Hey-o everyone-o. How's it go? I know you peeps have been wanting longer chapters, but as I warned you in the beginning, this story was mostly pre-written, so it's hard to magically add longer chapters. Sorry. I have heard you guys, though, and I'm taking it to heart for the next story I write to try to make all the chapters at least 2000 words or more. Not that many of you guys will probably care, but I wanted to let you all know that I have heard you, honestly. With that said, I hope you guys enjoy, and stay awesome.

-ROC6

Percy shifted his weight impatiently from foot to foot as Piper unlocked Annabeth's door, ignoring the slight pounding in his head. He kept glancing over his shoulder, looking for some unknown danger, even if no one was there. The door unlocked with a click, and he found himself picturing Annabeth's bright smile and golden locks, and the look she always got in her eyes when her mind was a thousand miles beyond the stars.

Piper pushed the door open and trotted inside, Percy and Hazel following shortly behind. Looking around, Piper suppressed a gasp, and Percy's frustration was evident on his face.

"She's not here," he stated blandly.

Hazel tried to interject, "Percy-"

He wasn't hearing it, "She's not here. How could she not be here?"

Suddenly there was a clicking noise and the door to the room opened, revealing a short, Italian nurse with dark, glossy hair. She was humming softly to herself as she juggled various cleaning solutions and washcloths in her arms, not even glancing up as she lapsed into a familiar habit as she danced across the room to the only table, dropping her armful of supplies upon it with a soft thunk. When she did glance up, her mouth fell open in a silent shout, and her dark eyes widened in a way that would've been vaguely comical in another situation.

Percy and Piper both glanced at Hazel, who was staring softly at the woman, whose eyes had a slight sheen to them. The woman walked right past Percy as though he wasn't there, stopping directly in front of Piper and Hazel.

"What are you doing in here?" she demanded, though she didn't seem angry. Her brow was knit and her eyes dark.

"We're the new nurses," Hazel gazed sweetly at her, "We were looking for Annabeth Chase?"
The nurse didn't relax, but the glazed look in her eyes didn't fade either, "Annabeth was taken to therapy twenty minutes ago."

Piper flashed what she hoped was a charming grin, "Thank you. What room is that again?"
The nurse hesitated, but Piper's magic washed over her, "Office 14D."

"Thank you," the daughter of Aphrodite responded before glancing pointedly over at Hazel, "The room was empty when you arrived. You started cleaning as usual."

"I started cleaning as usual," the woman muttered softly, drifting away from the demigods as though they were never there.

The threesome slipped softly out the door, and Percy turned to look at the others, "Where is office 14D?"

"This way, follow me," Piper urged, thankful Annabeth's half-brother had made her memorize the general layout of the facility.

Navigating the facility took roughly twenty minutes thanks to some wrong turns and run-ins with the staff of the facility, and though she was hiding it well, a tired glint had come into Hazel's eyes, since she'd been spending the entire time hiding their presence.

When they arrived outside the office, Percy instinctively reached for the knob, only to find a hand gripping his arm. He turned to Piper, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

"Wait," she whispered, "We can hear what they're saying."

The son of Poseidon hesitated, then nodded, glancing warily at the hallway around them.

"-as far as your boyfriend Percy?" They could hear Dr. Baker asking. Percy visibly tensed at her voice.

"That the nightmares are my subconscious personifying Percy's 'abusive tendencies'," there was a strange lilt in Annabeth's voice, and her speech was dragging, almost slurred, and Piper's hand instinctively glided to her dagger, despite it being of no use against mortals, "But I know it's not true. He loves me."

"Honey," the doctor sounded sympathetic, and Piper had the urge to open the door and slap the woman, but she restrained herself, "We've been over this. Percy doesn't love you. He hurt you."

"No he didn't," the strange lilt still hadn't left.

There was a sigh, and the doctor switched subjects, "And what can you tell me about your mother?"

"She's the Greek goddess Athena," Piper definitely wasn't imagining it, there was a strange note in her voice, and Piper found herself watching Percy, surveying how he was reacting to listening in, though his expression was unreadable at the moment.

"I'm sorry, your mother is not Athena," the doctor said gently.

"Wait," Annabeth stopped to think, and Piper was seriously concerned at the amount of time that it took the demigod to finish her thought, "You want the other version, don't you?"

There was a pause again, before the daughter of Athena recited in an unsettlingly childlike manner, "My mother is Sophia Chase, owner of a small architectural firm in Virginia."

The tone of the statement suggested the demigod expected to be praised, but the doctor shifted the topic of the conversation in a manner that would've seemed bizarre and sudden to most, but Annabeth acted as though the new topic had always been what they were discussing.

"What of your headaches?" the doctor queried conversationally.

There was a pause, "What headaches?"

"The ones you kept reporting in the mornings?" the doctor prompted.

There was another pause, "I don't recall any headaches."

"The ones prior to being given your medicine?"

"Oh," the demigod giggled, causing the hair on the back of Piper's neck to stand up, "Those. They've been gone since you upped the medication yesterday."

"Three days ago," the doctor corrected softly.

There wasn't a response.

After another minute or so in which the only sounds from the other side of the door were the soft clicking of a keyboard, Piper turned her gaze from the door to Hazel, only to find the dark-skinned daughter of Pluto gazing right back at her. She could see a few beads of sweat shining on the younger demigod's forehead.

Now? She mouthed silently, and Hazel nodded.

The daughter of Aphrodite turned to Percy, assuming he hadn't been watching, but she found him holding up three fingers, which he lowered slowly one by one. When his last finger lowered, the green-eyed demigod reached towards the doorknob without any visible hesitation, twisting the knob sharply and pressing the door open with a click, followed by the soft hiss of the hinges as the door slid open.