Hi to all my readers and reviewers! This chapter, as the name suggests, has flashbacks into Annabeth's life before she met Percy. You might be surprised….

"Okay, so what now?" I asked to no one in particular.

Grover puffed a few notes out on his reed pipes, in what I recognized as a "find path" song. "Do we have any money left?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I think we left the money for our return flight on Olympus."

"Ah," Grover said. He pointed left. "That way is to New York. We have a long way to go, considering we have no money."

I felt a sharp pain at the top of my head. I looked up to see a flying sandal kicking at my head. Thalia burst out laughing, and I could have sworn I saw a smile cross the unmoving Annabeth's face.

The sandal had an envelope tied to it. I opened it to find several dollar bills and a note. The note said:

Percy,

This is from your dad. He cannot help you directly by transporting you, so he decided to get you some money. I recommend that you use it for a train or subway ride. Whatever you do, do NOT go on a plane. Kronos still has little power over the sky, as he was the previous ruler of it.

Hermes

"Wow," I said. "Perfect timing. Poseidon sent us some money."

Thalia raised her eyebrows. "Let's go." She said. "Goat boy, where's the train station?"

Grover looked slightly miffed at being called "goat boy". He pulled a map out of nowhere and examined it. "From what I can determine, it is that over there." He pointed toward a large building that appeared to be several hundred yards away.

"Convenient," Thalia commented dryly. I picked up Annabeth, put the invisibility cap on her head, and we walked to the station.

The clerk was somewhat skeptical. "The next train is in fifteen minutes. You have money?"

I pulled out a sheaf of dollar bills without looking at them. The clerk went pale. "Those are fake. They have to be fake." He snatched them from my hand and ran them under some sort of scanner. He went even paler. "First class, then." He handed back all but one of the bills. They looked to me like regular $1 bills.

Magic, I realized. They changed to fit the need.

"The train has one stop in Missouri," said the clerk. "Have a nice day."

We boarded the train, apparently, just in time. Thalia and Grover sat in one booth, while I sat in another and laid Annabeth on the seat across from me, taking off the invisibility cap.

A strange feeling struck me. I felt like I was leaning toward Annabeth, but my body wasn't moving at all. The strange feeling-consciousness touched Annabeth's hand, and I was lost in a storm of memories.

"Go!" Thalia cried. I was running beside her, fleeing from the oncoming tide of monsters. I looked back fearfully. Three winged bat-like creatures wielding flaming whips, a cloud of demonic looking hounds, and who knows what else was chasing us.

"I can't leave you!" Luke cried.

"Just go!" Thalia violently gestured with her hand.

"We can't!" Grover said this time. "I was assigned to you!"

"That doesn't matter!" Thalia yelled. The monsters were starting to catch up.

"GO!" Thalia screamed. "I don't want to live like this. Hades will chase after me for the rest of my life. I don't want to live like this, I DON'T!"

"But…" Grover hesitated.

"GO!!" she cried. Power radiated from her anger. The sky was black, and lightning began to strike repeatedly. I reeled backward.

Luke grabbed my wrist. "Come on!" He pulled me to a range at which I could still barely see Thalia. Grover had fled with us.

It was too much. She fell onto her hands and knees, panting with the effort of accidentally releasing her power. The bat-creature grinned in triumph.

"Go!" she cried once more. The winged thing flicked its flaming whip and brought it down on Thalia. I covered my face for what seemed like several minutes.

"Annabeth," Luke shook me. "Look."

Thalia was nowhere to be seen. Neither were the monsters. Taking her place was a humongous pine tree, right on the property line.

The memory ended. I opened my eyes to my regular consciousness. Silent tears were running down Annabeth's face. Her life was streaming before her, and in no particular order.

I wanted to comfort her, despite she being unconscious. Something in my head was trying to stop me. I mentally brushed away the resistance and put my hand to her cheek, gently brushing away the tears.

I plunged into another one of her memories.

I sat weeping in the forest. Thalia was gone. I would never see her again.

Luke came walking up to me. "Thinking about Thalia?" In three words, he had encompassed exactly what I was thinking about.

I didn't answer. He walked behind me and wound his arms around me. I wanted to glare at him, to tell him that that wasn't necessary. But I couldn't.

I slid into his arms and immediately fell asleep. I woke up on the ground.

I reverted back to my regular self. I had almost forgotten about being on a train, but a sharp jolt brought me back to my senses.

"We are now at Missouri. This train will be connecting to New York in approximately two hours." A cool female voice said. I put the Yankees cap on Annabeth's head, picked her up, and went to wake up Thalia, who had fallen asleep during the trip. She wasn't too happy when I did.

"All right, all right I'm coming." Thalia said grumpily. We got off the train, and left the station.

Grover looked agitated. "What's wrong?" I asked him.

"Monsters. There is at least one major monster in the immediate area." Grover said nervously. I didn't blame him.

"All right, whatever." I said. "Let's go look for something to do. Meet you at the train station in an hour and a half."

"All right," Thalia agreed. Grover looked slightly perturbed, but he went with Thalia.

I walked in a straight beeline toward something I couldn't see. I felt as if something was drawing me toward itself, something unidentifiable. I walked into a dark, deserted alley.

"Look heeere," a hissing voice said. Like an idiot, I looked. When I looked the speaker directly in the eye, I knew it would be the last thing I would ever do.

Medusa.

Mwahahahaha! More cliffies! Soon I shall dominate Western civilization with an army of…never mind. If I made mistakes with the memories, let me know. If I made any mistakes, let me know. I might post the next chapter earlier tomorrow, because I don't have school.