Taken

Chapter 25- Lost and Found

-Annabeth POV-

It's been a month since I've last seen my friends, old and new. I woke up in the hospital, and after seeing that I was all alone besides one of my mother's body guards, I learnt that my mother had decided to put me under house arrest until the whole police investigation was over.

My mother decided to oversee my education, and had the best teachers across the country give me online courses so I would be able to graduate on time. But based off of the tight hold that my mother has been putting on me, I doubt I will be able to walk for graduation.

I'll probably end up just getting my diploma in the mail.

The press has been around constantly, hoping to sneak a peek at the "Girl Who Lived." I don't know why they decided to compare me to Harry Potter, but after Jackson returned alone, everyone made the assumption that I was dead.

The fact that our parents are well known in the press for two of the handful of people who make our country's economy run- it only makes the press more relentless, and I've been forced to close all the shades and excuse myself from natural light.

It was as if I never really escaped Luke's prison after all.

"Miss Chase, your mother is calling for you."

I blindly looked at the door of the study, and I was shocked to see that I didn't even notice it open. One of the house maids was standing at the door, her bright rosy cheeks full with the smile she wore on her face. It was always me who she smiled at.

"Thanks, Matilda. I'll just be a minute," I said, gesturing to the copy of Pride and Prejudice in my hand. The love story between Lizzy and Mr. Darcy always had me enthralled, it was if I was transported into the setting of the story, and I felt at home. Needless to say it was my go-to book when I felt lonely.

A sad smile was drawn onto my face at the sight of the beaten, worn out book. I was going to need a new copy, as this one has been overused.

"Still reading that book? You know you have hundreds of others that may catch your attention?"

Matilda's smile was gone now, and replaced with a look only a woman of her age could deliver- that of a reprimanding grandmother.

I simply shrugged at her hinting, choosing not to take the seed she had planted.

"You are very different, Annabeth. Why do you allow yourself to feel this way?"

I looked up at Matilda, the woman who had been living at my beck and call ever since I took my first steps, and took a deep breath. There were tears now falling down her face, and I felt horrible. The tears were pure, unstaining, as they fell down her wrinkled skin.

I knew if I were to cry my face would be permanently stained. I was no longer pure, like Matilda. Luke had taken that from me, my sense of life… it has been stolen.

"Why won't you speak to me? To your mother? She has been worried for you, Annabeth. Ever since you've come back, you have been in this state of depression that you have never shown before. A strong young woman like yourself should be downstairs, confronting your mother, and telling her how this isolation is making you lonely."

I turned my head to look away from the maid, my eyes closing at the stab. I knew that everything she was saying was right. I just didn't really like it very much.

"The Annabeth Chase I know would be downstairs giving her mother grief for how she has been keeping you cooped up and alone while what you need for your health is to be out, free, and enjoying the world."

I felt a tear running down my face, ashamed of myself. I had been using the fact that I was kidnapped as a crutch for the past month, and apparently Matilda has had enough of it. I heard the soft sound of her heals hitting the hardwood floors as she left the room to my own thoughts.

Now I had two options. I could stay here and read the book that has been my safeguard ever since I could remember, or I could go downstairs and face my mother.

Reading the book was really looking appealing.

But I knew what I was going to have to do if I wanted to be free again.

I was going to have to face my mother.

I dropped the book on the floor and stood up stiffly, and took a deep breath. I was going to need every piece of courage I had left to face the woman who gave birth to me- the same woman who I inherited my stubbornness from.

Sometimes she was even worse than me, and reflecting on how stubborn I have been over the course of the last few months, I have to say I was going to be facing a major challenge.

Clenching my fists, I stalked out of the room and made my way through the gray house into the dining room, where my mother was located.

After taking my sweet time and procrastinating enough to make even me wonder what the hell I was doing, I found myself in the dining room, facing my mother.

Her dark hair was pulled back into a tight and efficient bun on the back of her head, but I knew she must have been stressed as some strands were starting to loosen and fall out. This only occurs when something happened to make her run through her hair, something I had become accustomed to do too.

She was reading and marking some documents while eating some soup the cook must have made. I took a deep breath and made sure my emotions were in check before I did this.

"Mother," I spoke, my voice coming out in an embarrassing croak.

She looked up, her eyebrows lifting at my abruptness, and I had to suppress the eerie shiver that ran down my spine at being the victim of her piercing glare.

"Annabeth Chase, I thought I taught you to be more polite. Please, do take a seat."

I released a breath I had been holding, and smiled shakily at my mother while sitting in the chair opposite from her.

It was after that I was properly situated when she began her attack. "Why were you so late to coming to lunch this afternoon? You have had no lessons before this, so therefore you have no reason to have taken such a long time to be here."

I pursed my lips to keep a snappy reply from getting through. "I'm sorry. I was reading, and I guess I must have lost track of time."

"Lost track of time?" One of her dark, perfectly manicured eyebrows rose in disbelief. "You have never lost track of time before, Annabeth. Were you reading Pride and Prejudice again? You do realize we have hundreds of other books that could catch your attention?"

I looked at my mother, mouth wide open and wide eyed. She simply smirked at me, and pushed the documents she had been slaving over and then smiling at me.

"Yes, Matilda expressed her concerns over how you haven't been yourself lately, and to be honest, I don't need a maid to tell me when something is wrong with my daughter."

I laughed silently at my mother, who looked peeved that a maid had tried to tell her how to parent her daughter. And knowing Matilda, she had probably been very direct about it too. She's old enough to where she doesn't care what she says anymore, she just speaks her mind. I think that's one of the reasons why my mother keeps her around.

"Mom, I think that I shouldn't be kept in this house, locked up like I am. I need to get out, see the world… go to school-"

At the sour look on her face I cut myself off. "Look, Mother, I just need to see my friends, I need to see the world. I almost died, you know that, I know that, the world knows that. I don't want to go another day without seeing the sky, seeing the grass, everything that I had been away from. Life's too short to be a prisoner."

My eyes drifted off to the table when I was speaking, too afraid to meet her eyes, to see her disappointment. But when I finally looked up, I saw something very, very different.

She was smiling, her stormy gray eyes now glowing with happiness. I very nearly choked on a breath at the sight of tears in her eyes. I have never seen my mother cry, not after Malcolm left.

"I have been waiting for you to say something, Annabeth. You needed to stand up for yourself, as in this world with being a figure for the press, now, you will be needing that skill more often than ever. Hell, even if you want to go to school again. And no one could do that for you, only yourself."

I laughed at her explanation, slightly shaking my head at my mother's life lessons that she dishes out to me almost every week. But this time, I think she may have a point.

"So can I see my friends now?"

My mother's eyes glinted with mischief, something that Malcolm had inherited.

"Of course you can," A voice spoke from behind me. I looked at my mother as her smile got even wider, and took a deep breath before turning around.

"Percy," I spoke, his name coming out like a prayer. All my friends were in the dining room with Matilda standing off to the side, looking pleased with herself. All of the people that I thought I would never see again were right in front of me, including the guy who had been to hell and back with me.

Percy Jackson looked like, well, Percy Jackson. His million-dollar smile with his fluid sea green eyes that always kept me in a trance along with his strong stature that had obviously been rebuilt after almost being starved to death a month and a half ago.

His spark was back as well too, "So, Chase, are you just going to sit there, or-"

He didn't have a chance to finish his sentence when I jumped out of the chair and practically flung myself at him, holding on for dear life.

Jackson obviously wasn't ready for my response as he stumbled back in shock and it took him a few seconds to return the embrace.

"Hey, don't I get a hug?" I heard Leo ask, but then it was followed by a "Smack!" and then an "Owe! C'mon chica, that really hurt!"

I felt the breathy laugh come from Jackson's mouth that was nestled in my hair, kissing my head over and over again, almost like a silent prayer. I never felt more alive than I had in this moment.

"Come on you children, Mistress Athena, let's give Miss Chase and Mister Jackson some space," Matilda's voice broke through the silence, and I kind of wanted to give her a high five. Definitely the best maid that ever existed.

We only pulled apart from our embrace just barely when they left the room, and shut the door behind them. He took my face in his hands, and looked at me in the eyes.

I have never seen someone look at me with so much love before. Looking into the eyes of the boy in front of me, I almost forgot how to breathe, and my heart started to beat uncontrollably in my chest. If this was what love felt like, I know exactly why Lizzy fell so hard for Mr. Darcy.

"I thought you were dead," Jackson spoke, his voice hoarse as he was choking back a sob. "I missed you so much."

I closed my eyes and leaned into his hands, my skin tingling where his palms caressed my cheeks. "I missed you too. I'm so sorry that you had to go through that."

I looked up at him, a sad smile coming across my face. "But I'm not sorry for what I did to you," I continued. "I needed to keep you safe… I couldn't lose you like I lost my brother."

He took a deep breath, and I knew that he wanted to disagree with me, but was obviously using superhuman control not to.

"Annabeth, you mean more to me than anything in this world now. You and I… you know me more than I know myself, more than what anyone knows about me. If I lost you…"

"It's all over now, Jackson. You didn't lose me, and I didn't lose you."

All of the sudden I felt myself taken back up in his strong embrace, being squished into his chest. "Jackson… can't… breathe!"

His grip loosened, but only a tiny bit, and I relaxed into his embrace. We stood there in silence, just soaking in the reality that we survived and that we were together.

"So, uh, what do we do now?" Jackson asked, breaking the silence. I broke away from his embrace, and looked up at him confusedly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, now that we're out of Luke's happy place, what do we do?"

I laughed as he looked completely lost while saying this. "And you know, everyone besides our friends thinks that we still hate each other."

Jackson moaned, and hid his face in my hair. "I can't believe I was so stupid, Chase. Why didn't I just suck it up and be nice to you sooner?"

I giggled, then stopped, realizing that I just giggled. I've never giggled before, I don't know how the world has come to this. "Did you just giggle, Chase?"

I smacked him on the arm, causing him to be the big baby that he is and whine about it. We went back and forth for a while, slowly drifting back into the playful banter that has defined our relationship for so long. It was nice to get back to something normal for a change.

We found ourselves sitting on a chair, well, Jackson was sitting with a leg propped up on the chair beside him after I told him he could do that, and I was sitting on his lap, leaning back into his chest while he played with the curls in my hair.

"I've always wanted to do this, you know."

"Hmm?"

"Play with your hair, I mean. The first time we met I had to restrain myself from twirling my fingers through your curls."

I snorted at his romantic behavior. "Jackson, that's borderline creepy and stalker-ish, so please keep that to yourself."

I felt his chest rumble as he tried to hide a laugh. "So you want me to keep my affection towards you to myself?"

"If it's not too much to ask."

"Nope, not at all."

The silence was back, and I started to wonder where everyone else was. And how long Jackson and I have been alone in the room together. I really hope no one makes any assumptions, I mean, that would kind of suck.

"What do I call you, now?"

My thoughts were cut off at his odd question. "Why?"

His fingers stopped twirling and he removed them from my hair completely before reaching around my body to grab my hands. "Well, I mean, are we dating? Boyfriend and girlfriend? I don't want to push you or anything, but I would like to be your boyfriend if you would like to be my girlfriend-"

I turned around, putting a finger on his lips and smiled at his wide eyes. "Jackson, shut up. I would love to be your girlfriend."

His eyes lit up and a smile crossed his face, which I met with mine as I pulled him in for a kiss. And boy, was my new boyfriend a good kisser. I mean, I know he has had practice, but everything around us turned into a blur, and I bet the world could be set on fire and I wouldn't have cared.

We pulled away for air, and I couldn't help the shit-eating grin that crossed my face. His mouth was covered in lip gloss, shining and glittery as mine had been before. I was proud to have a piece in what he looks like.

He must've realized I was basking in the fact, and he chuckled. "You're amazing," he spoke, his voice wandering off, almost as if he were in a dream.

"You're a charmer," I teased, then licked a finger to try and wipe off some of my lip gloss from his face. "We should probably get back to the others now."

He rolled his eyes before taking me in for another heart-stopping kiss, making me feel weak all over my body. It seemed as soon as he started he pulled away, though, then pecked me on my forehead. "Okay, now we can go."

I laughed and got off his lap, and helped his lazy butt off the chair. "They probably think we had sex or something," he said, throwing an arm around my shoulders.

I elbowed him in the ribs, causing him to gasp for air. "No teasing, okay Jackson? No need to make my mom or the staff uncomfortable."

He chuckled. "We both know you just don't want to be embarrassed." I felt a kiss on the top of my head as we reached the door into the common area. "But I won't tease, I promise."

"And you better keep your promise, Jackson."

He grinned down at me. "Don't I always?"

We walked through the door and never looked back.