A/N: Hey guys! Happy Halloween! Sorry for the late update this month but I was saving this one for Halloween specifically. That said this one is a lot different from anything I've written on this series so I really hope you guys like it!

Here ya go:

The last place Percy would've thought would be haunted was his new apartment. Yet as he stepped through the threshold he could feel the presence of someone, or rather something. He probably should have vetted it earlier but now he had already signed the lease and all he could do was hope this one wouldn't be that much of a problem.

"Hello," he called out warily. "Are you there?"

Nothing.

He stepped further in and dropped his bags.

"I can feel your presence," he said slowly, "I'm not here to hurt you, I just want to help."

He waited a beat…and still nothing.

Well this wasn't going well. Maybe the spirit wasn't strong enough to appear, or maybe it was just scared or shy. Or, his mind helpfully supplied, it could be waiting to lash out.

Whatever the case, he was losing daylight and needed to finish moving in soon.

But, he thought as he brought in more boxes, he was pretty sure it was safe. He had dealt with violent spirits before and this, this just didn't seem like it.

The air around here, the presence, seemed…sad.

It was dark by the time he finally finished moving in and by then all he could do was slump on the couch and close his eyes.

Honestly, moving was not fu-

A loud noise broke his daze and he quickly stood up. The noise seemed to be coming from the kitchen but when he got there nothing had changed or moved.

"Hey, was that you?" he asked the air.

No answer.

"Look," he sighed tiredly. "I'm not here to hurt you, I'm just living here. I already signed a lease so it's too late to move out, I hope you understand. I'll try and talk to you tomorrow okay? Maybe we can figure something out?"

There was no response but he felt a slight chill and hoped that was a confirmation.

The next day, he dug through the boxes and pulled out a Ouija board. Not the best method but the rest of his stuff was still buried with ten million other things and the board would do until he got it all set up.

"Hey!" he called through the apartment. "I got a board, not ideal, I know but I'll get set up with something better after I finish unpacking okay?"

He wanted to be as transparent as possible, he needed the spirit to trust him, to understand he meant no harm. Overnight he had come to the conclusion that most likely the spirit wasn't strong enough. It seemed new and confused.

Of course he had tried to do his research, as he did with every place he dealt with and looked for any violent deaths of note but nothing of interest had popped up. At least he was sure this was a spirit and not something else.

With the board all set up he waited for a moment to concentrate before asking his first question.

"Who are you?"

For a moment there was nothing and he wondered if maybe the board was also too hard for the spirit to use but another cold chill made him stop.

Slowly the piece moved spelling out the letter

The name sounded familiar and he thought maybe he had seen it on the list of previous owners.

"Annabeth? That's a pretty name, it's nice to meet you. My name is Percy, I'm a medium." He introduced, trying to appear as friendly as possible.

Knowing he probably didn't have that much time, he continued, "Well Annabeth I'll be able to talk to you better once I'm settled in but we need to get somethings clear okay?"

The spirit hadn't harmed him in any way yet and he was pretty sure in his convictions but he wanted to confirm that it was going to be okay.

"Do you understand I'm not going to hurt you?

The piece moved to the YES.

Okay good, this was progress.

"Are you okay with me living here?"

Once again, YES.

He breathed a sigh of relief. Spirits tended to be protective and that usually turned into violence.

"Can you promise you won't hurt me?"

YES.

He smiled. All signs were pointing to his original theory being corre-

Abruptly, the lights started to flicker violently and the room started to get very cold. He saw his breath in front of his face for a second before everything suddenly returned to normal.

"Annabeth?" he called out. He wondered if maybe she had lost her energy.

And sure enough, when he looked down at the board, the piece which had been moving toward a letter had stopped midway. He couldn't feel her presence anymore.

With a sigh he started to collect the board. He really needed to get set up if he wanted to learn more. With renewed vigor he set to unpacking the boxes.

A day later he was settled in and finally had all his materials. He set up the mat and candles and filled a bowl with some items covering it all in a layer of sand. And in the darkened room he chanted, calling the spirit to him. When he finally opened his eyes she was there, barely holding her form, but a woman around his age stared back at him.

She was still too transparent, he was unable to make out too many features. Just that she had light hair and a sad face.

"Hello, it's nice to finally meet you," he said gripping the bowl to maintain the connection.

She nodded.

"How long have you been like this? You seem pretty new at this."

She couldn't seem to talk so he looked down at the bowl where the answer was being written out in the sand.

"One? One month? What happened?"

He looked up to see the girl looking away. He stared in resignation as the letters formed in the sand.

"Shot? You were shot?" The wisps of white flowing down, which he recognized as tears, gave him the confirmation.

"I'm so sorry." And he truly was. She hadn't deserved to get shot, she wasn't even a violent spirit. Just a girl who was confused and lost and sad.

He needed to find out what was connecting her to this place. Her old home. If he found out he could help set her free.

"You used to live here." It was more of a statement than a question, but she nodded anyway.

"Is there anything here of yours that is left?

She seemed to think for a moment before shaking her head.

"Why are you here?" He finally asked.

He looked down and saw the letters being spelt HOME

Ah, so that was it. Well he couldn't just salt and burn the apartment. He would need to help her move on.

"Listen, I can help you, I-" He broke off as the apparition started to flicker and his concentration and hold fell through. He gasped violently as he was thrust out of the communication and into the now brightly lit room.

This would take some time he noted, she wasn't strong enough. He wouldn't be able to help her let go, not like this. She needed to get stronger, which seemed counter intuitive, but he had to be able to talk to her.

He would wait.

-.-.-.-

It took about a month or so but she was finally strong enough to move things around with consistency.

It started with small notes in steamed bathroom mirrors which ranged from "hello" to "Doctors apt. 3."

He laughed at that one and thanked her for reminding him. It was good to deal with a friendly ghost for once.

He noticed that she also helped him out around the apartment, putting dishes away, or throwing out empty diet coke cans.

(He told her she really didn't need to do all that, but a pillow got thrown in his face and he took it as a sign to shut up.)

As a result, they were able to talk for longer periods, even just through the board. He learned a lot from those conversations, for instance, her favorite color was green and that she had loved tea. She brokenly explained her dream job that she had been lucky enough to actually get and he just took it all in.

All the details, all the likes and dislikes, all the little things that had made up this human. She seemed to have lived a good life, only to have it wrenched away from her. No wonder she was stuck here.

-.-.-.-.-

A couple weeks later, she could hold an apparition, which scared him the first time she appeared at the entrance to the kitchen while he was making a sandwich.

She laughed silently at the reaction and he felt a heat come to his cheeks as he begrudgingly laughed along with her.

Now he could see her float through the house, watch TV when he did, stare out the window. It was weird to see her react to things, she would roll her eyes at a bad joke or bop her head to a song.

It seemed like she was getting more and more human every day. More and more real.

"Can you try to talk?" he asked one day as they sat on the couch watching the news.

He watched her consider the words. She opened her mouth but nothing came out. She looked down at her lap, disappointed.

"Hey, it's okay, you'll get there," he reassured. She nodded glumly and turned back towards the news. He took the moment to observe her. He had done more digging and learned more about Annabeth Chase, the previous owner to the apartment, and she had been beautiful. Long curly blonde hair, striking grey eyes and a pretty smile.

Her ghost was a mere shadow, the hair was still light, the eyes still striking, but the smile, the smile had seemed to dwindle.

Though, he thought, she had been getting better each day. She seemed happier, more alive. He realized that he had actually grown to really enjoy her company.

His thoughts were broken when an inhumane scream pierced the air.

Percy jumped at the sound. "Annabeth!?" he yelled.

She had disappeared and the whole place was shaking slightly, lights flickering, and so so cold. He could see his breath.

"Annabeth!?" he yelled again, "Are you okay?"

No answer, just more lights and cold and shaking. Slowly though, it started to fade, the air turned warm, the lights stopped flickering, and things were quiet.

But he could here sobbing coming from the corner of the room and there she was huddled close shaking and sobbing, tears running down her pale cheeks.

He slowly moved closer to her, keeping his hands up and posture open.

"Hey," he whispered sitting beside her, "Hey it's okay."

And there they sat, with her crying and him quietly reassuring her until she finally calmed down and looked up at him.

"They shot me," she whispered, her voice dry and cracking from disuse. She looked up to where the TV was still playing, a police chief talking about a series of mobbings they were investigating.

"They appeared out of nowhere on my walk home and shot me." Her voice was quiet, and tears were still running down her cheeks.

"I don't know what happened after that. I..I just knew I had to get home. So I did, but it wasn't the same. No one could see me, or hear me. They took out all my stuff. I…I realized that I had died."

She looked up with a broken look on her face.

"All I wanted was to go home and drink some tea, I just wanted to live."

His heart hurt and the words. He hated seeing her like this. He hated seeing spirits stuck in torment over things that weren't their fault.

He reached out a hand. She stared at it for a second before reaching out her own to meet his. She had a solid touch now, cold and pale, but still solid. She gasped at the contact.

"I'm sorry," he finally said. He understood her, understood she was trapped here because all she wanted was home. And a life.

"You didn't deserve what happened to you. But you don't deserve this either." He gestured to her body. "You don't deserve this cursed half-life."

"It's not so bad," she replied, looking over at him. "Not when…not when you're around."

He smiled sadly.

"But I won't always be around, and you'll be stuck in torment. You'll turn violent and angry. You need to let go."

Her eyes widened, and she shook her heard vigorously.

"No, no! I don't want to go."

He clasped his other hand on top of hers.

"Listen, I know it seems scary, but it's okay. It'll be better on the other side."

She shook her head and looked away.

"I don't….I don't want to…"

He pulled her close. He knew she was scared, and honestly, he probably would be too. And he found himself not wanting her to go either. But it was better this way. Better for her.

"Shhhh, I know, I know it's hard. But you need to let go. You have come so far Annabeth, you just got to finish it now."

Fresh tears had started running down her face at the words.

"Will I see you again?"

He smiled softly. "Maybe. Wait for me on the other side, yeah?"

She nodded, still crying and he was unsurprised to find a wetness on his cheeks as well.

Suddenly, a bright light shone in the room and he knew it was time. He blinked back his own tears as she slowly got up and moved towards it, entranced.

With one last look back she smiled, a true smile, the smile he had seen in the pictures, and stepped in, vanishing in an instant.

He smiled back as his eyes burned from the light and tears.

"Goodbye Annabeth, may death find you alive."

-.-.-.-.-

So this is what it felt like? He looked down to see his own body lying asleep in bed. Of all the ways to go, he was glad that his was peaceful. He was fortunate. Not everyone got that.

He accepted the hand of the reaper, he knew what would happen is he tried to stay. He had spent his entire life seeing those who had.

The bright light was warmer and brighter when it was for him and the peace he felt upon crossing was pure bliss.

He was glad he had been able to help others achieve it.

Weirdly enough once in the light didn't seem all that blinding, it was simply there. But a silhouette in the distance made him stop. Was it getting closer?

The reaper had left and he was alone with the figure that was most definitely getting closer. He waited until the features became clearer and he was left staring at curly blonde hair and striking grey eyes and the prettiest smile he had ever seen.

"Hi," she said softly.

"Hi," he replied with a smile.

"It's good to see you again."

"Yeah," he stuttered, "good to see you too."

His heart was racing in a way that he wasn't sure it ever had when he was alive.

She reached out a hand and the feeling that overtook him was filled with nervousness and excitement and he never felt more alive.

Together they walked on, hand in hand. Maybe their lives had been preoccupied, driven by a purpose, or cut short in a horrible way.

But now they had an eternity to figure it out.

An eternity to live, even in death.

A/N: So what did you think of this spoopy Halloween update? Did you like it? Like I said a whole lot different from the other stuff I've written in this series but I hope you guys enjoyed it! There's not really a message behind this one as their usually is in stuff I write, but it's good to just have a little fun with it :)

Please review! I'd love to hear your thoughts! Especially on a chapter like this one!

And as always, thanks for reading!

See ya! :)