Author's Note- Hi guys! I'm still alive, and I am SO SO SORRY for being gone. It's been a rough couple of months, but thanks for sticking with me.

I'm not sure if Fanfiction notifies you lot, but chapter 42 has been updated and replaced. So entire chapter's there, and you might want to go back and read it. (You definitely want to go back and read it.)

As I said last chapter, this one has a CRAP TON of artistic liberty. As far as I know, Stormwood doesn't exist, nor is there anything like it in New York. (I'm sure there's something similar, but if it has the exact same backstory I'll eat my own shoe.)

We're going to pretend the Birdy version of 'Skinny Love' was written in the very early 2000s, and that young Annabeth memorized every note. (She feels OOC in this chapter, as well. I don't like it, but I haven't written in so long that I can't get into her mind like I used to. I'm working on it, though.)

We're also going to pretend that the furnishings in Stormwood match up with the time period. Obviously, not all of them will, but I wasn't horribly concerned for historical accuracy.

I've gone back to school for the year, and it sucks. I know almost no one, and the people I do know are my worst enemies (maybe a bit of an exaggeration. Ether way, I don't like them.) I'll try to write a bit since I get out early most days. But, y'know, life sometimes gets in the way. And by the way, college sucks. Don't do it. (Do whatever your little hearts desire. I just really dislike college.

HAPPY BLOOD OF OLYMPUS DAY! I'm beyond excited. As for spoilers, I'll keep mine to myself and ask you to do the same. 'Cause spoilers suck. (But it's really good!)

Disclaimer: Yeah. I wish. (No, I don't own anything. Percy Jackson and its associated titles are property of Rick Riordan and Disney- Hyperion books. I'm sure they have a more technical copyright info, but my books are on loan at the moment, so I can't go look up all the technicalities.) Nor do I own the numerous other pop culture references.

Annabeth

"Hello, welcome to Stormwood Castle. If you'll follow me, please, we'll start the tour." A gray-haired woman in a simple black dress leads us down a hallway dimly lit by candles and flickering gas lamps. I study the stone floors, the arched hallways, and am in awe of what I see.

"Wow," I breathe. This place is incredible.

The tour guide, who introduces herself as Alice, gives us a brief history of the castle. "-was donated to the Church in 1853. The parish priest at the time, Joseph Sweeney-"

"This is boooring!" Leo drawled in a sing-song tone. "Can we go somewhere else?"

"Shh!" Several people in the group hiss, including a couple of middle-aged tourists holding travel mugs of coffee.

Once they all turn around, Leo sticks his tongue out. Nico snickers, and Jason punches his cousin in the arm.

"Ow!" the younger boy hisses, throwing a glare towards Jason. "What the he-"

The tourists 'shh' at us again, and we begin moving down the hallway.

"Rose Hathaway was the daughter of a Duke, who moved his family from Scotland in 1762-" The tour guide's monotone echoes off the bare stone walls as we move through the hallways like a great winding serpent.

"We'll be passing a room in a moment, called the Great Room. It was in this room that-"

"I gotta go to the bathroom!" Leo stage whispers, looking around frantically. Frank groans, Percy facepalms, and Nico shakes his head.

"You've got to be kidding me. You just went!"

"Well I have to go again!" Leo sang with urgency. He wandered off in the direction we came, is appearing around the corner.

"Rose Stormwood commissioned this home just three years before her death in 1827. In her will, Stormwood Castle and surrounding properties were bequeathed to a cousin, who donated it to the Church and saw it converted to a nunnery."

After several more minutes of walking and facts, Leo had still not returned. The guide set us free to wander about the castle, reminding us to 'notice the lovely painting of the original in Scotland' on our way out.

"Where do you think he went?" I whispered to Percy, who was picking at a loose thread in a tapestry. The giant fabric depicted a whimsical scene, of trees and will o' the wisps. The one next to it showed a white horse rising from sea foam.

"He probably fell in, or went back to the ticket booth. Let's go outside, I wanted to talk to you." He takes my hand and leads me down the corridors.

Percy

Out the door, down the maze of halls. Annabeth and I wander the old castle, with its dusty carpets and old furniture. Curiously rounding corners, not knowing where they'll take us next.

"This place is like a treasure hunt, or an episode of Supernatural. There's always something amazing around every corner, but you don't know if it's neat-amazing or creepy-amazing," she says as we turn another corner. "Like that." Annabeth points at a stuffed goat head on the wall. "Who stuffs a goat?"

I laugh; it is a rather funny-looking decoration. "Someone with a goat fetish."

Annabeth looks at me like I've grown a third arm. "Goat fetish? How the hell did you come up with that?"

"Think about it. Why else would someone have a goat head stuffed and mounted on a wall?"

"You're insane," she laughs. It's a bright, joyful sound, so different from the way she is around Carol.

I shudder. The mere thought if the guests back at the house makes me want to never return. Would there even be a house to return to, after Bobby and Matthew were through with it?

Annabeth notices my expression. "You okay?"

"Me? Yeah, I'm wonderful. How about you?"

She gives me a look, her gray eyes puzzled. "I'm good...?"

I kissed her temple. "Then let's go." And we continued our exploration of the castle.

Annabeth

We eventually made it to an outbuilding. Sure, it took nearly forty minutes, but that wasn't MY fault... Partially... Curse Percy Jackson and his lips, and curse this castle for having the perfect corners to kiss in.

The hallways eventually led us to the out-of-doors, where we followed a stone path to a stained-glass heaven. Entering the heavy wooden doors, the colors began to form shapes.

"It's so pretty," breathed Percy, his eyes wide as dinner plates.

I glanced around; the room wasn't that remarkable. The walls were dark, nondescript. The floor was a plain gray stone. The only thing remotely interesting was the ornate wooden door on the opposite side of the room; swirls of brass decorated the entire surface of the wood. "It's a room, Percy." The door held my attention, however. I couldn't look away.

"Annabeth, look!" He pointed towards the ceiling, where the red and yellow glass sections depicted a sunrise. Sunlight shone through the domed ceiling, bathing the walls in colored light. "It's so beautiful."

He was like Leo and the chrome in the parking lot. But it was pretty...

"Yes, that's nice. Come on, I think there's something back here..." I step towards the door, but Percy's still in awe of the stained glass ceiling.

"Seaweed Brain," I mutter, pushing the heavy door open. The hallway is dim, the only light coming from three tiny windows covered in aged glass. It's full of bubbles and not very clear, so it distorts the light slightly.

There's another door at the end of this hallway, similar to the one before. Glancing behind me, I push it open.

No one's been in this room in years.

At least an inch of dust covers everything in it, and the ancient brocade curtains are ridden with holes, presumably from moths. There is little light, but the dim rays peeking out from behind the curtains offer enough to get my bearings. And what I see nearly makes me cry: a piano. It's the only item in the room not covered in dust; in fact, it shines like new.

"Oh my gods," I breathe, stepping lightly, tentatively, cautiously towards the piano. Could I remember the beginning notes to anything? It had been so long since I'd played...

I trailed my fingertips over the glistening ivory keys, feeling nostalgic. Mom had played the piano a bit, and tried to pass some of her skills to me. I'd taken up lessons before she died, but lost interest when Carol came. Not 'lost interest', per say, but it was something she wanted me to do, and I didn't want to give in. I'd stopped playing altogether, and it was one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

Surely no one would mind if I...

I checked behind me; no one else was here. The door was closed. The coast was clear; Percy was too enamored with the stained glass to notice I was gone. I sat at the black bench and lifted my wrists. My fingers were poised, ready to play. I press a key- B flat. It's perfectly in tune.

Now, if I could remember any music. Something more intricate than 'Mary had a Little Lamb', preferably.

I gently pressed middle C, and then a C chord. I know what I'm playing, and I hadn't even realized it. The next notes flew from my fingertips and came out as brilliant sound.

G, B, B, B, C.

Come on, skinny love

C, B, B, G.

Just last the year.

A few more notes, and I am lost in the swirling world of music. So much so that I start humming, quietly at first. But the quiet hums progressed into full-blown singing. Very loud singing, which I'm attributing to what happened later. But, at the time, all I was concerned with were my fingers pressing the keys.

"And I told you to be patient.

And I told you to be fine.

And I told you to be balanced.

And I told you to be kind.

And then all your love was wasted.

Then who the hell was I?"

Thalia didn't understand my love of the piano, of its great artists and music. The classical renditions of punk songs didn't cut it for her. Then again, she didn't like any music that she found 'lacking', meaning without a strong drum beat.

I played the last chord and sang the end note, then nearly fell to the floor. Percy stood in the doorway, clapping quietly.

"I'm sorry, I left you in there, didn't I?"

"No, no, it's fine. That was beautiful." I find myself blushing and biting back a smile.

"More beautiful than the stained glass ceiling?" I tease, but my mind is on repeat. He called my playing beautiful.

Percy grins. "A million times more beautiful. I heard you singing... I didn't know you could play."

Another wave of heat to my cheeks. "Yeah. I haven't in years... I missed it." Cue the nostalgia. Percy fidgets, like he's indecisive on asking for something.

"Would you teach me?" he blurts. "Please?"

Percy

Call me a bad boyfriend, fiancé, whatever, but I didn't notice when Annabeth left the room. At first. Once I did, though, my mind went straight to code red. Where'd she go? Oh my gods, I let Annabeth get kidnapped, she's probably lying dead in a ditch somewhere... The typical panicked thoughts.

I was considering calling the police- if we even got cell service this far out- when I noticed the door. It was a dark, heavy wood, ornately decorated with brass swirls. Just like any other fancy door in the main house. But this one was open.

Might as well look...

I swung the door open further and began walking down a dusty hallway, barely lit by the afternoon sun.

"Annabeth?" I called, but there was no answer. I was just turning around when I heard the sounds of a piano.

I (naturally) do what any person in a horror movie does when there's an unwarranted sound in a presumably empty building- I decide to investigate, like Scooby Doo.

But what if it's a killer? part of me says. What if they lure their victims to their deaths with beautiful piano music? I'd better find something to defend myself...

After riffling through my pockets, I come up with three items: a probably useless cell phone, a half-stick of Juicy Fruit, and a ballpoint pen.

I suppose I could chuck the phone at them, or put gum on the door handles. If only the pen would turn into a sword or something, and make itself useful.

Taking a breath, I open the door slightly.

In the dim lighting of the room, I can see Annabeth seated at a piano. She's the one playing, and her singing is beautiful. She looks like an angel, her golden curls framing her face and the light shining around her head like a halo. She looks like she was meant to play that piano, like it's an extension of herself.

Part of me is shocked. She could play? It occurred to me that there were probably lots of things I didn't know about Annabeth. There were things she didn't know about me, either, and that bothered me. I didn't know her favorite color, or if she'd ever broken a bone, or what her proper amount of sleep was. We needed to fix that.

Once she finished the song, I clap. Annabeth looks up suddenly, and nearly jumps out of her skin.

"That was beautiful."

"I'm sorry, I left you in there, didn't I?" she notes sheepishly, tucking her chin.

"No, it's fine. That was beautiful." She blushes; a beautiful scarlet color.

I'm sure my face is filled with the same shade after she asks, "More beautiful than the stained glass ceiling?"

Absolutely. I begin to regret my excessive fawning over the window. "A million times more beautiful. I heard you singing," I offer as an explanation. "I didn't know you could play."

Annabeth shrugs. "I haven't in years." From the wistful look in her eyes, I can tell that piano was an important part of her life, at some point. "I missed it."

The question pops out"Would you teach me? Please?" Please please please please.

My sudden question has made an already embarrassed Annabeth even more flustered. "I... I'm not really a teacher..." She stammers, fiddling with her nails.

Is that the only thing standing in the way? "I don't care." And I don't. I can't explain the need to learn the piano, even if it's just the basics. I know my mom used to play, a little. And why not add more instruments to the band's montage?

"I can try..."

"Thank you, Annabeth!"

Frank

Somewhere along the way, Percy and Annabeth disappeared. Since Leo was driving us insane, Jason had decided that we ought to start the journey back. Only problem is, we had to find the two lovebirds first, which, on a property this size, would be a daunting task.

We'd split up at first, figuring that it'd be easier to tackle the main house that way. Among the old tapestries, garden fountains, and old portraits and photographs, we each found unexplainable oddities and dust bunnies. But no Percy or Annabeth. (I did, however, come across a stuffed goat head. Who stuffs a goat?)

After meeting up in the rose garden, Nico proposes we look in the cellar.

"Where else could they be? It'll take us fifty million eons to find them in this place."

"Well, there's a lovely outbuilding out that way," Leo pointed to a smaller, intricate building further from the parking lot. "And Percy never could resist a stained-glass window."

He's right; our friend did have an unexplainable pull towards the glass masterpieces. The building did have a nice ceiling, too, depicting a sunrise in yellows and reds.

"Has anyone tried calling either one of them?" Jason points out, ever the logic one.

"No cell service," Nico says in a bored tone, showing us his phone screen. Where the service bars are usually displayed, there's a red X in their place.

With a sigh, Jason relents to the stained glass outbuilding.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Naturally, the building is empty. We've searched the first room high and low, but there's no sign of Percy or Annabeth.

"We haven't checked in here..." Jason says, motioning to a dim hallway that ended with a closed door.

Leo scoffs. "I'm sure they're fine. Probably making out somewhere."

He's an idiot. Percy and Annabeth had a code of conduct, unlike Leo.

"I sincerely doubt that. Even so, we have to go find them."

"Come on, Nathan!"

What? I look at Jason. Maybe he understands this madness. The shake of his head tells otherwise.

"Who the hell is Nathan?"

Leo gave us the 'isn't it obvious?' look that he's infamous for. "Frank? Y'know, Nathan's beef franks? The hotdog company?" After a minute of peace and quiet, he clarifies. "It's supposed to be funny. Gods, don't you two have funny bones?"

"Considering I'm double jointed, yes, I s'pose so."

Leo's saved from coming up with a reply (thank the gods, less "jokes"!) when there's a voice from the other side of the door.

"Thank you Annabeth!"

Leo shoves the heavy wooden door open, and sure enough, there are Percy and Annabeth. She looks startled, and it's obvious as to why: Percy's practically strangling her in a hug.

"Are you two done?" Jason asks in a dry tone. He's probably close to strangling Leo, as well.

Leo chimes up. "You two are disgusting."

"We try." Percy plants a dramatic kiss on her cheek.

Leo gags, and I can't help but laugh. The romantic having no taste for romance, how ironic.

"Let's go, lovebirds, Nico needs some coffee."

"Nico needs to stop speaking about himself in third person," Jason mumbles.

Annabeth

"How much longer?" A very drowsy Nico whines, collapsing dramatically on the backseat.

"If Leo would stop pulling over at every exit..." Frank says tersely from the front passenger's seat, "Maybe we'd speed up a bit."

"Hey!" chimes Leo through the window. "That last time was so Jason-" Here, every face in the van turns to glare at the blond-haired boy. "Could pee. So I don't want to hear-"

"About how the six times before that were so you could get a snack? Yeah, don't blame the rest of us."

"Can we just go?" Percy raises his voice. "I'd like to get home before three a.m., thanks."

Leo raises his left hand defensively, while the right one places the nozzle back on the gas pump . "Whatever."

"Get in the car, Valdez!"

Percy

Things had finally (it seemed) settled down in the vehicle. It was past six, though, and we were still a long way from home. I wasn't sure we'd all make it back; there were, in the span of an hour, six death threats made, one slap given, and twelve bad jokes told. We'd switched seats three times since leaving Stormwood; once to separate Leo and Jason, and another to let me drive and Leo take a nap. We'd had to stop again shortly after to let Frank separate a bickering Nico and Leo.

Through all of this, Annabeth sat quietly, staring out the window with her earbuds in. Her face was set, her expression stone-like, as if she were preparing herself for what was to come at home.

Once we'd gotten back into range for cell service, her phone had nearly exploded with the alerts of missed calls and texts. Annabeth had read them all, her eyebrows raising higher with each one.

"Twenty seven texts, eighteen missed calls. I think my brothers broke your house, by the way." I had wanted to remind her that it was her house, too, but was interrupted by the shrieking voice of Esperanza Valdez.

"Leo Valdez! Soy tus mamá! Cuando lleges a la casa..." Leo looked terrified as his mother chewed him out in rapid-fire Spanish.

Nico started snickering, and Jason slugged him in the arm, giving a slight shake of his head. Not today, Nico. Leo's mom is scarier than the pits of hell when she's angry.

And she was livid.

Once Leo had finished listening to the voice message, he slowly put down his phone with shaking hands.

"Your mom's going to kill you," Jason noted. "What did she say, exactly?"

Leo gulped. "That she's going to kill me, if I'm not already dead in a ditch."

"Good luck with that."

"That's okay, Leo, I'll protect you!" cried Frank dramatically from the back seat.

"Thanks, Nathan." Leo winked and collapsed onto the back of the seat."When are we going to find some food? I'm starving!"

"You ought to pull over, Percy, and locate some dinner. Before Leo decides that becoming a cannibal is a good option."

"I'm working on it!" I said, switching lanes. "Where do you guys want to eat?"

"Steak n Shake!"

"McDonald's!" countered Nico.

"Steak n Shake!" insisted Leo.

"McDonalds!"

"Well I want Steak n Shake!" Leo shouts.

"Well I want McDonald's!"

I opened my mouth to add my input, but Annabeth placed her hand on my elbow. "I got it," she'd said quietly. And then, after pulling out her earbuds, Annabeth let out the loudest, most shrill scream I'd ever heard. I nearly sent the van into the ditch. This caused Nico and Leo to go quiet, and then Annabeth started yelling.

"Okay, either you two shut up now, or I call Thalia and she'll threaten you with bodily harm and emotional trauma. You need to stop arguing all the damn time, please and thank you. We are in too small of a setting for you to scream at each other! Now," she said, taking a breath. "Where does everyone want to go for dinner?"

The van is silent for a beat, then Frank speaks up. "Just about anything sounds good to me."

Annabeth

I felt a teensy-weensy bit guilty about screaming (since Percy nearly ran the vehicle off the road) but not by much. Even with my headphones on full blast, I could hear Leo and Nico bickering. I'd gotten a rather anxious message from Thalia ("Annabeth! Carol and Mr. Jackson are questioning me of your whereabouts! I don't know what to tell them because you won't answer your fucking phone!" In the background, I heard a gasp. "Sorry, Matthew, freaking. Don't say that word, either. Heck, just don't repeat half the stuff I say, okay? Annabeth, call me.") and couldn't help but worry. We forgot to call... Shit. I'm not sure how Percy's dad would react, but Carol? She'd be livid.

Since my outbursts had caused Leo and Nico to quiet down, there was room for everyone to hear themselves think.

"What does everyone want for dinner?" It had been several hours since we'd eaten, and we'd get home too late to eat there.

"Just about anything sounds good to me," said Frank. "Though something of substance, rather than empty junk, would be preferred."

"How does pizza sound, then?" I ask, reading a road sign that announced food sources at the next exit. "There's a place called Pepper's Pizza at the next exit. It's a mile down the road."

"Food!"