Chapter 11

When he next woke up, Annabeth wasn't there. Not that he expected her to be there but still there was this very small, irrational part of his brain that wanted her to be there. He looked at the wall clock to see it was eight in the morning. Three hours since he last woke up. He lifted his arm to rub his eyes but a sudden jolt of pain stopped him from doing so. Usually, he didn't wake up till nine and that too because he had classes but today had to be an exception. Partly because the fever, he suspected, wouldn't let him sleep and partly because he was in no conditions to shoot arrows.

'What am I going to tell Chiron? And mom?' he thought. One thing he was sure of was that he was in deep trouble.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when a knock resonated through the room. He knew it weren't his cousins who were knocking. They had developed a particular system of knocking when they were young. It wasn't his mother either. The lady never knocked despite the number of times he had told her to do so. And frankly, he didn't want anyone else there, so he did the natural thing to do and shouted; "Whoever you are, leave. I don't want you here." Call him rude, but migraines did that do people.

"Okay. I'll leave then." A female voice said from outside the door followed by the sound of retreating footprints. This made him sit upright faster than humanly possible and shout, "Annabeth, come back. It wasn't meant for you."

"You sure?" she answered, her voice sceptic.

"Just come in." He said.

A few seconds later the door to his room opened and Annabeth walked in. She seemed tired though. Very tired. Her usually bright eyes had huge bags under them and she looked like she would pass out on the floor on the first chance she got which was kind of obvious considering the fact that she had been up all night taking care of him. As comfortable as that couch looked he was sure that it hadn't offered a good night's sleep especially after that amount of work.

All in all, he felt like a horrible person.

"How are you feeling on this exceptionally beautiful day?" She asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"Someone's sassy." He said trying to maintain a smug voice but failing due to his sore throat.

"I prefer sardonic but whatever floats your boat." She smiled wanly. "But seriously, how are you?"

"Fine, my arm's a bit sore and I have a huge migraine coming on but that's about it. Though it is you who looks like you were run over by a truck." He told her.

"Now that you've showered me with compliments. How about some breakfast?" She pointed at the trolley she had brought in. He expected to see bacon and glass of orange juice in it but a single, very large bowl of soup greeted him.

He groaned. "One: Soup? Two: why are you so sarcastic?"

She smirked at him saying, "One: You need it. Two: A nine letter word. Keep it up."

He just smiled at her as she placed the plate besides his bed and turned to leave. He raised his hand trying to scoop us some broth but the sudden pain that seared his arm was more than enough to discourage him. She turned around hearing his sigh of discomfort and said, "Please don't say that you can't feed yourself right now."

"Well, if you are feeling generous…"

"Please no." she whined. It was nice, Percy decided, when she acted like a child. Sixteen wasn't a big number after all.

"We wouldn't want me to be starved. Would we now?" He asked her as she came up to him sitting at the edge of his bed, Very Cautiously, he might add.

Jokes apart, he couldn't help but notice how she was as stiff a board whenever she came near him. She picked up the spoon and scooped up some of what he assumed was chicken soup before feeding her to him with shaky hands spilling some of the very hot liquid over the sheets and his shoulder making him grimace. She sighed in an exasperated manner before standing up and storming out of the room.

To say he was confused would be an understatement.

However, she entered a couple of minutes later with a straw. She put it in the bowl ignoring his incredulous look before turning to him and saying, "Eat it yourself."

She came back to collect his plates in half an hour which was way too long according to him. His mom had come to see him telling him about how Annabeth had told him of how he had hurt himself while archery and had a fever. She then went on to tell him what an angel the girl was and a part of him couldn't help but agree.

And now here he was staring at her blonde ponytail as she looked at the books in his room, dusting them and occasionally reading a summary or two.

"Hey."

No response

"Annabeth!"

Nothing.

"Beth!"

Still nothing.

"Annie."

"Don't call me Annie." She turned to face him with a glare.

At least, he now knew how to get her attention.

"I'm bored." He whined.

"Did you tell your teacher that you aren't attending classes today?" she asked him with a raised eyebrow to which he just shrugged and said "I'm injured."

"Okay, then Crippled. Who is your teacher?"

"Crippled?" he asked her with a mock glare.

"Yes, crippled. You didn't answer my question though."

"Chiron. He teaches me." He said slightly confused by the suspicious look she gave him or the way she bit her lip as if contemplating something. "Something happened?"

"No. It is just that he taught me as well." She told him.

"Really?" To him it was strange if not anything else.

"Really." She confirmed. "I'll tell him. Haven't seen him in more than a year now."

"Okay." He shrugged watching as she left the room and waiting for her to come back.

~oOoOoOo~

Annabeth smiled as Percy opened the door to his carriage for the day which was nothing but a small horse cart with net curtains. She had asked him why he didn't want to take the car to which he said that he wanted her to have the real experience of touring the town's high market.

Despite the fact that his arm was still covered in bandages and he had a mild fever and a huge migraine, he had insisted that they come to the market as he was getting bored.

So here they were sitting in a horse cart, which were pretty popular she had learned, him looking like a five year old on Christmas in the body of a seventeen year old. An extremely attractive sixteen year old if talking about technicalities.

They made their way inside the theatre which had a romance cum tragedy play going on. She had to grab Percy's good arm to keep him from falling which somehow made his cheeks turn red. Or maybe it was just the lighting. She'll never know.

The play was boring to say the least. More boring than sitting in a white room and staring at a wall for three hours straight. Halfway through it, Percy leaned in and whispered in her ear, "Wanna ditch?"

She looked at the stage where the leading lady sat on the stage bawling her eyes out over the fact that her husband hadn't returned yet and then at Percy who had his green eyes sparkling and was rubbing his neck staring questioningly at her.

"Yes, please." She told him.

He smiled at her getting up from his chair and said, "After you, my lady."

They exited the theatre with him lightly holding her wrist when a voice behind them said, "Well, look who I found today?"

All the colour drained from her face as she recognised the gruff, husky voice that had haunted her sleep for weeks now. The guy walked in front of the two of them and coming face to face with the same brown hair and dark eyes made Annabeth's knees go week. He smiled at her completely ignoring Percy. A cold, gruesome smiled that made her stomach go in knots. She barely registered Percy putting his arm around her waist and muttering her name trying to shake her out of her reverie. The need to pass out was too strong. She desperately hoped for some of the adrenalin from that night but luck wasn't at her side.

The man in front of her was Ethan Nakamura.