

"You didn't see it," Hazel said. "I heard the shouting. I saw it. His arm… her body…" Hazel shuddered. "It makes no sense that you're both this delusional."

"You barely knew Percy and it's obvious if you think that he'd kill Annabeth! Annabeth! He fell into Tartarus for her!" Nico shook his head. "You wouldn't just kill somebody who you'd do that for."

"Are we ignoring the arm?!"

"Well, if you'd just listen—"

"You're the one who won't listen! You won't even acknowledge the possibility—"

"Hey!" Leo shouted. "Children! Shut the fuck up! We're not getting anywhere here! I don't know what happened and I know how things look but we can't start arguing in the middle of Mrs Jackson's apartment! We'll explode something!"

"Get out," Thalia said. "Now." She glared at Jason, Hazel and Leo. Jason glowered at her but stalked out. Hazel and Leo followed. There was silence as they all looked at each other. Sally stood.

"They do realise that I'm married," Sally said. "It's Blofis."

Despite himself, Nico laughed. So that's where Percy got the 'pretend like nothing unusual just happened' trait.


"Blue."

"Grey."

"Blue."

"Percy, we are not about to have a blue kitchen."

"But—"

"No."

"Fine," Percy pouted. "I want our room to be blue, then."

"Fine," Annabeth agreed, smiling. She threw a hat to him, putting on a wig for herself.

"Why are we disguising ourselves again?" Percy asked, trying on the hat before adjusting the size to be a bit bigger.

"Because we're dead to them, Seaweed Brain. What if Apollo is out flying his sun chariot and he spots us?"

"Okay," Percy said. "I'm driving."

"I don't like cars," Annabeth mumbled, hopping into Percy's blue one.

"Yeah? Well, we're going paint shopping. We're not going to walk back with it. And didn't you learn how to drive?"

"Yeah. Doesn't mean that I like them."

"Okay, Wise Girl."

"Shut it, Seaweed Brain."


(I know that I said the chapters would be longer, but I needed to get these events out in one chapter. Also, somebody just guessed a huge plotpoint that'll be seen around the fourth chapter and congratulations on that!)