Chapter 3, everyone give me a 'hooray!'...okay...Um, thanks to everyone who reviews my stories! *wipes tear* I LOVE YOU PEOPLE-Okay, sorry, but no, I don't, no not really.

blackbutterfly21: Percy still calls her Wise Girl, don't worry, but heck, he can have more nicknames for her, right? :)

JayJay-Lynn: Well, yup! They're sixteen here in this chapter and throughout the rest of the story! Haha, be prepared for Annabeth's hormonal thoughts about Percy in the next chappie. ;D

BeautyandtheBeast101575: Yeah, those quotes are my personal favs from that chapter. :) And no, they're mortals. But if I can get people to vote on the poll on my profile, maybe they can be demigods. I mean, hey, you never know what could happen.

IamWafflesHearMeRAWR: Exactly! Thank you! At least SOMEONE understands!

"Percy, seriously, try not to upset Gabe, okay? Please? Do it for me and your mom," I pleaded, my head in his lap as we waited to be let out of our miniature prison.

He glared at the wall, just like when he was younger, "No. That filthy son of a pig deserves way more than a couple of insults from me. First, he takes me and my mom and kills my dad. Next, he treats me like a servant and locks up my mom after forcing her to marry him. Third, he beats us up like a punching bag. Then, he murders your parents and drags you into this mess too. That's four reasons, and you don't think those reasons are enough to murder him too?"

I sat up, "Percy, I—"

"Think about it, Annabeth." He turned me towards him and held me by my shoulders, "That…that freak over there made you an orphan."

The word stung, and it sliced right through me like that butcher knife. Orphan. I winced and hung my head. No way would I let that Kelp Head see me cry. But he raised my chin, staring deep into my eyes, waiting. I'm an orphan…

I shook his hands off, but put my head on his shoulder. Well that doesn't make much of a difference, now does it? "First, Percy, the last thing I need is for you to get hurt too." I pointed at my bruised jaw, and Percy frowned, looking both worried and angry. Worried for me, angry at Gabe. "And second, if we did kill him, would that make us any better of a person than him? We can't stoop down to his low level."

Reluctantly, Percy nodded and hugged me. "The lowest of the low," He agreed. I buried my face in his shoulder and mumbled, hoping he wouldn't hear, "I can't lose you too, of all people."

Just my luck that the stupid Seaweed Brain had the hearing of an elephant.

He pulled me away and looked me straight in the eye with seriousness written all over; his bright sea green eyes making me feel like he could stare into my soul, "It's those dreams again, isn't it?"

We stood and I absentmindedly rubbed my scraped forearm, smiling nervously at him, "It's really…just, nothing to worry about, Percy." I laughed with even more uneasiness, "I mean, psh, they're just dreams, right?" But the last word came out in a squeak.

Percy crossed his arms, scowling down at me like a father to his child, "Annabeth Chase, you and I both know that having a dream every night for three whole months is anything but 'nothing to worry about.'"

Before I could say anything, Gabe threw open the door, a woman's thong on his shoulder. I crinkled my nose in disgust. Ew, I so did not want to know what was going on when we were asleep.

Gabe looked me up and down, "What the hell's wrong with you?" He said it casually, not as mean as usual. Fortunately or unfortunately, he was always in a good mood after…you know, sleeping with some striper from a bar. Nasty and incredibly disturbing?

You have no idea.

Percy cleared his throat and wiped away my tears hurriedly as he tried to think of an excuse that wouldn't get me beaten. Just my luck that he came up with the most embarrassing, stupidest, unfortunately truest excuse ever. "Oh, uh…nothing. She's uh…she's PMS-ing." I glared at him.

Gabe stared at me like he suddenly regretted asking. Good. "Oh, uh…that's nice. Um, j-just…be sure to buy her some…some pads or…or whatever you girls use for…that." He quickly left the room.

I hit Percy upside the head, "You idiot, what was that for?"

He rubbed his head, "Well it's true!" Then he mumbled, "Obviously."

I sighed, "Yeah, but he didn't have to know that! Ugh, come on, Seaweed Brain, let's go make breakfast." I tugged on his wrist and he stared at me like I was crazy before walking out, me on his heels.

I inhaled a shaky breath and walked back till my spine met the cold wall, my eyes watery as Gabe came forward, an empty beer in his hand. He was just about to punch me when Percy suddenly stepped in front of me and caught his fist.

I moved out of the way and watched with tears as both pairs of eyes grew angrier by the second. Percy's mom Sally grabbed my hand and I looked up at her, scared. Before Gabe said anything, Percy—swift, graceful and vicious as a panther— turned and threw Gabe onto the wall, his nose crunching from the impact of the push. Ew.

Percy grabbed Gabe's empty beer bottle and threw it onto Gabe's head, momentarily dazing and hurting him as Percy scrambled back, his eyes nearly black, wild. Gabe whirled around, his nose practically pouring out blood.

"You're gonna pay for that, boy," he snarled. Gabe charged, and quick as a cat, Percy jumped out of the way, then pushed or captor onto the ground with his foot.

"Percy!" I called out, fighting against Sally's arms holding me back. For a mom—no offense, moms—she was pretty darn strong. Gabe got to his feet (eventually) and cracked his knuckles as he walked slowly towards Percy, who just glared at him, his eyes defiant.

"You're a dead man walking, asshole, you know that? Fight like a man!"

Percy snorted and leaned casually against the wall, "Sorry, I don't fight old men."

That made him angry. next thing I know, Percy's nose is also bleeding, but the thing that really made me gasp was the cut running halfway down his fore arm, about five or six inches long. Percy winced, but let the blood stream down and off his hand, onto the floor, just smirking at Gabe.

"Hiding behind a knife? Tsk, tsk. You should know better than to play with weapons," Percy snickered. Unexpectedly, Gabe grabbed Sally and held the five inch Dawson Double-edged Dagger Blade Mint to her throat. I jumped, my eyes wide.

Percy swallowed back his anger, glaring murderously at Gabe. But then I saw something. He made an 'okay' sign with his fingers behind his back. I immediately caught on.

Quietly, I ran back to our room, stuffed our things, like the half empty box of matches, the worn out little bible and some clothes, into a bag. Then crammed our money into my pockets. I went back to the room and Gabe laughed cruelly, not knowing I was there.

"Stupid boy. One more step, one more word, and your mom's dead. Got it?"

Percy gulped, a tear in one eye, "You filthy rotten, son of a bi—" I tuned out the long string of curse words, pretty much out of habit. It wasn't very uncommon to hear Percy cussing at Gabe.

After he was done—finally—Gabe just shrugged, and bam, Sally fell to the floor, the knife in her back. I screamed her name and crouched down next to her, but it was useless. She was dead.

Percy stared at her corpse for one long second before, growling, grabbing a different knife off the floor—I know, how careless of Gabe, huh? I think he was secretly hoping

we would step on it accidently—and stabbed Gabe in the arm, then created a long, disturbingly ugly gash that went all down his arm and yelled to me, "Now!" I know, you're thinking, The arm? Of all places, the arm? Why not kill him! Right now, I'm pretty much thinking of the same thing, despite what I told Percy this morning.

I grabbed our backpack and we ran out, an even longer string of cuss words rolling off Gabe's tongue. We ran and ran, not looking back, then caught a glance of Gabe's car and tumbled in. Luckily, the black Ford truck had tinted windows, and it had a good amount of gas, so we wouldn't and wouldn't be stopped for awhile.

As Percy drove—Gabe made sure he got his license immediately, so that he could stop driving him around everywhere for groceries—I clung to his arm, crying as we gasped for breath from our 'little jog.' Then I quickly let go, surprised my the sudden wetness on my arm. Oh crap, Percy's cut. I got out the medical kit under the seat (why was that there again?) and carefully dabbed and it with some gauze. Percy winced and tried not to swerve, saying nothing.

I wrapped it up and sighed, putting my head on his shoulder this time, "Stupid Seaweed Brain."

"Smart Wise Girl," Percy shot back with a smile. I just glared at him.

"I swear, if you try to take this bandage off or move your arm too much, I'll kill you." He just rolled his eyes and put that arm around my shoulders as I wiped away my tears.

I, Annabeth Chase, sixteen years old, finally escaped with Percy Jackson, also sixteen.

Oh god, finally, we escaped.