Now I owe you guys another apology… as if you guys aren't already exhausted about this and actually read my A/Ns. But I seriously am running out of inspiration. I got something for this, but I'm not sure about the next few chapters. I might have to run off to a retreat in the mountains or something. (*sigh* That sounds awesome, even if I probably won't come up with anything new)

Enjoy!

Annabeth wearily yawned in the salt-and-pepper gravel of the Zeus driveway, squinting her eyes against the slowly brightening sunlight. "Piper, did we have to come at this time?"

Her friend sternly placed her hands on her hips. "This is important. The event later this evening is very special, and I want to make sure we doing everything right and it goes smoothly."

She gave her a sideways look. "You don't even know the Atlas family. Why are you going so far for them?"

Piper harrumphed. "Can't I just care about a new member in the community?"

"No, because whenever someone new comes along people such as you start circling like vultures."

Piper glared at her, her multicolored eyes, currently brown, tinted slightly red by the rising sun. "I do not!"

"Well, I'm hoping you're willing to exploit those private reasons later, and that they're interesting, because we both know how Thalia is in the morning. She will not want to be woken up for some old-lady gossip."

Piper flapped a gloved hand at her. "We will talk about something interesting. Now, hush, just for this minute." She gestured at her footman, brightly dressed in a lacey pink overcoat (Aphrodite's doing, no doubt), who knocked sharply on the door. Just one second later, a young "nymph" appeared at the door in a gauzy green dress and her hair up in loose braids.

"Hello!" She said cheerily. "You must be Lady Athena and…" she faltered slightly. "Lady Aphrodite!"

Piper blinked and cocked her head, forgetting her manners for the moment. "Pardon, what's wrong with my surname?"

"Nothing!" She said hurriedly. "It's-well-um, I was wondering if The Honorable Duchess herself wanted something."

Annabeth placed a firm hand on Piper's arm with a warning, I'll tell you later look. She could easily guess what was happening through numerous circulating rumors. "She does not. We are here for a private visit with Lady Thalia, if that can be managed."

"Oh!" The rosy flush returned to her cheeks. "Yes, I will alert my mistress. Come inside, please, and wait in the foyer."

She led them into the gleaming, gold-and-marble foyer with a sparkling, newly installed statue of Zeus staring off into the distance with a knowing and confident expression. Other nymphs were hurrying around, their flower wreaths dancing as they lit the gold candle alcoves and drew open the midnight-colored velvet drapes.

The initial girl bowed and rushed off into a side doorway. Piper impatiently turned to Annabeth, still looking confused. "What was that?" She demanded.

"Well, not too long ago, people were speaking about your mother seeing Zeus quite regularly. A lot of suspicions manifested about illegal relations between them, and I believe that his servants are afraid of getting punished for letting her."

"Who would dare investigate the case? Zeus is basically the king of London!"

Annabeth gave her a look. "Your mother has other certified suitors, and a husband, if I'm not wrong."

Piper stepped onto her toes to whisper into Annabeth's ear. "No one knows anything about her relationship with Hephaestus. Just don't bother thinking about it."

"Oh, uh, okay. And another quite possible theory is that Aphrodite is well-known for meddling in the romances of youths. Her and one of her sons, Eros. She has definitely caused trouble for a number of nymphs."

"I didn't think of that at all. Annabeth, do you get all your knowledge from listening to gossipers?"

She crossed her arms. "I read fine literature too, you know!"

"Sure," Piper answered dubiously, a gleam in her eye.

Before they could escalate into a full-on debate, a new servant girl appeared before them. "Good morning, Lady Athena and Lady Aphrodite. Are you ready to see Lady Grace now?"

"Um, where is the original girl?" Piper blurted, probably wanting to reassure her about her concerns about her mother.

The newer girl blinked in surprise. "Do you mean Willow? I've never had anyone ask that."

"Well, Annabeth here spends whole afternoons chatting with her maids."

The servant girl gaped at her.

She held up her hands. "I like them and all, but none of us have full afternoons to spend together. We just talk when they dress me."

Her mouth still didn't close. Finally, she shook herself, and still a little wide-eyed, she gestured up the stairs. "Lady Grace has one of the back chambers. She will see you now."

She brought them across the long trip through the Zeus mansion, and Annabeth was getting rather tired from looking at all the golden paintings of Zeus and walking down the expensive Persian carpets when they finally rounded a corner into a darker hallway. Fewer maids were here, dusting the corners and keeping only a few candles lit in the sitting room. The dark oak door at the end was completely untouched.

"That's Lady Grace's bedchamber," the servant announced, but both of them already guessed that.

"Is-is she awake?" Annabeth asked with trepidation.

"Mostly," she said vaguely before curtsying and disappearing.

"What does that mean?" Piper asked rhetorically.

Annabeth squeezed her hand and knocked the door. "Can we come in?" she asked softly.

A low, scratchy voice called out, "You better hurry up, and stop talking."

Annabeth and Piper exchanged looks. "Are you rethinking this?" she hissed. "Because I am. Desperately thinking this."

Piper shook her head and bravely straightened her shoulders. "Stop that. Thalia is our friend. This will go well." Then she swung open the door and marched in. Annabeth slowly sunk in behind.

"Close the door!" something in the gloom roared. "I don't want to see light!"

Annabeth snapped it shut.

"What are you doing here?" Thalia groaned, still invisible in the darkness of her room.

"Um… it's me, Piper. We have—"

"Wait!" she yelled. "You sounded different… are there two of you?!" Her voice was raised to an ear-blasting volume.

"Yeah…," Annabeth managed out.

"Aaaargh! Stupid annoying visitors in the morning, interrupting my precious sleep and barging into my space," she muttered to herself, but still loud enough for all of them to hear.

Piper and Annabeth reached a silent agreement to stay silent, at least temporarily. But as they waited, they could hear soft snoring, and the unmistakable noise of something rolling in blankets.

"Thalia?" Piper called incredulously. "Are you back to sleeping?"

"Not with you yapping in my ear!" she yelled in a slightly sleepy voice.

"She was," Annabeth stated. "Come on, Piper, let's go. This was a bad idea."

"Annabeth? Not you too! You used to be my friend, you know? This is pure and utter betrayal! It's like I barged into your personal library-oh yes, I know you have one-and burned all your books! Who in their right mind wakes me up in the morning?!"

Piper rubbed her forehead. She finally started to look regretful.

Annabeth yanked her to the side and they had a heated whispering contest. Then, before Thalia could go back to sleep, Annabeth strode over to her bedside. She kneeled by the older woman's head and said in a soft, coaxing tone. "Now, I know waking up and opening your eyes is hard, and it must be so difficult for you, but we're your best best friends and we'll only take a little of your time."

Thalia, clearly annoyed at her condescending tone, rolled over and stuck out her tongue. Meanwhile, Piper had sneaked over to the back and tugged back the curtains, just for a silver. Thalia hissed and opened her eye slightly, revealing a strip of metallic sky blue. Her pupil zeroed onto Annabeth and she glared at her with the force of a thousand muscly women.

Annabeth recoiled a little at how electric Thalia's eye looked in the direct sunlight. "Um, good morning?"

She grunted in response.

Piper noisily dragged over two plush chairs. "I know Thalia is unlikely to get out of bed and dressed within this day, so we'll chat right here. We have something serious to talk about, Thalia."

She opened another lightning-blue eye, also just for a slit. If it wasn't for the nest of dark bed hair all over her pillow, Annabeth would worry that she looked dangerously like a snake. "What?" she asked sharply.

Piper folded her hands in her lap, looking excited to talk. "Well… you know about the Atlas family moving in three weeks ago, right?"

Thalia groaned and stared at her ceiling. "You're here to gossip?!" She muttered a handful of curse words that sailors would gasp at.

"Hush, I'm not done." She continued to speak over Thalia's "of course not." "Their youngest daughter was rather uprooted, don't you think? Calypso?"

"Go on," Thalia growled. "Just finish soon."

"She picked a slightly unfortunate time to drop in. I mean, this is the Season! Men are out hunting for a beautiful and respectful wife, and there's plenty to chose from. Calypso's completely new, so who knows what could happen to her!"

"Get to your point, Piper," Annabeth said hurriedly, noticing something like a fist under the blanket.

"As you two are both well-informed about, Calypso has her own particular debutante dance tonight. It's going to be the start of her own, though slightly diminutive, Season. Basically, the start of her life from here. I think we should make an effort to help it become as helpful to her as possible. I've met her before, and she seems nice. Why can't we take her temporarily under our wing? All we have to do is introduce her to nice and rich guys and hide her from the nasty old men. And when people try to give them their own personal introductions, we can pick out what's rumored to be and what's true."

Annabeth guessed that Piper was going to say something like this, but she was still impressed. "Actually, that doesn't sound bad. It sounds fun. We can't just take over everything, though."

Piper's teeth gleamed in the semi-darkness. "Who said we can't? We can just push troublemakers out the back door and make sure the right crowd stays around Calypso while the mediocre one snacks on the refreshments." Her tone didn't sound like she was joking.

Thalia scrunched her eyes closed further. "While I am very much in the mood to do something evil right now, I don't want to engage in your misguided plans for completely sorting out this ball. Yes, we can offer her out very wise advice, and keep an eye out for who," she yawned so loudly the nearby windowpane rattled, "is untrustworthy, but I'm not going to hand her future off to you. Now, is that it? I want to sleep now. Even thinking about this ball I'm not going to attend to and what wisdom I'm going to pass off to this youngster is making me tired." Before either of them could say a thing, her pale arm darted out of the blankets to close the curtains, and she turned so her back faced them.

Annabeth wondered how her friends said all sorts of these ridiculous things but weren't joking as Piper pouted.

"Can we go?" she whispered to her. "We can figure this out later, but Thalia's room is creeping me out."

"Good!" Thalia snapped from across the bed.

Piper frowned and huffily left. Outside, in the hallway, the maid was waiting for them eagerly. "How did it go? I heard yelling, and a loud screech, but are you guys fine?"

"Yeah, that was just Piper moving chairs around. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a morning of heavy reading to do to calm my nerves, and a very important ball to get dressed for." Grinning, the servant girl lead them back.

"Hey!" Piper protested, hanging onto her arm. "Wait! We need to discuss potential suitors!"

Annabeth slowed a little to let her friend follow. "Yeah, okay, but I don't really know. Besides, hasn't she already started meeting some of the men around here?"

Piper raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow. "Really? Actually, I have heard about that, just a little. Apparently, there's this Demeter boy who loves talking about plants with her or something…?"

"Alright, that's a strange rumor. No, there's something else…" Suddenly, her brain jolted and sent a memory to her. Just around a month and a half ago she was out with Luke, playing croquet, and Percy showed up with one of the many girls he was courting. Her angry emotions from then surged up, along with all the observances she made about Luke and the new girl, Calypso. Piper was right, she was quite nice. But her with Percy? Her stomach turned at the thought, though she didn't know why. It didn't seem, initially, like a horrible pair, but a nagging feeling told her they didn't belong together. And there was a continuous protesting in her sternum, which twisted up in knots at the thought. She shook aside all these quasi-intuitive thoughts and turned to Piper. "Actually, I saw her out courting Perseus Jackson." She tried to make her voice calm, but she was almost certain there was a wobble.

Piper raised an eyebrow again. "Since when did you call him 'Perseus Jackson?' It was always 'Lord Poseidon' or 'Lord Jackson' or 'evil villain' and 'enemy of the world.'"

"I have never said any such thing!" she sputtered. "I just simply called him that, alright? Doesn't mean anything."

"Hmm, I have made Annabeth Chase flustered. I wonder that this means," she answered musingly, smirking at her.

Annabeth, for some reason, felt an unfamiliar instinct to not say anything about whatever happened between her and Percy. Maybe that was because it felt too unreal, and she didn't want to ruin it but exposing it to the sunlight. After all, there was hardly any semblance of a relationship between them. This was too fragile for her best friend to squeal over. Soon, she promised herself.

"Nothing. Come on, we have more serious things at hand to discuss. Not really, but anything is more interesting. You do know that you have most likely lost Thalia in your scheme, right?"

"I'm sure she'll come to reason," Piper said confidently, like she didn't witness what happened at all.

"Too be honest, I don't think she'd be interested in picking out suitors for Calypso anyway."

"True, she thinks all men are evil, but some are slightly less."

"Yeah, well, we're probably one the former list right now, Pipes, thanks to today."

"It's not exactly a big deal!" she protested. "It's already seven!"

Annabeth gave her the evil eye. "Yeah, and you woke me up at five to get dressed and sneak desserts from my chef. Besides, you'd have to have disappeared from earth for most of your life to not know that Thalia hates mornings."

"I do, I just didn't think it would be that bad."

"Actually, I can stop holding my breath now, because she wasn't grabbing your hair or staining your brand-new gown with sheep blood."

"Um, what?"

"My brain is getting increasingly strange after getting woken up too early. You do know that proper ladies sleep until noon, right?"

"Yeah, because they party all night!" Piper looked indignant. "We're higher than them."

Annabeth waved a hand at her. "Yes, yes. I know. Um, hello?" She tapped the servant girl's shoulder. "When-actually, no. What's your name?"

Her eyes grew huge. "Are you actually asking that?"

"Yes."

"Um, I'm called Myrrh."

"Okay. Myrrh, when do we get there?"

She checked the hallways. "Soon, I think. Maybe ten minutes."

"Oh, so we're close!" Piper exclaimed happily.

"Great, because my feet are hurting. Remind me to wear my sturdier boots next time. These were embroidered."

Piper smirked at her. "Well, guess what? I'm in my slippers."

"Won't you get them stained?" Annabeth thought back to the Olympian gala, where her and Percy had thought the exact same thing, and flushed a little. She couldn't believe he saw her through so easily.

"No…wait, are you blushing?"

"Nonsense. I thought of something irrelevant. Continue."

"Nope. What did you think of?"

She narrowed her eyes at her. "Why do you want to know?"

"Why are you asking?" Piper grinned pleasantly at her.

"Why are you asking that?" she countered.

Myrrh stifled a giggle in front of them. She probably thought they were the most ridiculous pair of ladies she'd ever come upon.

"Um, are we there yet?" Annabeth asked, shading her eyes as light from a particularly placed window reflected off a life-size golden statue of Zeus and tried to blind her.

"Yes, almost there. Sorry for the walk. Lady Grace is considering moving her chambers, but The Most Honorable Duke Zeus insists that they must live in the most important area."

"Well, add another vote for moving her room. This is an exercise in itself, and Madame Lark instructed me to avoid exercise."

Piper raised an eyebrow. "Is she blind? You can hardly stand still!"

"I think you're talking about yourself."

Piper clandestinely snuck in a jab to Annabeth's tightly wrapped-up ribs, and in return she elbowed her shoulder. They were badly stifling their laughs and shrieks of pain when Myrrh gave them a very confused look. "I didn't know any Olympus lady acted like so other than Thalia."

"Oh, Myrrh, just you wait. One day we'll invite all the girls over for a sleepover and you'll see how wrong that is."

She had to grin back at them. "Alright, the door just down that hallway." They went down the mirrored and bedazzled hallway (it was probably the one for receiving guests) and then descended the curving marble staircase to the huge front hall.

"Finally, we're here!" Piper exclaimed like she'd been at sea for a century.

Her footman, standing very obviously by the doorway, came closer in all his pink frippery. He grandly swept open the door, took Piper's arm, and took them back to her carriage. It was a flaming scarlet, with golden ruffles along the sides, and Annabeth's eyes continued to burn.

After they bordered the carriage, Annabeth quickly stopped the footman. "Ah, footman, I have a request. Can you drive quickly? I'm not sure how much more of this glitter I can take."

-line break-

"You came!" Just as Annabeth stepped into the tall doorway of the Atlas' banquet hall, a shriek and a thin figure bombarded her. Arms looped around her and squeezed. "Annabeth, hello!"

When Annabeth managed to separate herself from Silena's heavily embroidered bodice, she wheezed out a, "Hey."

"I'm so glad to see you! Almost everyone is here tonight. It's going to be fun."

Annabeth surveyed the room. It was plainly decorated, but all the bronze and crystal were well-polished, the perfect standard for a debut ball. It was already filling up, with nattily dressed lords and ladies milling about the dance floor and eyeing the long table of finger snacks. She spotted a few crests and coat-of-arms adorning overcoat breasts or wraps. Was this one of these events where people fought out their social standing? Oh, dear. She was about to search for possible escape routes when Silena shook her arm.

"Look! Pairs are circling one another. I detect possible romance!"

Annabeth groaned. "Please, I don't need even more drama tonight."

Silena spun around, her eyes trained on her. "What did you say? What else is happening?" Suddenly she grinned hugely. "Is Luke going to do something… special?"

"No!" She threw up her hands, mixed feelings from her most recent date with him surfacing. "Don't ask that!"

"Oh, okay," Silena murmured, giving her a look of concern. She may have been the gossip-loving, romance-hunting type of girl, but she could also read emotions like Annabeth could read books.

She sighed. "It's not a big deal. Not really. Anyway, what's actually happening tonight is that Piper wants us to help Calypso around London society. I don't believe she's doing it out of her own heart, but she hasn't explained why."

Silena pursed her lips. "Actually, my sister can be very kindhearted sometimes. Especially towards young, brand-new girls like Calypso. They'd make good friends."

"Well, I kind of want to hide from her. She has a lot planned."

"Do you think she'd let me help?" Silena suddenly perked up. "I have all the insider knowledge anyone needs!"

"True," Annabeth acknowledged. "You'd be more help than me. Can you do me a favor keep her busy, at least for the first half of the ball? She already sent me five letters detailing her grand scheme for Calypso's marriage earlier. I have a feeling that I don't want to get involved."

Silena was clearly busy imagining some other scheme herself. "Yeah, yeah, of course."

"Alright, go find your sister." She nudged her, and soon she was just a pink-and-brown blur in the crowd of people.

Annabeth wandered the edges of the room, trying to identify someone else to chat with. Pretty much everyone in the Olympus circle, around her age, was here. This could end up very successful or disastrous, she surmised. She hoped that Piper knew what she was doing.

As more and more people streamed in, the musicians began striking up a soft tune, and a few people began dancing. Annabeth spotted Travis begrudgingly abandoning his brother to dance with Katie. Connor, meanwhile, darted off towards the stairs. Annabeth made a mental note to avoid the balconies. The Apollo kids were also eyeing the musicians and dancing in one big group. With hardly more than two adults present, there clearly wasn't going to be a lot of formal dancing. She took this as her cue to miss out on most of them and examine the snack table. Carved ceramic platters and bronze-handled display towers crowded the long, uncovered table. A lit candelabra stood in the middle.

Happily, she started picking off the cream puffs and macarons, eating them in a discreet place behind an empty couch in case some guy got the idea to ask her to dance. She was emerging for more when someone cleared their throat behind her.

She spun around, one foot edging out of her skirt in case they wanted her to move to the side, and suddenly lost her breath. In front of her was Perseus Jackson himself, this time in fancy banquet clothes. A large overcoat with gold brocade and wide lapels, velvet breeches, a wide shirt with lace piling up at the collar, and his hair somehow combed back neatly. His usual ocean smell mixed with musky cologne filled her throat exhilaratingly.

"Hi," she managed to gasp.

He blinked, his dark lashes brushing across his wide cheekbones for a second, hiding his crystalline eyes. "Annabeth, hello." He bowed.

"Oh-oh." Right, they were in public again, they had to introduce themselves formally. "Hello, Lord Poseidon." She curtsied. "How are you?"

"I am fine, Lady Athena. And you?"

"I am alright. Many thanks for asking."

"The pleasure is all mine."

When pleasantries were done being exchanged, she couldn't help but search his face. What was he feeling, now that they had a true? Did he feel just a bit panicky, like her, but also excited? Or was he regretting whatever happened?

He was searching her eyes too. An urgent look crossed his face, and he lightly took her hand and led her to a corner. Annabeth was barely recovering from his warm touch and the tingles it sent up her arm when he released her, leaving her with a slightly hollowed feeling.

"Well, here, we can finally talk. How are you, actually?"

She sank against the wall, feeling a little overwhelmed by this turn of events. "I'm fine, truly. I'm glad for Calypso. I hope she finds a nice suitor."

"Oh, yes, she's starting out almost two months late, well, officially." His ears tinged slightly red, and they looked away, probably reminiscing about the time they met at croquet.

"But, um, yeah, I think some of the nicer gentlemen of London will really suit her." She gave him a small smile, and for a second, he looked like he was about to say something, but then he smiled at her back.

Annabeth's mind started leaping into action, trying to pull apart his every undefined action instinctively. He paused and-there was a flash in his eye. He was probably trying to make a joke, definitely about what category he fit in with the "gentlemen of London." But that was clearly a sensitive topic around them.

She tried not to sigh. Ever since that talk at his countryside home, a question had lingered on the back of her mind, and though she tried not to think too much about it, her curiosity about him had definitely pushed her through her taboo over their family feud. Annabeth was just too intrigued about who he was, really. Who was this strange man who sauntered in, ruined her name, and then was suddenly giving her such a heartfelt apology? Who was the real him that she could trust? And why did he give up arguing and teasing her to bare his soul?

More and more questions swirled in her mind, and she stared up at him, mouth slightly open as she tried to say something.

"Are you alright?" He asked, a nervous rise in his tone.

She blinked and internally shook herself, pushing the burning confusion away. "Yes, yes. I got caught away in my thoughts. Apologies."

"It is fine. Yes, quite a lot is going to happen tonight, with our whole collection of second- and third-cousins here along with some others I don't believe I'm related to." He discreetly gestured the drink table where a blond, round-cheeked boy with purple-stained lips, fervently watching his brother, who was chugging down the contents of a heavy wine bottle.

"The Dionysus kids," she noted, smirking. A soft voice in her mind, running a commentary, muttered, "He causally inserted a joke to diffuse tension. He read that something is up, of course, that was a long pause, but he won't dare to pry." "Well, um, I can't really believe how I'm related to them, too," she said. "I'm almost certain they were raised on alcohol."

"I believe so, too." His bright eyes flickered about the room, searching for a new victim for them to discuss. "Ooh, and Travis has managed to wrangle Katie for three dances, already. Something is certainly happening tonight."

"Notice how bashful she looks, and annoyed, but still slightly enjoying it."

"That's how she always looks around him."

They laughed lightly. Treading around the heavy topics would have to do for now.

"So, uh, how was your trip here? The Atlas mansion is a ways away out of the Olympus circle, but I didn't have too much trouble getting through the large gate."

"No, I didn't either. It was a fairly short trip, no interruptions. The road is completely smooth." But he had to unsuccessfully hide a large grin.

She cocked her head. "What's so amusing?"

He shook his head, smiling self-depreciatingly. "Nothing, really. I doubt you'd find it funny."

"I wouldn't mind hearing about it, though." Again, curiosity got the better hold of her.

Percy smiled sheepishly at her. "Alright, well, a ways away is basically a repeated word. And also, very formal."

The commentator voice said musingly, "And now we're on language linguistics. Whatever romantic ideals, or even the dismissed possibility of a ferocious fight, are utterly dashed. But he's just suggested something very obvious. Of course, I'm formal. Is this an opening for a joke?"

A debate speedily battled itself out in her mind. "I try to be formal," she said blankly, studying his expression for any reaction.

He bit his lip, looking embarrassed. "Yes," he said quietly, and then louder, "Well, it's an interesting phrase. I'll be sure to use it with my friends later on."

Jason, Annabeth suspected. It was slightly mind-boggling how he was best friends with her best friend's fiancé, but just a week ago they were yelling at each other. "I hope they'll enjoy it as much as you do." Another slight smile.

"I doubt it. Jason's extremely serious. I, meanwhile, find quite a number of things funny."

"I see." Commentary: "A revelation about himself! This is going into deep territory! Follow this lead!" She cleared her throat and forced herself to look him square in the eye and tried make her expression at ease. "I, according to Piper, only find 'ancient high-level-literature jokes' funny." She would be surprised if her voice didn't tremble under the intensity of his sea-colored eyes.

"Actually, I don't entirely agree. You laughed at my jokes." His lip quirked slightly up, but she hardly saw it from being so focused on his eyes.

"Well, they are sometimes funny."

"Thank you, actually." He said this with real gratitude. "And you make your own jokes too. That just completely breaks her argument."

"I'll-I'll be sure to tell Piper." A spark of nervousness flared in her mind. They were in completely friendly territory, discussing mutual friends. "But thanks for trying to defend my sense of humor."

He tilted his head, his eyes warmly probing. "Well, anything for that."

That forced her into grinning. He broke their locked eyes to caught her smile, which made her feel strangely abandoned, but the happy shine in those sea-green pupils afterwards completely made up for it.

She looked around the room, searching for something to talk about. "Oh, look. A few extra violins are walking up. A slow song is approaching, certainly. Won't we be expected?"

He bit the edge of his lip, looking worried for a bit. But then his expression relaxed. "Well, the only person even possibly likely to bother me about dancing is Jason, and he's very busy right now."

She found him in the center of the crowd wearing a strikingly blue cravat. He was completely wrapped around Piper, his eyes only seeing her. "Ah. That applies to my best friend, too, then. Also, Silena, but she'll never miss out on a slow dance." Silena was eagerly pulling Beckendorf over to the crowd, who had resigned and tired but somehow also adoring expression. She studied the couples slowly beginning to sway as tender notes floated over them, feeling disruptive and just the slightest bit wistful, but why, she couldn't tell.

She felt the light pressure of a gaze against the side of her face, and turned to see Percy watching her, his face soft and warmly dazed. When her eyes met his, he initially smiled, but then surprise jolted into him and he spun around, flushing.

She stared at him, confused and curious and the beginnings of theories appearing in her mind, but looked away before she could think too much about her suspicions.

This dance was like watching freshly harvested honey getting poured into a jar, smooth and slow and sweet. When the light, quiet notes of the finale hit the air, a new question popped into Annabeth's mind. She decided to ease into it.

"Percy, you don't have any obligation to stay here with me, you know. Do find a girl and write—" A flashback of his horrid handwriting on her delicate dance card broke her speech. She swallowed and continued on. "And ask her to dance. They're going to play another slow song."

"Oh, really? Why?" He had the strange lilt in his voice whenever someone was asking a question they knew the answer to.

She discreetly glanced at him from the corner of her eye, and then saw him looking right at her. Her gaze jumped away like she was the one doing something scandalous. "Um, well, you see…" she cleared her throat, trying to gather her thoughts. "It's the consecutive order of songs are usually played. The first slow song is always followed by another. The second romantic dance isn't as important as the first, so you can very well ask one of the few remaining girls. Again, I don't mind if we pause. I'll find someone, too."

"Oh, thanks for explaining." His usually sparkling eyes were dull and glazed over.

Annabeth frowned. Something was off, not in a horrible way, but in a rather strange but unurgent way. "It was my pleasure. Now, go find someone." She made a slight shooing motion. Rude, yes, but there was something that pushed her to do it. Something that resonated of obligation and requirement and hidden resignation.

A wave of inbred indignation about obeying surged up. There is nothing wrong about following rules! Another argument came to light. So, are you suggesting that you should keep him from dancing with someone else? She tried not to groan. A curse on her overly detailed thinking.

Percy was still watching her, this time with confusion as hardly-masked conflicting emotions flicked through her face. "Annabeth…" he began tentatively.

"I'm fine," she said brusquely. "But really, we should find a dance partner each. I'll go first, if you want." She marched forward, but something stopped her. Not a touch, not a sound, in fact, to her knowledge Percy was completely still. But she felt burst of reluctance that she was somehow certain both of them felt.

She spun around, looking at him seriously. Breezy, happy notes orchestrated another heartfelt dance behind them. But neither of them paid it any attention. His emerald gaze was as somber and intense as hers.

Like there was an invisible hand pushing her forward, she stepped closer to him, back to her original spot, out of sight from the rest of the dances.

Neither of them spoke, not wanting to break the spell. Then Percy slowly reached out, as if in a daze, and touched her wrist. It was covered with a heavy lace-topped cotton sleeve, but fire spot up her arm the split second his glove met the spot to the left of her bumpy wrist bone. Flames licked at her tendons, and sparks sizzled frenetically in her nerves, but it was a completely weightless, painless sensation.

His fingers spread around her wrist, gliding around her sleeve with the barest of touches. Her whole arm was burning in something other than pain. Her heart was thudding, and all calculating thoughts were put on hold in her mind. Finally, the stretchy skin between his thumb and forefinger was lightly touching her arm, and it was gentle, but firm, and somehow set all of her feelings to chaos.

None of their eyes dared to meet, but she could feel his gaze against her chin, her cheek. Tingles spread across her face. Like he somehow sensed it, he quickly, easily pulled his fingers from her, not a single remaining touch. Her mind cleared, her cheeks cooled, but the whirlwind of unnamed emotions in her heart didn't stop spinning. But instead of awkwardness or confusion as the predominating one, there was a content, settled feeling, like they both expected that to come.

And then Percy whispered, "I don't know who else to dance with."

The talkative observer voice started shrieking. "This is dark territory! Dancing together?" Suddenly, the ever-blunt voice quieted, even if only for a second. Nothing wanted to approach the subject of "together." "But this calls forward references of their first meeting! When he brazenly stole your dance! It's the whole reason for the grudge and the fight!"

She opened her mouth, about to suggest someone. The moment dimmed, and in a desperate leap, she said, "There's another one, afterwards."

He looked into her eyes, and the spell completely broke, but in a nice way, like a sunset melting into the ocean, a gift box being opened.

But it also brought in the sounds of swishing skirts, expensive boots, a stream of piano. It sounded loud and almost lurid. Embarrassment finally reached Annabeth, pinched her cheeks until they turned bright red.

She turned away, picked another lighter topic. "But, really, Percy, why did you start up a long conversation with me? You should've known you would miss a lot of dances."

"Well, maybe I don't want to join them," he said softly, like he was introducing a new idea.

Suddenly, words he said to her, at the Olympus gala, came back to her. She asked him the same thing, and he said—

"I attend parties every day. Being an Athena lady, you probably don't, but this is the Season. You're still invited to quite a few. Doesn't it all turn into the same thing?"

She bit her lip, looked down. This was so blunt, so true, she wanted to pretend it wasn't. But she didn't need to answer, as Percy nodded for her and continued. "Dance with all the right people, link good names to you, make sure your reputation is better and better…"

Annabeth had to block out her commentator, even if it was suggesting alternate talk about getting closer, but the warning bells were giving her a slight headache. "What else is there to do? I don't really mind it, because of that."

He leaned closer, until she could see every shade of his eyes from pale, new green to blackish blue. "What else is there to do?" He repeated, and then gestured to both of them. "Really?" His voice wasn't judging, but deadly serious.

And then Annabeth found herself facing a border. She knew if she crossed it, familiar land would forever look like a slightly foreign place she left behind, and the other side would have a touch a home instead.

She made a decision, but not a complete one. "Can I get another dessert, at least?"

He studied her face, then smiled. "Why, of course not. My lady," he held out his arm.

She took it, and as she could feel his steady pulse, her own heartbeat spiked. She offered him a small, uncharacteristically hesitant smile, and then they confidently strode over to the long table of food.

Okay, that's it. I hoped you guys liked the second half, at least. It's the product of the few pieces of inspiration I gleaned over this week(s).

And I don't have any reviews, so ha! Or not.