It's late when I stumble back to my room; past four. I trip over a pair of boots and have to bite back a swear.

I'd normally be tired. Scratch that, I am tired. But the meeting with Luke has my mind spinning, brain aflutter with so many thoughts that I can't settle down to go to sleep.

I remember one particular thing from the planning:

"If Annabeth doesn't want to go, why do you?" he'd asked.

I hadn't wanted to answer. Did I even have one to give him? "I guess it all goes back to my Dad," I'd said, taking a drink of my diet Coke. It fizzed lightly on my tongue before I swallow. Gah, that stuff is disgusting. How can Luke drink it? "Well, I don't know."

Luke rolled his eyes and took a drink if his own Coke. "I think you do. You just don't want to admit it."

"Oh really?" I said nonchalantly, propping my feet on the decorative pillows of the staff lounge. I'd never been here before, but Luke had assured me that no one would enter. It's the perfect place to have a conversation without eavesdroppers.

"Yeah. Thalia, you want out because of everything here."

"I don't have anything here!" I hissed, crushing the Coke can in my fist.

"Let me finish. You're so close to freedom, just a few months until you turn eighteen. No one can claim you then, so you've just got to wait. The plan was probably to turn 18 and then hightail it out of California with Annabeth as fast as you could."

He's right. Annabeth and I had had a previous plan. We were going to leave her legal guardians' house and head to Oregon to attend the state university. That all changed when legal ties (ahem! The marriage) came up.

As if he could read my thoughts, Like keept going. "Now all this has come up- Annabeth's betrothal, finding your dad- and you're scared how it's going to play out. Will your dad find out about you? Will he try to control you? What if Annabeth falls in love with Percy and doesn't want to go?"

"Well I-"

"You know I'm right, Thals."

And I knew he was. Sighing, I flop onto my mattress and continue thinking. My mind turns to Annabeth and Percy's wedding. Things are seeming much more real now that we have word of her dad and Carol coming in. The next month is going to be so stressful. The final plans need to be finalized before the actual escape. We'll all be making a big decision, and a big sacrifice. Annabeth would loose her freedom or Percy. Luke would loose his stability and his home. Me? I would be loosing the chance to know the only blood relatives I had left, or I'd be locked away like a caged bird. My mom, during one of the rare times she was sober, had said that I was a wandering soul. That I just needed to find the right place, but until then I would continue to aimlessly travel this earth on my own.

Soon after that, she had died, and those words have stick with me.

Finally, around 5 a.m., bleary-eyed and mentally drained, I fell asleep.

Percy

When I wake up the next morning, the first thing I see in a pair of gray eyes. Annabeth's eyes. Wait. What?

"Gah!" I jump backwards. "What?" And then I remember the events from last night.

Annabeth smiles. "Morning, Seaweed Brain. You drool when you sleep."

Oh gods, she noticed that? Time to change the subject. "You okay? No more nightmares?" Annabeth shakes her head.

"I'm fine now. Thanks for...letting me stay. Normally Thalia helps, but she wasn't in her room."

"Do you think they'll come back?"

Annabeth pauses for a moment before answering. "I'm not sure. Probably, until she's left." She regards this 'she' with the same tone as one would when speaking of a bug or a snake.

"Who's 'she'? What scares you so much that these happen?" Oh gods. I'm turning into my childhood therapist. Now all I need to ask is for her to lie down on the couch, and 'how does that make you feel?'.

"My... Stepmother, Carol. She... Gods, this is so hard. She never..." Annabeth wraps her arms around herself, like she's trying to quell back a flood of emotion that needs to be let loose. "She was never satisfied. With anything. She'd nag about other things, but I was the prime subject. My grades weren't good enough, even though I had a 4.0 GPA and was taking advanced classes. I wasn't girly enough. I didn't care about the family because I wanted something more from life than the monotony, because I wanted to got to college and do something for myself. She thought the architecture was ridiculous." Annabeth's arms chill over with goosebumps. "She was set on my becoming a trophy wife, believe it or not."

I'm not sure what to say to that. Because I factor into the equation. I am the reason she's here. I'm the person her parents had used to gain Annabeth what they had always wanted. I was the husband.

The whole situation made me feel sick.

I finally settled on "I can't see you as a trophy wife" because, honestly, I couldn't. 'Annabeth' and 'trophy wife' only belong in the same sentence if the sentence was "Annabeth was not ever ever ever going to become a trophy wife" or "Annabeth beat up the trophy wife for demeaning the feminist cause" or something like that.

Annabeth laughs. "Yeah, me neither."

We sit in silence for several moments until I speak again.

"Do you ever want to go back?"

"Back? I don't know. Sometimes, when I'm feeling nostalgic. I'd like to see my mom's grave, y'know? I'd like to see Dad; he seemed to feel bad about shipping me off. I miss the trees." Her voice grows softer. "I miss the snow cone cart and the farmers' market and the bookstore."

I had never thought to ask about Annabeth's mother. I knew she wasn't around, but I hadn't realized she was dead.

"We have trees here." I said lamely. Like trees will make it better.

"No, you don't. You haven't seen a tree until you've seen California redwoods. They're the most beautiful thing you could imagine." I sincerely doubt it.

"Hello, Miss California Redwood. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Annabeth's skin flushes pink. "Shut up." She retorts before continuing. "New York is nice, but too... Loud."

"Yeah, I know. But you'll never be bored. There are so many things to see and do here."

"Mhmm," Annabeth says, breaking off with a yawn. "Y'know, I don't think I'm ready to get up yet," she says, lying back down and burrowing her face into the pillows. "Percy?"

"Yeah?" Gods, she looks adorable with her bedhead and her owl pajamas and her sleepy eyes.

"Thanks for letting me stay. I can assure you, I don't normally go creeping into people's rooms in the middle of the night, and I don't normally sleep in their beds. Yours, by the way, is very comfortable."

"Uh, okay. Thanks, I guess." I should hope she doesn't go crawling into other people's beds. Maybe I should be bothered that she came to mine. I banish the thoughts as soon as they come; Annabeth was scared out of her mind. There was no way anything would have happened. Only a complete asshole would try to turn comfort snuggles into that. And I was (hopefully) not an asshole.

"By the way," Annabeth said. "Nice jammies." I look down at my pajamas. They weren't any different than normal- a white t-shirt and pants- so I don't see what the difference is. I must loom puzzled, because Annabeth clarifies. "They're patterned with little fishies! That's adorable!"

"Yours are nice, too," I tease, gesturing to the owl-printed sleep clothes. They are quite nice, and Annabeth seems to like them. I recall that she wears them to breakfast a lot.

"Why thank you."

Annabeth

I woke at 7:36 to many unfamiliar things. These walls were darker than mine. The scent of the room was different. Instead of apples, it smelled of... Man-smell? Not, like, dirty socks or anything. Something salty mixed with something else. The blanket wasn't mine, either, and I was warmer than usual. Where am I? I wondered as I rolled over. My finger tips brushed a person, and I nearly screamed.

Percy. I'm in Percy's room. The nightmares. The crying. The backstory.

I glance back to the sleeping boy beside me. Percy's dark hair frames his peaceful face, and he snores lightly. A glistening trail of saliva connects his lips to his pillow.

So he drools when he sleeps. That's... Adorable. He's like a puppy.

I'm studying the sloping planes of his face (does that make me a creeper?) when Percy's eyes open.