-Enlightenment must come little by little - otherwise it would overwhelm-
Idries Shah

Annabeth awoke with a start, blinking against the bright lights of the barn, propping herself up on her elbows she looked around. Percy gave a strangled gasp and shot up into a sitting position, hitting his head on the table, falling back swearing to himself and clutching his forehead. Annabeth giggled, winking at him when he looked over at her scowling.

Then the memories hit her again, bouncing around the inside of her head angrily. Guilt settled in the pit of her stomach, and she groaned as she realized that they had just watched all of Thalia's most important, not to mention private, memories. She now knew all of Thalia's secrets, and found herself trying to forget them.

She stood up, trying to get heart-wrenching images of a tiny six year old Thalia huddled in a closet, or burning memories of Thalia's lips on Luke's, or any memory that wasn't her own, cleared from of her mind. She looked over as the hunters got to their feet, Percy stood up, still rubbing the sore spot on his head. Ben was nowhere to be seen, she craned her neck trying to see out the window, to check if he had run out of the room, but he was gone.

She sighed heavily and touched Percy's shoulder reassuringly, whether reassuring for her or for him she wasn't positive, she wobbled to her feet and took a few steps to the door, before she heard the sound of breaking glass. Looking down, she realized that she was standing on the broken shards of Thalia's memory orb. She collected the tiny fragments and pooled them in her palms, unsure of what to do with them. She looked around the room desperately, please someone know what to do!

Ben was gone.

The dark haired demigod was nowhere to be seen, he must have left while everyone was still disoriented, well, more disoriented.

"Percy!" Annabeth cried, running over to him and grabbing his arm, "We need to find Thalia, like, right now!"

"Right, okay," Percy said breathlessly, he glanced around the room, "um, do any of you know where Thalia is?"

The hunters looked at him in disgust, sniffing loudly and derisively before turning and gathering together to whisper amongst themselves.

"Guess I should've seen that coming," Percy muttered wearily, as he ran a hand through his dark hair, he turned his gaze back to Annabeth, "well, um, I guess we should check all the places Thalia hangs out, you know? I'll check her tree, and you can um, check her cabin, then we'll meet up at the Big house to tell Chiron."

"Should we tell her?" Annabeth asked him, she already had a few theories on how her friend would react, and none of them were good, "Maybe she's got enough to deal with, I mean, Luke's back, and then there's that whole Ben issue, and she has to take care of the hunters, and whatever Artemis is doing, should we add to that?"

"Hey, Thalia is one of the strongest people I know, I know that I would want to know if someone had raped my memories like that, and I know she can handle it," Percy said gently but firmly, taking Annabeth by the shoulders so she had to look at him, "besides, she's definitely had worse."

Annabeth closed her eyes and took a deep breath; she paused to kiss him on the cheek, then walked out of the room determinedly. She would find Thalia, and then they would both kill Ben.

i hate filler chapters.

really.

they're no fun to write :(

review, and maybe tell me what you want to see as a memory ;)