I know I know, I'm late. In my great defense, I'm still sick. I was also editing this and decided at the last minute to rewrite an ENTIRE SCENE the day it was supposed to be posted.

My bad you guys.

There were SO many concerned reviews and PM's pouring in and I thank you all for your words. I kinda feel bad now that I made you wait this long without responding when it was coming. I promise these last three days have just been frantic editing and rewriting because I didn't like a middle section.

Fingers crossed it doesn't show.

Now, welcome to the final part! It's so surreal to call this finished. And honestly pretty dope that I was able to post each corresponding part in each season it was in.

Spring

Jackson. I could hear him. Talking lowly amongst a symphony of other voices.

My chest hurt. Why did my chest hurt so much? Where was I? How did I get there?

I grimaced. The voices were loud, angry. Not quite yelling, but tense and sharply worded. How many people were around me? What were they talking about?

I tried to crack my eyes open but the world around me was too bright. Too white.

A thin cotton blanket that stank of disinfectant lay on my chest. I couldn't feel my tongue. Maybe my mouth was too dry?

Finally, I squinted my eyes open.

I was in a small hospital room. Lit with bright rectangular fluorescent lights that hummed softly under the chaos surrounding me. To my left were windows framing the darkness outside save for the pinpricks of light beaming from the cityscape.

I blinked and tried to swallow but couldn't. My throat felt too thick, too empty. I tried breathing in unison with the slow beeps of the machine next to me. I tried settling my swimming mind and rising panic but it was so much to take in. So much confusion.

Tubes? An IV? A heart monitor? Things, wires, something was pinching my wrist.

At the foot of my bed a herd of adults had gathered and were arguing in different directions about different things. A male nurse, a female doctor, Sally Blofis, Paul Blofis and my Dad. I didn't have the strength to discern what they were saying or why they were saying it.

From my bedside someone twined their fingers into mine.

Percy looked completely drained.

"Tell me you're going to be okay," he muttered close to my bed. Concern was thrumming around his deep green eyes. His eyebrows were turned upwards.

Grover was sitting next to him on a foldable chair, shaking from head to toe so badly that his crutches clacked together between his knees.

"I'm fine," I croaked. "What happened?"

"You lost a lot of blood," Percy said tightly, as if the words were difficult to form. "You've held in your hearts too many times and it stressed your esophagus. When Travis kicked you, it was the pressure needed to just tear a hole in your insides."

They must've numbed my mouth to shove equipment down my throat to seal the tear. That's why my tongue felt like a floppy pile of mush.

"Rachel?" A scattered shuttering feeling, like insect legs, tangled up my spine.

"She went home before anything happened… she's still in the dark. And Travis and Connor bolted the moment they saw your blood." Percy relieved me.

"And… my Dad-" I glanced at the end of my bed.

Percy winced. "I… I had to tell them. All of them. I couldn't keep information that might help. I… I'm sorry but I had to."

"And… Grover?"

Grover wouldn't even look at me. Tear tracks lined his face, under his eyes was blotchy and red, his whites bloodshot. Just by the way he was breathing ragged, facing the floor, I could tell that he knew.

Well, of course he knew. He was there. He must've seen the hearts on the floor, he must've seen the way Percy held me. He must've been so scared, watching the blood thicken on the floor. The feel of it under his palms as he tried to wake me up…

As the moment came back, I felt a giant welt forming in my gut. Gaining in pressure, in pain. I'd had episodes of vomiting blood before, but never that violent and never that out of control. I'd never felt such a weakness overtake me. The way the blackness clawed me into a state submission- it left me breathless and panicked.

It was scary.

I was scared.

"Annabeth!" Sally rushed towards me once she realized I was awake. She seized my hand but that's all she did. Nothing would come from her mouth no matter how hard she tried.

Tears burst from her eyes and she shook her head. Unable to come up with anything that would suit the moment.

I knew how she felt.

Paul stood behind her, a steadying grip on his wife's shoulder. His expression was so sallow and so grievous you'd think he was the one lying in the hospital bed.

My father was still at the foot of my bed, his back to me.

Was he mad? Did he care? Was he relieved? My throat swelled with shame. I should've told him.

The Doctor cleared her throat and made a broad gesture to the door. "Could everyone who is not Annabeth Chase's immediate family clear the room?"

They did, Sally seemed the most unhappy with it. Percy was still coming to terms with everything. Paul was his normal zombie 'I have no idea what's going on ever' self. Grover broke my heart with the look he left behind.

"I've been made aware of your situation by your triangles core." The Doctor stepped forward elegantly. Her name tag was crooked against her white coat pocket. Dr. Tonya Lee. "And I've just learned that you didn't tell your father about any of this, so I thought I'd go ahead and give you two the opportunity to talk."

"Thank you…" I croaked. But it was empty.

I didn't want to talk.

Not now. I just wanted to be at home, under a pile of pillows and blankets, watching Covergirl starring Gene Kelly. Maybe listening to Chiquitita with Rachel. Or maybe what I needed was another screaming match over a quarry with Piper and Hazel.

With a pert nod, Dr. Tonya glanced at my stiff and unresponsive father before making her way to the door and clicking it slowly closed behind her.

My Father's back was still to me. He wasn't even staring out of the dark window, but at a wall so blank it could've been an erased piece of reality.

"Dad?" I tried to sit up but a seize of pain ricocheted down my center and into my spine. Groaning, I sat back again.

My dad didn't move. He didn't even flinch.

"Dad!"

There. He moved. Shifting his elbow to better cross his arms. His head lowered, giving me a better view of the nape of his neck. Undiscovered grey hair that had started to eat away the blond congregated there.

Snapping up the pen on my bedside table, I threw it at him and it bounced off his shoulder. It skittered across the floor a second later. The only sound in the room. The only reaction to any of this.

Tears were burning against my eyes, my throat ached with a held-in sob. I didn't know what I was feeling. Anger? Shame? Was I just plain fed up?

"Say something!" I begged. "Say anything!"

He didn't move. It was as if he had died standing up.

Then his shoulders shuddered. He brought a hand up to his face. "I don't have anything to say."

I'd never heard my father cry before.

That's what it was, wasn't it? When your tone is thick and heavy. Threatening to crack at every syllable. The way your breath flutters slightly as if your diaphragm can't decide if it's time to breathe in or out.

I still couldn't see his face, but now I knew why. He couldn't bear to let me see him cry.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I'm so so sorry. I meant to tell you. I tried to tell you so many times but… it's not easy. And I… I didn't know if you'd even care."

My father finally finally wheeled around to face me. His eyes were bloodshot and hollow, wet sheened against his cheeks but there was a sudden fire in his look I couldn't deny.

"Care?! Why would I not care?!"

I grit my teeth. "Well what else was I supposed to think?!"

I was breaking. Anger was seeping in through my heart, flushing my face and burning my eyes. I didn't want to be mad at him. I didn't want him to have to struggle through whatever this conversation was.

But styx, didn't he get it? I'd been floundering around for five years with my only support being Rachel and Grover. Two teenagers who had their own problems, their own lives and couldn't give me much insight because, dammit, they had been on earth the same amount of time I had!

Staggering, my father fumbled over to the chair Percy had been in originally and instantly buried his face in his hands.

"You don't have to do this, Annabeth," he said, despair in his tone. "You can bond with that boy. He wants to bond with you. You don't have to die-"

"I'm not letting Rachel die."

"But Annabeth-"

"NO! She deserves a good, long and happy life."

"So do you! And if that boy wants to give it to you then let him!"

I fisted my hands. "His name is Percy! He's been using our swimming pool for the last five months now and you'd know that if you just stepped outside of your office for six bloody minutes!"

There. I said it. The shock bubbled up in my dad's eyes. I guess he didn't expect me to be so harsh seeing as this was our first full conversation in five years.

When his expression refused to die, I sighed. Exhaustion was creeping into my bones already. I didn't want to talk. I didn't want to talk. I just didn't want to talk.

"Look, I don't know what to think of you, okay? Half of me is convinced you hate me for driving away your family and the other half of me is convinced you're just hiding from me for driving away your family. Maybe this started when Mom died, I don't know. I just don't know you."

He looked shattered. "Annabeth… I don't hate you."

"Well how am I supposed to know that?" I asked, aggravated. "How am I supposed to know anything if you don't talk to me or even spend time in my general vicinity? I'm not a mind reader or a shrink."

He didn't answer. He was focused on the blue speckled tile flooring. Counting each square, if he was anything like me.

I wasn't used to seeing him so up close. From far away he looked as he always had. Stoic, unbeatable, unbothered, but up close was a different story. The lines between the corners of his nose and mouth had deepened, jowls had begun to blur away his illusion of a sharp jawline. Darkened bags ribbed under his eyes as if he hadn't slept in years and the top of his head of hair was beginning to thin out. My father was old, and I hadn't seen it.

Disgraced, he glanced up at me then continued his deep examination of the floor. Clearly intent on staying silent like he had for the last five years.

Sighing heavily, I rubbed my temples. "I'm sorry I pushed Helen and the boys away. Is that what you want me to say?"

"... No."

"But you do blame me for that… right?"

My father kneaded his hands together. Between being a doctor and writing papers upon papers for his night school program, his fingertips were worn and dry. His cuticles were cracking. "Maybe a bit."

Why was I relieved to hear him say that? He blamed me for Helen and the boys leaving, that should've been painful. But instead it was like that dark goblin in my chest had been satiated by his words.

Because IT IS your fault.

"I'm sorry I was a bad kid," I murmured. "I just… I had a hard time dealing with how you remarried so quickly after mom."

He snuffed a breath through his nose. Shrugging like it was no big deal to him. "Your mother and I were midway through getting a divorce before the accident."

I blinked.

"What?"

"I was over her before the first paper was signed. I was under the impression that she felt the same way."

Disbelief was rolling me into a numb state. I didn't have any memories that would've given me the slightest hint that something was wrong. Divorcing? It was such a foreign word, such an unfamiliar concept. The idea that they didn't share much love… I guess as a child I just thought my parents were soulmates without the magic.

"When Athena died, well, it was more like losing a friend than a wife. We were amicable but not cozy," he finished, shaking his head with a quiet reminiscing look in his eyes.

Breathing hurt. "And you didn't think to tell me?!"

My father perched an eyebrow at the strain in my tone. "We were going to tell you once everything was finalized but when she passed away I didn't see the point."

I blanked. How could I put it into words? He was emotionally available to marry someone else before my mother was even dead, that's why it was so easy for him to get hitched less than a year after she died.

But for me? Watching my Dad switch so seamlessly from one wife to the next? It warped my view on love, on marriage. It made me feel so damn replaceable. If she was easy to find a substitute for, then what about me? In my eight year old brain, if I died my Dad could simply find another little girl to fill my place.

That messes with you. That lack of security, that unstable feeling as if everything beneath your feet is made of fog. I struggled so damn much when I was a kid, I realized. I was fighting with the grief of my mom, working through having new strangers in my home, my safe place, then dealing with the fact that I thought I wasn't important enough to be mourned before the new me walked in the door.

Then at school, being the girl with the dead mom? Everyone treated me differently, pityingly. There was no escape in the changes of my life.

I was eight years old and I shouldn't have had to deal with all of that alone.

I had Helen. I only had Helen. A woman I was not ready to associate with. A woman I was not ready to have in my life.

Then I had Rachel. A friend. Someone who couldn't tell me the answers I was looking for because she was just as naive as I was.

Because I didn't have a support system, I built walls. Because I didn't have the means to sort things out by myself I let all that frustration curdle and pour out of me. I lashed out.

I should've known better than to lash out. I thought with a cringe. But still…

I gasped a breathy laugh. "Don't take this the wrong way but… you're emotionally dense, Dad."

My father's expression twisted. "What?"

"And the moment I get out of here, I'm getting a therapist because, damn, you messed me up. And I'm still dealing with the consequences apparently."

His brow steepened. "What?!"

"Therapy, Dad. I want it."

"Annabeth-!"

"Are you seriously going to deny me the one thing I want like a few months before I die?"

For the first time in eight years, I saw defiance and a stern lift in his lips. "You don't have to die. That boy- Percy, he wants you Annabeth. Not Rachel."

But I was done arguing. I was done talking, believe it or not. I crossed my arms and set my eyes on him as cooly, and as calmly as possible. "I'm getting therapy and I'm going to die.

"But-"

"END of discussion."

And that was that. After five years of not talking, my father didn't have the backbone to talk back. He just stared at me, dumbstruck. Wavering. Stuck in a position where he wanted to say something, but his social skills had decayed so much over the years that he hadn't the means to say them.

.oOo.

The next day Dr. Tonya dragged in a stickly looking guy from out in the hall and got Percy and I alone in my hospital room. I'd barely woken up and a glowing sunshine was breaching through the windows, sprawling across my bed in bars of warmth. Percy brought me a homemade smoothie his mom had made and a care package of drinks, gameboy, and a mechanical puzzle. I was eternally grateful, even if I was on a liquid diet for the week.

"This nerd has a few questions for you," Doctor Tonya steered the guy up front. "Is that okay? He's curious about love triangles.

Percy and I exchanged glances. Love triangles were super rare, we knew that much, so was this just some fanatic or someone collecting data?

Might I add, he did indeed look like a nerd. Tall, gangly, sporting a pair of trendy glasses that complemented his thick sweep of dark brown hair parted on the side. But that's where the 'nerd' vibes stopped. He had on a pair of well worn jeans and a letterman jacket from some obscure university. Not unattractive either.

"My name is Neil Lee." He extended his arm excitedly towards first me and then Percy. "I'm the world's foremost authority on love triangles. I'm not just looking to ask questions, but to answer some of yours as well."

I tried not to look too unconvinced. "You're like twenty years old?"

"Nineteen," the Doctor corrected with a chortle.

Neil flushed red. "I was the prodigy of soulmate scientist Clare El Leclare!"

"Intern," the Doctor said. "And not even a good one."

"No, no. I was his prodigy. He passed all of his research on to me when he died. I've spent the last three years studying soulmate connections with his work as a guidance, especially love triangle connections."

I attempted to sit up, but pain sank into my abs the moment I tried to flex them. So, instead I shifted my head to Percy to see what he thought.

An expert on soulmate connections.

Google could only give me so much and I hadn't exactly figured things out for myself. Maybe an outside opinion would be helpful? Percy's expression said; I have no clue. You decide.

"How did you hear about us?" I asked warily.

Neil shifted on his legs. "My sister-" he pointed to the Doctor. Doctor Tonya Lee, of course. How did I not connect the two? "-She called me."

"Doesn't that break Doctor-patient confidentiality?" Percy asked with an accusational glare in Dr. Tonya's direction.

Dr. Tonya shrugged. "Do you know what they teach in med school about love triangle cases? Give them a nice quiet corner to die in. That's it. My brother may be a bimbo but he's a smart bimbo. Your best hope for having a few extra livable months is him. It was the only way I could think to help assist you as a Doctor."

I did a onceover on Neil again. Although he didn't look very promising, he was earnest. And who was to say that he wouldn't have any good information? Besides, he gave off 'child genius' vibes. It'd be a sin not to give him a chance.

"That's fair," I said slowly. "Could we ask our questions before you ask yours?"

Eagerly, Neil nodded and unconsciously took a step closer. He looked just like an overzealous kid at a national spelling bee contest.

"Has there ever been a case where all three love triangle stems survived?" Percy asked as he set his hand on mine. A shock of electricity went up my arm from the abrupt contact.

Rachel. Rachel. Rachel. I slithered my fingers out of his reach and masked it by readjusting my pillow.

Neil's excited gaze fell. "...no. It's not possible. With what I know, I can't save anyone. I can only share a few tips on how to manage things easier. And if you'll allow me, I'll study your dynamic in order to gain a better understanding of love triangles, and help more people in the future."

Percy's shoulders fell. I had a hunch that was his one and only question.

In the back of my head, the moment I spewed blood like a fireman's hose came back to me. Was that what my death was going to be like? Was that what was waiting for me at the end of this mess? The welt in my gut tightened, and I had to breathe away the panic.

"How does the whole 'dying' bit work?" I gripped my hands together. "Everything I've read online is so vague. I can't tell if I'm actually feeling weaker or if it's all just in my head. The only thing that was certain online was that I'll die within the two weeks after Percy and Rachel bond."

Percy stiffened. I didn't know where he was at in 'processing my upcoming death' but he couldn't have gotten deep into it. Although I was sympathizing with him, I wanted to keep my distance. He was still Rachel's soulmate.

"Two weeks is accurate," Neil said quietly. "And depending on your interactions with Percy, you very well might've been in a weakening state at some point."

I managed to sit up this time. Tingling when Percy's hand found my shoulder to steady me. "How?"

"Well pretend Percy here is a watering can-"
"I'm not."

"Just pretend. He's a watering can, and you're a flower and the other girl-"

"Rachel." I supplied.

"Rachel. Well she's a flower too. Percy's attentions to each of you is like being watered. Naturally if one is better taken care of, the other will wither away over time," Neil said.

Dr. Tonya chortled softly to herself. "That's a terrible metaphor."

"So because Percy was spending a lot of time with Rachel at the beginning of their relationship, that's why I started to feel drained?" I was asking more to clarify than anything.

It made sense. The night I was sick, and Percy stayed over I was better in the morning like a freaking magic trick. Not to mention after the weekend out stuck in that cabin, I had an energy boost equal to being kissed by the energizer bunny.

"Yes." Neil dragged a plastic chair from the side of the room and sat backwards on it. Resting his arms over the curved backing. "Percy, by splitting your time equally between them, you could actually improve Annabeth's physical wellness before the inevitable."

A dark look had come into Percy's eyes. He wanted to be anywhere but in that hospital room, I could tell. Despite the anger he was radiating, he spoke smoothly. "Why do I have to bond anyways? Can't I just… never do it?"

"Uhhh. No. That's a bad idea. Everyone subjected to soulmate magic has to bond or else they die. In love triangle cases they have to bond quicker or else it's like a simultaneous heart attack. The last case of that happening was a woman in Albania who couldn't decide between two men. She made it eleven months after the first symptom arrived before all three of them died."

Eleven months. Our triangle started in September, it was March. I had used seven months already. But that meant if my cap was eleven, then I could make it to graduation. It was at least one plus side in a station of scary trains of thought.

"Four months," I said, glancing at Percy. I finally had a time frame to work with.

"Four is cutting it close," Neil cringed. "Does three and a half work for you?"

"As long as I graduate," I said. "I was thinking I had less time than this back in September, so it's all a step up."

Neil shook his head, a little in awe. "Are you always this optimistic in such times?"

I laughed. "Never."

"What did you mean when you said 'attentions'." Percy asked suddenly. His shoulders were pulled back a bit tighter, his eyes were sharp, a dust of a blush was spreading over his cheeks. "Because… Well, Annabeth's had my attention so to speak, longer than Rachel ever did… is it just time I spend with each of them? Or is it feelings too."

"Time, physical affection, quality interactions all go into 'attentions'. As for feelings, it surprisingly doesn't matter what you feel. The soulmate magic simply points out who you would be happiest with in the entire world. It shows you who 'the one' is. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't force you to fall in love. Any attraction or strong feelings you have for either of the triangle stems are self cultivated. With or without the soulmate magic, you probably would've fallen in love with that person anyways. It just gives the needed push to bring the right people together."

Before all this began, I couldn't even look at Percy without feeling a violent repulsion. It felt so long ago. Even in September, the thought of kissing him sickened me. But now…

Well, apparently the soulmate magic didn't make me 'addicted' to him. It was just me. I'm a dope.

"So does that mean he can bond with Rachel even if he doesn't love her?" I asked.

"Yes," Neil said.

"And does that mean since the soulmate magic doesn't force love that there's a chance that I will never love Rachel?" Percy fired back.

"Also yes."

"But he could," I said. "He could find just as much happiness with Rachel as he could have with me. That's why it's a triangle, right?"

Neil cringed, showing his line of white teeth. "Actually…"

From the corner of the room, Doctor Tonya looked up from her phone. Suddenly interested in our conversation.

"It was widely believed for a long time that that was the case, however recently there have been strong theories that suggest one of the connected three in the triangle are an appendage." Neil drummed his fingers against the back of the chair, then pushed his glasses up his nose. It was like he couldn't decide what to do with his hands.

"But Rachel's been practically in love with Percy forever," I said. "She can't be an appendage."

"Again, feelings scarcely matter in this situation. The soulmate magic does not mess with your feelings, it just pulls you to the right people. It isn't a perfect thing. There are glitched soulmates, resistors driven mad by the magic who die, and people who do find happiness together but it causes the rest of society grief. Bonnie and Clyde, Helen of Troy and Paris, Romeo and Juliet. The list goes on. The fact is soulmate magic is flawed and can cause as much trouble as it does good. Love triangles are just another flaw in the magic and it's most likely because an appendage attaches to an intended pair of soulmates."

I gripped my hands into a tighter clench. "But you can't be certain that I'm not the appendage, right? If feelings don't matter-"

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Percy's hand slip into his pocket. I reached to stop him but it was too late. My chest swarmed with a million flutters of warmth. I felt as if I were glowing as he pulled my little soulmate heart out of his pocket and held it outwards. Stars scattered themselves across the ceiling and down over the walls and blinds. The spill of sunshine breaching in through the cracks of the white blinds almost seemed dim in comparison. We were suddenly under the night sky even though it was mid morning.

"Could this prove that we're supposed to be together and that Rachel is the appendage?" Percy asked somberly.

Neil had peeled off his glasses and was standing on his seat. Staring, open mouthed, up at the stars. Dr. Tonya was bug eyed too and had dropped her phone to the floor in the shock.

"This… this is incredible! I've never seen anything like it! I know some soulmate connections can create weird powers… but to happen before bonding?! Unheard of!" Neil jumped to the floor. A million different expressions in his eyes alone. "I need to study this! I need my notes! Will you let me document this? Maybe run a few experiments?"

Percy had his answer. He slipped my heart into his pocket, relieving me of that clench in my chest. "I'm down. Anything to get more answers."

"Me too," I muttered.

Neil practically danced out of the door. Listing things absentmindedly that he needed to get.

Dr. Tonya followed him, sensing we needed alone time I figured.

I didn't want to look at Percy. Somehow I knew he was probing me with his eyes. Trying to find my reaction to the new information. But I didn't want to admit it.

Rachel's my girlfriend. You're my soulmate.

What if that was true? I'd satisfied myself with the idea that after I was gone, Percy would just fall in love with Rachel. But if she was an 'appendage', something that wasn't supposed to be part of the equation to begin with, how could I rectify my decision to die? I'd be leaving Percy to live a lonely life because the one person he would be happiest with was gone.

But I didn't want Rachel to die.

But I didn't want Percy to be lonely

But I didn't want Rachel to die.

I shook my head. I loved both those idiots too much. How could the world expect me to choose which one of them would be in pain? How could I die knowing that Percy wouldn't be okay? But how could I live knowing that Rachel died because of me? How the HUICK was I supposed to choose? Dammit. The welt in my stomach was making me sick.

"It's okay." Percy's hand found mine. With one squeeze of his warm fingers it was as if my mind was wiped clean. I sighed the weight off my shoulders, if only for a moment. "Don't think about me in this, alright? No matter what happens, I'll be okay."

"But how could I not-"
"Annabeth-" Since when did he call my name like that? Since when did he start to look at me like that with those deep green eyes of his? My insides were melting. "- listen. I've been selfish. Wanting you to let Rachel die… You're trying to do something incredibly selfless and heroic. Even when you were in pain in the classroom, all you thought about was Rachel and making sure she didn't know. And… I get it now. You didn't want me or her to know about the triangle so we wouldn't feel guilty when you died. You just didn't want anyone to think it was their fault… So whatever you choose to do… whatever you want to do, I'm there. I've got your back."

I regripped his hand. Fears, hopes, pains floated around my chest. "Even if that means letting me go?"

Percy squeezed his eyes shut. Close to tears. "...I'll… I'll try, okay? I'll try."

Pain was wound so tightly in his voice that my heart spiraled with guilt. I was doing this to him. I was making him let me go. Reaching out to cradle his face, I dug for words but they wouldn't come.

"Percy," I cried. A sweep of tears rushed down my face in a hot flood.

In all this, he was prioritizing me. What I wanted. I don't think I've ever really felt that before.

Percy fought back his emotions enough to press his forehead against mine. Wiping my cheeks with a swipe from his thumb. "We're it, Annabeth. We're it."

"I know," I sobbed.

.oOo.

Rachel called me at six, wanting to know where I was. Apparently she was weirded out by my solemnly empty house. Thank the heavens that Piper and Hazel were visiting at that moment and they whisked away my phone before I could even try to lie.

"She's at my house!" Piper grinned at me. "We're planning a trip to Greece for next week, wanna come?"

Oh yeah, apparently our spring break trip was still on. Hazel had secured her Dad's private jet, Jason's dad had cleared a floor of his five star hotel in Greece (on his luxury island?!), and Piper's Dad had arranged for a starlet friend to lend us his yacht while we were there. It was going to be high class and pricey, but they only insisted on making the best trip possible. Naturally, Frank, Percy and Leo would be coming along, and at my request; Rachel and Grover.

It had all the makings of a perfect trip.

Or a disastrous one.

Everyone knew of the triangle now except Rachel. And that was the way I was hoping to keep it. If everyone could keep their flappers shut, things would go smoothly, but I wasn't holding my breath.

I made a mental note to pack my ruler just in case I had to 'boink' a few brains.

After my little chat with Neil Lee, Grover came stumbling in with sunken eyes that were scorching red. He'd been crying all night and all morning and didn't have the strength to even talk to me.

So instead he sat by my bed and cried again. I pulled him into a hug, my heart in a perpetual gordian knot. Catching his tears on my sheets and making me feel like the biggest jerk in the world for choosing death.

But it was either Rachel or I, I had to explain to him and somehow that broke him even more.

Convincing Grover not to do the dirty deed and tell Rachel was easier than expected. He was allergic to confrontations and was far more allergic to emotional conversations that would end in the other person either furious or crying.

The next day I was allowed to go home. Dr. Tonya told me very strictly that I wasn't to hold in anymore hearts. Neil told me to spend more time with Percy.

I was scared I wouldn't be able to do either. Keeping my secret from Rachel was more of a concern to me than my health. I wanted to reach graduation, yes, but not at the price of Rachel knowing. It just had to be this way.

I thought things would just go back to normal at home. Naturally, I holed myself up in my room and my Dad disappeared into his study. It wasn't until an hour later, when I smelled smoke that I knew something was up.

Instantly, I was on my feet and racing down the stairs, my pulse in my throat. I slid into the kitchen expecting to see a fire a meter high by the acrid smell but only my father stood in front of the island counter. He was pinching the bridge of his nose, exasperated.

Before him in the sink, billowing with black smoke and white steam, was a pan. I think the remains were an attempt at scrambled eggs but I wasn't sure. Too blackened and stiff to really tell.

"Dad?"

"Annabeth!" He straightened before guiltily glancing at the sink. "I was just… it wasn't a good effort really… I thought…"

I always knew my father wasn't very articulate, but that was just pathetic.

"What happened?" I glanced around the kitchen. There were actual grocery bags with groceries in them. Fresh vegetables, fruits, milk, eggs, a slab of packaged meat and a thick slick of bacon. He must've had them delivered because I didn't hear him leave the house.

"Well I thought…" he rubbed the back of his neck. "That maybe I should try and… I don't know. Now that I've seen the results, trying to cook seems like a bad idea but…"

"If you're trying to learn a new skill, best to start with the basics." I didn't mean to sound like I was laughing at him, but it was hard not to. I was starting to learn just how clueless my dad really was. "We have a few frozen pizzas in the freezer downstairs that might work."

He wrinkled his nose. "Frozen pizzas?"

"Well you have to start somewhere. Your problem is that you're at a beginner level of cooking while you have a high class taste in food."

"I do?"

"Yep. You need to lower your standards in taste before you can even try and cook something for yourself." I pulled open one of the drawers and selected a knife to start scraping away his burnt pile of… mushrooms? Fish? Cheese?!

"I… I was trying to cook for you actually," my dad muttered. Taking a step back so I could start attacking the pan.

That's when I noticed the blender had been dug out of the cabinet and placed ceremoniously next to the stove. I thin film of smoke drifting around it ominously.

He's trying. My heart melted a little bit. Normally we just ordered out what food we wanted and never crossed paths, but if he cooked a meal, there would be an expectation to eat together.

He was trying to find an excuse to interact with me, I realized. But more than that, he was trying.

I didn't know what to say. For an awkward moment, I just stood at the sink, frozen. Trying to find words that sounded close to gratitude but didn't betray any gratitude.

Thankfully I was saved by the doorbell ringing.

I dropped my scraping implement into the sink. "That's probably Rachel. She'll want to talk about our spring break trip next week."

My dad scowled at the pan. "Yes… indeed."

Before I opened the door, I took a deep calming breath. I couldn't betray what had happened. I had to be chill, relaxed and my usual dry humored self otherwise Rachel would sniff out something weird. I gripped the cool door handle and exhaled a long breath through my nose.

You got this.

I opened the door.

"You live in a fucking castle."

It was a child. A boy. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and enough attitude in his posture to fuel an entire five season disney channel preteen show.

"Seriously, what kind of dragon did you have to murder in order to get a joint like this?"

"Uhhhh…" What the hell was I supposed to do? There was a little tyrant on my doorstep and I didn't know why he was there. Boy scout cookies maybe? Canvassing for a juvenile detention center? Maybe he was just looking for torture subjects.

"Whoa! You're tall now!" The same little boy came up right behind the first one and gawked at me. "Can I meet your friends? Do you have video games? Is there a jacuzzi in your bathroom?"

My head popped. Or at least that's what it felt like. "Bobby?! Matthew?!"

"But which one is which," the first of the devil boys smirked. "You'll never know."

At the end of the driveway I could see Helen, her head sticking in through the front seat window of a cab, paying the driver. A neat set of luggage by her feet.

"What are you guys doing here?!"

"Geez, glad to see you too sis," the first one said.

"Such a warm reception." The second shook his head.

"What a happy family reunion,"

"Boys, fall in," Helen said sternly, coming up the walk. "I want your luggage inside tout suite."

"Sweets don't toot," the first one said.

"Bobby, none of your sass now, here me? And if you swear one more time I'm sending you back home alone. You can Kevin Mcallister it for a while."

Bobby shrunk back. "Oh… you heard that, huh?"

"Falcon eyes, fox ears. There's nothing you do that I don't know about." Helen raised an eyebrow at him. Although, not in a disdainful way. Even Helen wasn't immune to their clear charm apparently.

"You're… you're here." I gripped my fists tighter at my sides. My heart beat was abruptly jumping against my ribcage.

Helen on a video call was something I could face. Helen in person felt like an entirely new bag of cats. What if I messed up? What if I did it all over again? What if I lashed out and broke things apart and hurt everyone even more the second time? What if I-

"Hard times call for hard action," Helen said kindly. "And honey I know your father isn't good at hard action. Trust me, I was married to him for six years."

"Technically still married," Matthew added helpfully. "You never did get a proper divorce."

Helen unleashed the death glare. "Luggage. Inside. Now."

I stumbled backwards, and Helen followed. Rolling her bag with her and glancing around with a distance in her gaze. "I never thought I'd be back here."

"Annabeth?" My dad could hear us from the kitchen.

It was a shame that I was speechless. I could've warned him.

Helen went straight to where his voice was, no hesitations. For a split second, their eyes met and I swear my dad's spirit left his body.

Helen surveyed the kitchen. The piles of groceries on the counters, the burnt pan half scrubbed in the sink. My Dad was wearing a pair of hot pink rubber gloves our cleaner had left behind.

"Right." She rolled up her sleeves. "At least there's food to work with. You chop and prep, I'll cook. I hope you have white onions and garlic in those bags otherwise the meat is going to taste like a litter tray taken fresh from under a rabbit."

"Helen!?"

"Good. You remember my name. At least that's a bit of progress. Now hut-to. I'm not eating later than seven o'clock. The boys are always in bed and asleep by nine."

"What are you doing here?!"

"Again with that question!" The boys stumbled in. "It's like you don't even want us or something!"

"Bobby, Matthew. Say hello to your father and then go pick out a room to sleep in. You can get properly re-acquainted at dinner." Helen said stiffly.

When their collective attention shifted to Dad, their fiery personalities seemed to shrivel up and die. Bobby nudged Matthew (or vice versa?) and Matthew nudged Bobby (or vice versa?). Finally one of them built up all their strain into one word. "HI!"

"Pathetic," the other whispered.

"Shuddup."

"Hi," my father said back. But empty, numb. It was like he couldn't believe his two boys were back in front of his eyes again.

"Now shoo. Go explore." Helen waved her hand.

Shoving each other, they took off shrieking in delight. I heard them thunder up the stairs and immediately thought of six things I didn't want them touching in my room.

"What's going on?" Dad asked weakly, leaning against the counter for support. "Helen?"

Helen was already around the side of the counter, digging through each plastic bag eagerly.

"Annabeth needs to know her brothers, and they need to know her before she… well, before she leaves us. She also needs some good wholesome home cooked food, and someone to deal with all the logistics that come with passing."

My father choked on air. "You-! You know about that?!"

"Of course. Why else would I be here?"

"How did you find out?!"

"She told me."

"She… she told you?" Betrayal. His eyes were clouded with it.

A roll of shame tightened my gut. My lip shook as he gaped at me, heartbroken.

"Obviously, Fredrick. Did you think I just sensed it or something? She called me and told me and I'm here. Now, are you going to help me with supper or should I banish you from the kitchen?"

I didn't know what to say to any of this. It was all so sudden, so unmerciful. Helen was making it clear that she was here and here to stay for as long as I needed her. If I needed her. I held the decisive power in the household now. My Dad was just going to have to deal with Helen's presence if I so chose.

But can they really stay? Is it okay? What new way will I hurt them this time?

And Helen really wasn't comfortable being here. She was already struggling.

I knew where to look. Her hands were trembling. Her head was held high but her eyes flittered across the room every two seconds as if she were searching for something.

She was scared. Or uneasy at least. This was above her pay grade but she was sucking in her gut and giving a stiff upper lip for my sake. She thought I needed someone to take care of me, and that's why she flew over the moment she heard of my problems.

She's right. You need her.

"So I just… mince then?" My Dad pulled out a chopping board and knife after fumbling around looking for them. His voice now empty of any fight, his shoulders sagged in defeat.

"No need to make things any more complicated than that," Helen nodded approvingly.

"You didn't have to come," I blurted out. Gripping the edge of the counter, guilt was filling my chest. "If you didn't want to come… you didn't need to."

Helen paused what she was doing and looked me straight down into my soul. "Do you not want us here?"

"Yes! I mean No! I mean… I mean… It's great that you guys are here, but… I don't want to inconvenience you. Don't the boys have school? Don't you have work?"

"Oh that," Helen waved me off. "Their teachers have been very kind and made all their learning materials accessible online. And I'm simply taking a brief recess from work. As long as people fight, lawyers are needed so there's no chance that I'll really lose my job. It's no trouble at all."

"But…"

But her life. Her time. Why was she spending it on me? I drove her out. I hurt her in so many ways. I sabotaged her mental wellbeing and now here she was again, cooking dinner for us all on my behalf?

It was one thing to lie over skype. It was another to act out the lie, pretend to be okay. Why was she doing all of this? Was she secretly happy that I was dying? Had I hurt her so badly that she'd come across an ocean just to watch me breathe my last?

Before I could find anything to say, the doorbell rang again. Gritting my teeth, I went and answered it. Half thankful to get out of my dad's sights.

"Bonjourno! We are going to PLAN one of the BEST spring break vacations of all time," Rachel danced inside. Holding a usual bag of junk food and sporting a new pair of flaming red sunglasses I assume she bought for the trip.

Grover was right behind her, looking drained.

"This may be a bad time." I muttered, glancing back. My stepfamily's pile of assorted luggage was still forming a basic mountain in our front hall, at the base of the stairs.

"Whoa, you guys have guests?" Rachel floated forward.

Helen sneaked around the corner a moment later and started digging through bags until she heaved up a small purple one with a long shoulder strap. "Don't mind me, just getting something from my carry on."

When she was gone, Rachel gawked at me like a child who just saw Santa clause. "Helen?!" She hissed.

"Yeeaah, apparently that call I had with her meant 'come on over!'" I crossed my arms and wheezed an awkward laugh. "So now they're back."

"They?"

"The boys are upstairs. Wreaking havoc no doubt."

Grover shifted his crutches, he refused to look at me directly. "Are your parents back together?"

"No? They're just here." I glanced back down the hall. Both of them were so freaked out I doubted either of them would even glance at each other throughout the night. They were here for me, and not to get cozy and they both knew it.

"Oh man, this must feel weird for you." Rachel sympathized. "Do you want us to go or stay?"

"Could you guard my room? Bobby and Matthew are upstairs exploring and I don't want my things to be messed with," I asked.

Rachel saluted me. "With my life."

They had just disappeared up the stairs and I was just working up the courage to charge back into the kitchen when the doorbell rang again.

"Are you always this busy?" Helen called from the kitchen. I ignored her. I could only manage so much and my brain was already swimming.

Piper, Hazel, Jason, Frank, and Leo were at the door this time.

"Sorry, we were just driving by. We need your passport information to properly book ourselves in for our trip." Piper explained.

I kneaded my hands together. "Do we have to do this now?"

"Yeah, if we want to use Hazel's dad's private jet then we need to identify ourselves with the pilot first. It's a precaution or something."

"Why're the rest of you here?" I asked. Something itched under my skin. This was the most amount of people who had been in my house for years. It wasn't necessarily bad, just weird.

"We heard about your trip to the hospital," Jason supplied. "Just wanted to see how you were doing, really."

Frank held out a little pot. A tiny desktop rose bush sat in the middle with a single yellow blossom blooming out the top. "Also I bought you this."

"I helped pick it out!" Hazel chirped happily.

My heart did a little thump in my chest. I wasn't used to so much attention but at the same time… I kind of liked it all.

"Should we go upstairs?" Piper pointed. "Sounds like you have company in the kitchen."

"No!" I waved my arms, nearly making my new potted rose go flying.

All of them cocked their heads at me.

"Rachel and Grover are up there. Also my half brothers. Go downstairs. I'll meet you down there, okay?"

"Got it." Leo gave me a thumbs up as he passed by.

"Half brothers?" Piper questioned, but didn't stick around to hear my answer.

When I was alone in the hall, I slumped against the wall lightly and took a deep breath. Organizing who I had to deal with first in the back of my head while I was still trying to process my estranged stepmother and half brothers were wandering around the house.

Gearing myself up, I pushed myself forward and started for the kitchen.

Before I reached there, the doorbell rang. Again.

This time, Sally and Paul Blofis were beaming back at me. Little Estelle sat giggling in Paul's arms and reached her chubby little hands out to me excitedly.

"Annabeth!" Sally's expression fell upon recognizing me. "You should be in bed!"

"I was… I was just-" I was in bed. Until my father started cooking and my entire social life decided it was a good idea to just drop in. Shaking my head, I allowed them inside. "If you don't mind the question, what are you doing here?"

Sally cringed. "Well I… I brought you some homemade soups and smoothies to begin with. Also a few mashes. I make all of Stella's baby food so I've gotten pretty good with a blender. But I truthfully came over to apologize to your father. I called him… well I called him a few unpleasant things."

I seized a bit. "You called my dad something unpleasant?!"

Paul put a hand on his guilty wife's shoulder. "It was a heated moment. There were a lot of emotions. We're here now to apologize and hopefully things will even out."

"What did you call him?" In retrospect that was a very impertinent question to ask. But I did really want to know.

Sally's guilt doubled, she stared at the floor. "A… a dilapidated turtle who couldn't tell the difference between a fly and his own toes."

A laugh burst up my throat, but I caught it between my teeth before it could make a grand entrance. Clearing my voice, I gestured to the hallway. "My Dad's in the kitchen if you want to talk to him. He's-"

"Annabeth? Do you know where the strainers are?" Helen whipped around the corner. Stopping quite abruptly when her attention caught on the two strangers. "Oh… hello."

My head started spinning again. "Oh… well… Helen, this is Paul and Sally Blofis. Percy's parents. Paul, Sally, this is Helen. She's my… my…"

Not anymore. You ruined everything. You tore that title apart. You shredded the meaning. You-

"I'm Annabeth's stepmother," Helen held out her hand graciously to shake. "I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Percy, is he around?"

"He's just grabbing the soups and smoothies and things from the trunk of the car," Sally explained lightly.

Helen's smile broadened out of confusion. "Soups and things?"

"Yes. For Annabeth."

"For… because Annabeth likes soups?" Helen glanced at me. "I'm afraid I don't understand."

"She's on a liquid diet this week? She was only discharged this morning and I'm determined to make sure she isn't back there by tomorrow." Sally explained. Clearly confused as to why Helen was confused.

Finally understanding hit Helen in the head like a baseball bat and she gaped at me. "You were in the hospital?! What for?!"

"A tear in her esophagus." Sally filled in before I had a shot.

"A tear?!"

I winced. "I held in my hearts too many times and it just… popped?"

"Annabeth!" Helen breathed. "You should be on bed rest! Why didn't you tell me?! I know I only arrived an hour or so ago-"

"Twenty minutes," I corrected. The most chaotic twenty minutes of my life.

"I agree." Sally nodded approvingly. "You need to go straight up to bed."

"And you have all these friends over right now. It's ill timed. You need time to heal." Helen fluttered.

"Friends?" Sally glanced around. Scandalized at the very idea of me spending my energy on other people.

"Oh some in the basement, some upstairs. I lost count." Helen waved off. "But you shouldn't be entertaining company so soon after a scare like that."

"Or answering the door dear, really. If you have any things you need to do I'd be glad to recruit Percy."

"I'm fine! Besides, I can't lay in bed and act all sick until Rachel leaves!" I said. Trying to use that tone of finality that had worked so well on my father.

"Why not?" Paul finally spoke up.

My heart was churning. "Because Rachel doesn't know!"

"Rachel doesn't know what," A voice said behind me, on the stairs.

My entire spine froze into a single icicle. Cold washed my face as every drop of blood drained away from my cheeks. For a second it felt as if the floor was about to break out from beneath me.

Rachel had her arms crossed, her fiery red curls were pooling around her shoulders and making her questioning expression all the more potent.

I gripped my fists. "You… don't know… this lovely lady right here!" I grabbed Sally by the shoulders. "Rachel, this is Sally Blofis. Sally, this is Rachel Elizabeth Dare, my best friend."

Instantly, Rachel's expression melted into one of worry and nerves. Timidly, she floated down the rest of the stairs and took Sally's hand, aware of who's mother she was before. First impressions were everything to her.

"Hi, nice to meet you."

"Ditto," Sally smiled her shiniest grin. "Annabeth's told me about you."

Rachel's smile faltered. "Just Annabeth?"

"Hey Annabeth," Leo slipped around the corner. "Do you have a monkey wrench lying around?"

Everyone stopped to look at Leo, Leo stopped to look around at everyone.

"Why is our English teacher in your hallway?" he asked.

"Why do you need a monkey wrench?" I countered.

"When the hell did you get here?" Rachel added. Scanning Leo up and down as if he'd disappear in a cloud of smoke.

"I arrived in your dreams, baby." Leo winked.

Rachel gagged.

"Why do you need a monkey wrench?" I reiterated, a bit more concerned.

Leo snapped his fingers. "Oh, Piper and I were goofing around and broke the ice cream machine. Ice cream everywhere. I need a wrench to fix it-"

"HEY BOBBY, THIS GUY SAYS THERE'S AN ICE CREAM MACHINE IN THE BASEMENT!" Matthew hollored from the top of the stairs. A thundering of footsteps rattled the ceiling and the identical boys went peeling down the stairs and skidded around the corner. The basement door slammed shut a second later.

"Well there goes my good night of sleep," Helen muttered.

Leo rubbed his eyes. "I think my brain just lagged. I saw the same kid twice."

"Me too." Paul looked like he was questioning his will to live. (Same, Paul. Same.)

"Heleeeen? What colour is chicken supposed to be?" My Dad yelled from the other room. "Because whatever hue this is… it isn't natural."

Ding doonng. The doorbell went off again and I felt like pulling out my hair. An acrid smell of smoke started wafting throughout the house and my stress levels were meeting a new high. Leo was still looking at me questioningly and I was not comfortable with Rachel being in the midst of all the people who could let my secret slip.

"Wrench is in the garage. Rachel, show him where that is. Helen, could you handle my Dad? Sally and Paul, follow Helen into the kitchen please?" I got out in one big breath.

The moment the hall was clear, I heaved a sigh and prepared myself. Taking a second to lean against the wall to take one big stabilizing breath. As I pulled apart the french doors, a knot was already forming in my chest.
"Yes?" I asked weakly.

A tall, oily looking man in a tracksuit towered behind the door. A shadow of stubble lined his marble sharp jaw and his arms rippled with muscle as he settled his hands on his hips.

"Are you Miss Annabeth Chase?"

"Yes?" I felt like crawling into a cocoon and reassembling myself into something unrecognizable.

"I'm Hermes Stoll. I believe my boys owe you an apology," Mr. Stoll said while stepping back.

Connor and Travis were right behind him. Looking genuinely guilty. Or maybe they were just afraid of their father.

"We… we didn't mean to send you to the hospital," Connor said.

Travis just sulked at the ground.

I could only stare. I mean, given what just happened I didn't have the energy for this. Wrangling monkeys takes a lot of effort and I wasn't willing to jump through the hoops.

"So you're only sorry about the hospital bit," someone finally said behind them. Percy elbowed his way past the Stoll trio, carrying a heavy cardboard box with a sharpie smiley stenciled in the side of it. "You're sorry because Annabeth went to the hospital but if she didn't, you wouldn't have anything to be sorry about."

He stood next to me. A bit in front of me actually. Protectively.

My heart burned. I've never been a damsel but styx I loved being saved.

Mr. Stoll appeared to agree with Percy, because he smacked his boys upside the head and pushed them farther forward. Well? was laced into his expression.

"We're sorry for starting the fight," Travis said. "It was… childish."

"Yeah, it was." I sighed, rubbing my forehead. "Stupid childish."

"We won't do it again," Connor promised.

"Cool," I said. "Nice to hear."

Again, we just stood there. Staring at one another. Listening to that fresh spring breeze glide through the still bare trees and pick up the earthy scent of melt and thawing dirt.

"So?" Travis said.

"So what." I countered.

"Do you forgive us?" he asked, an edge of his impatience to his voice.

"Nope." I said, popping the 'p'.

I shut the door on them. Catharsis achieved. Through the wood of the door I could hear Mr. Stoll picked up a sharper worded scolding as he herded his boys back to their car.

I slumped against the wall for support, still feeling like an aging tulip. Like an eternally sleepy sloth. Like an empty glass bottle floating down to the ocean floor.

"Can't believe I used to be friends with those asses," Percy muttered.

I chortled at him. "You used to be one of those asses."

Smoothly, Percy hooked me around the waist and reeled me in. A smirk on his lips. "Do I hear you judging me again, Chase?"

When he kissed my cheek, I squirmed away. Freeing myself from his warm grasp with my heart pounding against my ribs.

"Jackson! Rachel's here!"

Shrugging, Percy reached out to grab my hand again. "Well let's just go somewhere Rachel's not."

"And Grover's here, and Piper's here, and Jason's here, and Leo's here, and Hazel's here, and Frank's here and Helen's here-"

"Helen?!" Percy glanced over my shoulder as if my stepmother would be looming. "What the hell is she doing here?"

"I called her and told her what was going on in my life and less than half an hour ago she just showed up without warning."

"And the others?"

"Rachel and Grover want to plan our Greece trip and the others were just checking in," I explained, shaking my head. "Also… Rachel just met your mom…"

Percy winced. "Ooohh no. At least my mom knows who she is."

"You're girlfriend?"

"No. The appendage in this love triangle."

"Jackson."

"What?! What I said isn't untrue is it?"

"No… but Rachel is more than an appendage." I crossed my arms.

"I'll let my mom come to her own conclusions," Percy said.

From the kitchen, a few tense voices were raised. The fire alarm started squealing, grating against the air. From the mudroom, two voices started to come closer. One exasperated tone, and one teasing one.

Before I could step away from Percy, he'd pulled me close by the hips and stumbled backwards. It only took him a moment of fumbling with the sliding door of the front hall closet before we were submerged in an intimate darkness. His breath against my neck, his hands still gripping me tightly by the waist, and a slightly playful gleam in his eyes.

"I'm just saying it's unethical." Rachel said as she passed. "To force people to conform is just dumb. There should be hundreds of little pocket societies for like minded individuals."

"Oh you artists," Leo said with a chuckle on the tail end of his words. "Where did you lose your absolutes, huh?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it does mean."

They hovered in the hall. A little ways away from the door of the closet. I could hear Rachel shuffling her feet, I could tell she was crossing her arms in that standoffish 'I'm right, loser' kind of way. As they continued their argument, I could hear that little frustrated wheeze start to pick up in her voice.

I must've looked concerned because Percy chortled airly and brushed a curl away from my face with the side of his thumb.

"Leo loves starting arguments," he whispered close to the shell of my ear.

I shivered. "Well, he should finish them and get lost. He's trapped us."

"I don't know." Percy's voice was making my heart spasm. I could feel his lips ghost past the tip of my ear. His cheek was pressed against the side of my head. "I kinda like it here."

"Jackson." I pushed him away with my hand on his chest. "Don't you have any consideration for Rachel's feelings?"

"Of course..."

"But?" I said. I didn't expect to dread asking that question.

"But… it's not reason enough to keep us apart."

"I disagree."

"Then agree to disagree."

My cutting response was interrupted with what sounded like a deep rolling thunder ascending. Someone was chasing the boys out of the basement. They're delighted squeals echoed off the walls, their pounding footsteps set vibrations through the floors. It all came to a jarring stop when something shattered. Rachel and Leo went down the hall, led by their curiosity.

Then Helen's stern even tone came a second later, sending prickles down my spine. That voice, that look. I remembered it far too well. The anger, the hatred, the spite that welled in me as she looked down at me and tried to explain that I couldn't superglue her shoes to the floor, or unseam her favorite skirt, or put dark tanning lotion in with her face moisturizer.

It sparked memories I didn't want to surface. Scoldings I deserved.

"This is bothering you, isn't it." Percy squeezed my hand in the darkness. I felt like burying my face in his warmth. "You just wanted to be alone, didn't you."

It wasn't a question. I decided not to deny anything.

"C'mon."

I pulled back. Wary. "Where?"

"Anywhere, everywhere. You don't want to be here, so let's not stay here. Let's just leave." Percy said. Excitement in his eyes.

"But Rachel-"

"I can text Piper, get her to distract Rachel."

"And Helen?"

"Well things aren't resolved between your dad and Helen right? So Paul and my mom will make a good buffer for them. It'll be fine."

I gripped my fists. "Grover. He's alone upstairs now, he doesn't do well with a lot of people, he'll panic."

"We'll take him with us," Percy shrugged.

"Really?"

"Really," Percy said, a warmth in his voice that enveloped me.

Stars were twirling around my core, lifting me away from earth. I beamed up at Percy, "I'll go get him!"

.oOo.

Outside is never so clear, never so bright, and never so inviting when inside is cramped and the world is awakening to spring. The snow had slowly receded until it was nothing but little islands of sludge at the edges of parking lots. Empty ground lay beneath, moist and stirring with new growth. Everything smelled fresh and earthy and new.

Under a glowing blue sky we collectively decided that we couldn't spend anymore time indoors so we mindlessly drove around for a while, all four windows down while Jonsi blared on the radio.

I sat passenger, Percy drove. Grover sat in the back with his crutches on his lap. Staring out the window and letting the wind push across his curly brown hair. Avoiding eye contact with me whenever I even so much as peeked back at him.

I didn't know what was going through his head. Learning about my upcoming death had seriously thrown him for a loop. He was still battling with it, I could tell by how he nibbled on the corner of his lip constantly.

An hour or so later, feeling peckish, we pulled into a small privately owned minimart with a lunch bar. I bought a cream of mushroom soup (liquid diets are the worst), Grover got an enchilada, and Percy settled for a panini.

Outside again, I tossed our bag of packaged goods in through the open window and beamed at the others. "Should we eat at the park? Or go by a lake or something?"

"Lake sounds fun," Percy said.

I reached for the car door. "Grover? What do you think?"

Grover was staring away from me. Knuckles white against the handles of his crutches.

"Grover?"

"I need a flower," he said abruptly. Ambling off in the direction of the tiny plant and garden store situated right next to the minimart.

When the glass door peppered with flower decals shut behind him, Percy turned to me. "That was… weird."

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "No… he just doesn't want to be near me right now."

"Because of the love triangle?"

"No, because he found my Justin Bieber shrine." I rolled my eyes. "Obviously it's because of the triangle!"

Percy slipped his hands around my waist, shaking his head. "He'll pull out of it."

I pushed him back just as he was leaning in to kiss my temple.

"You have a girlfriend," I reminded with a lump in my chest.

His hands tightened on my hips, pulling me closer. Right into him. A heavy look in his eyes.

"'Girlfriend' is just a name now. I'm only part of that 'relationship' charade because you want me to. But I'm not going to tie myself to her, not while I have you."

"Perce-"

"Besides, you heard Neil. Quality time, interactions and physical affection can help you feel better."

I gripped his shirt. "But it's dangerous."

"What's dangerous about hugging someone you love?" Percy scoffed.

"The part where we're super close and I can feel your heartbeat and see every little detail in those beautiful eyes you have and suddenly you glance at my lips and we're moving in closer and-"

I stopped. Percy did indeed glance at my lips just then. Groaning, I rested my head against his shoulder. "See?! When we're close we'll end up kissing and… and…"

I could feel his chortle rumble up through his chest. "Well you don't make anything easier. You happen to be a fantastic kisser."

A blush scorched up my neck. "So you get it."

"But what do you expect me to do? I don't want to keep my distance. Not since…"

I'm going to die.

I wanted to believe that it was possible. That we could hold each other so closely without becoming puppets to our teenage hormones. The fact was that I couldn't trust myself. I wanted to kiss him. I really really wanted to kiss him. I'd already screwed up once at christmas. I was determined to never let that happen again.

With a heavy sigh, Percy pulled away so he could nail me with his heart heavy eyes. "You asked me to let you go. And… and I will because it's what you want, but I'm not letting you go before you're gone. Does that make sense? While you're still here… I just want to be with you, without guarding all my actions."

Maybe I wasn't being fair to him. I pursed my lips. "Just don't kiss me."

Instantly that classic troublemaker smile he had broke past his lips and out sprang his dimples. "You mean just don't kiss you on the lips."

Gently, he placed a peck on my lower cheek.

I pressed my palms against his chest. Butterflies swarming up my stomach. "No, I mean don't kiss me-"

"On the lips." He planted a kiss on my jaw. A gleam in his taunting eyes.

My insides were worming with heat.

"Percy." But I couldn't keep my smile out of my voice.

He kissed the top of my neck, just shy of my throat. I could feel the smirk on his stupid lips. "Right right, I got it. You don't want me to kiss you… on the lips."

"Jackson!" I covered his mouth finally. His eyes peeked over my fingers, glittering with humor and adoration and making me completely weak.

With a breaking sigh, I leaned in and kissed the high of his cheekbone.

"No kissing… on the lips," I said.

A stunned and ecstatic silence lit up his entire face. I was sure he was going to crush me in his arms and start showering me like the goof he was, so I peeled back and headed for the flower shop. Percy tagging behind me like a little puppy.

A pleasant ding announced my presence at the door. An instant waft of moist dirt and sweet pollen hit me. It was slightly humid but in a comforting way. In every direction under the stiff yellow lights were rows upon rows of green. Spade leaves, triangle leaves, sword leaves, fan leaves, circular leaves reached out into the aisles like a million little hands holding out for companionship.

Grover was at the back staring at rows of what looked like potted grass as if one of them could solve all of his problems. Red infected his eyes until the light hazel of his pupils stood out.

"Hey bud." I tried not to get too close. I knew the chaos he was feeling right now. "You okay?"

Grover tried to shoulder off my look of concern. He faced the opposite wall of plants. Hydrangeas I think.

"I'm fine," he sniffled. "Just give me a moment."

"You don't have to pretend like you're okay," I said, reaching out to him. "I know this must be really hard for you."

Grover nodded, pressing his lips together so tightly that they paled. A sheen was edging into the corner of his eyes. "It just sucks. This whole thing sucks. If it's not you then it's Rachel, if it's not Rachel then it's you. I… I just don't want it to be either of you. I… I wish it were me."

Percy made a face. "I… don't think we'd be soulmates."

I elbowed him in the gut.

"And how long do I have to keep this a secret? What do I tell Rachel when you're gone?! How am I supposed to lie to her for the rest of our lives?!" he hiccuped. "But what happens after? She's so in love with Percy. And when you die she's going to be so devastated and confused and hurt. She's going to lean on him more. But he doesn't love her! Does he?! Do you? No? Then how long can you keep this act up after Annabeth's gone?! What's going to happen when first her best friend mysteriously passes and then the guy she's bonded with, her alleged soulmate, breaks up with her!"

I'm ashamed to admit that I hadn't really thought that part through. With Percy now aware of the triangle, he wasn't afraid to admit that he didn't love Rachel. And with Neil's information on appendages, he would never love Rachel after all was done. She was in for a rocky ride, and she didn't even know it.

Just by glancing at Percy, I found that he was in the same state I was. Confused, concerned, a little lost.

Grover was trembling again. He hunched his shoulders to tuck in his neck as if he were a turtle feeling exposed. Disdainfully, his eyes darted up to Percy. "Also, shouldn't you be trying to convince Annabeth to not go through with this? You act like everything is fine. Like nothings wrong! Everythings wrong!"

Percy's jaw tightened. "You have no idea the things I would do to keep her here. I would gladly take her place if I could but I can't."

"So that's it? All's well in your world?" Grover clutched his own arms. Too upset, too drained, too emotion heavy to care that he was actually confronting someone with how he felt.

Percy's entire body stiffened. That familiar greek fire green was emblazing his eyes. Just as I was about to reach out and keep him back from throttling Grover he released it all in one stressed breath.

"Okay," he said evenly. "I see where this is coming from. This whole situation is crap and it really hits you hard at first. Honestly it doesn't get much better. All I know is that I love Annabeth, and I trust her. She asked me to let her go, and it's been the hardest thing in the world for me to even think of doing. But it's what she wants and as much as I want to fight that I can't because she's being selfless. Besides, would she even be Annabeth if she wasn't taking care of everyone else before herself?"

Grover stared at the floor. Drawing a circle in the grey tile with the ends of one of his crutches. "No?"

"Something she told me, and that I hate, is that there's no right answer to this mess. Styx, sometimes I wish that Rachel was this sick twisted messed up person so that there wouldn't be a reason for Annabeth to give up her life for her. But she's not. Both of your best friends are incredible people, Grover. Annabeth wanting to save Rachel's life at the cost of her own is testimony to that. And.. and… styx." Percy started to choke up. A shine flooded his eyes, he winced away the tears and grit his teeth. "It's going to be so so hard without her… but this is what she wants to do. And she's going to do it with or without our support because nobody owns her and nobody controls her and nobody is going to control her. So the least I can do is do what she asks of me before… before…"

Drats. I was tearing up. I thought of all the things that led up to this moment. The ones I had control over and the ones I didn't. If only I'd never let Percy in my life. If only in that supermarket I'd told him no we couldn't be friends. I know my death would cause a considerable amount of pain, but having them know before the fact? It felt like I had condemned them to a slow torture.

Percy more so because when it came time to bond with Rachel, he would know he had just killed me the moment their lips touched.

Percy's arms came around me and he crushed me with a hug. His body was quivering, breaking with emotions that were threatening to spill out, but he was comforting me. He must've seen the way my eyes dropped.

I hugged him back, aware that Grover was awkwardly standing next to us. Then I pulled away and hugged Grover.

"We need to get off this depression train," I murmured. "Let's just buy some flowers."

Grover snagged a pre-cut bouquet out of a bucket of them, still sniffling softly. "I'll get this for my mom. And… and that."

He wanted a pot of grass?

Percy carried them for him.

Desperately, I tried to come up with some pleasant conversation but nothing would come. Percy was as silent as the grave. I guess that was because he didn't really know Grover.

The cashier, a cute girl with a messy bun of amber hair, had a white guinea pig in the hood of her sweater. Peeking its little noise out and chirruping at us as we paid. A welcome distraction.

"Timothy grass, nice." She said as she typed in the code. "Y'know timothy grass is great for-"

"Guinea pigs!" Grover beamed instantly. "I have eleven."

"Eleven?"

"Yeah… my boy, Warlock, got busy before his neutering and I couldn't bear to give up any of the babies." Grover blushed. "Yours is cute, what's its name?"

"This is Pipsqueak!" she said proudly as she scooped up her pet and held it out to us.

Percy wasn't focused on the little ball of white fur. He cocked an eyebrow. "Your name is Juniper and you work at a plant store?"

I hadn't seen her name tag. But yeah, that was kind of ironic.

"This is my family's store," she giggled. "It's kind of a plant centered family. My mom's name is Rose."

"That's… really cool." Grover blushed. Juniper wasn't scared to give him head on eye contact and I was thinking it freaked him out. (A little PSA here: When it comes to people with visible disabilities people tend to do two things. One: Avoid looking at them completely. Or two: stare at them unapologetically. DON'T DO EITHER OF THESE THINGS. If you're talking to a person with a disability, don't constantly stare away because you don't want to stare, but also don't stare! Just look at them like you would any other human being. Look at them like Juniper was looking at Grover. Like he was just some guy who shared her interest in pets. Okay, that's all)

And then I had an idea.

"Can I have your number?" I blurted out.

Juniper beamed. "The store number is on the sign out front-"

"No your personal number. Your cell phone number."

"Oh." Juniper stalled. Looking me up and down. "Well…"

I laughed. "No no! For him-" I grabbed Grover's arm. "You should totally date this guy!"

Both Juniper and Grover went a beautiful shade of scarlet.

"Annabeth!" Grover hissed at me.

"What? She likes guinea pigs, you like guinea pigs. You should have a guinea pig date!"

"Yeah!" Percy piped in. "Plus this guy is sweet! I mean look at him. He's buying flowers for his mother."

"And he's smart!" I said. "He's got great grades in school."

"Not to mention sensitive," Percy said. "I won't tell you what made him come to this store in the first place, but he came here because he cares about his friends a lot."

"And he's funny!" I said.

"Plus look at this face!" Percy squished Grover's cheeks together. "He's adorable!"

Grover was gritting his teeth and looked two seconds away from murdering Percy and I with his crutches. I think he would've had some serious stewing in the car on the ride home if Juniper didn't laugh just then. Charmed.

"Okay, your friends make you sound like hot stuff." She scribbled a line of numbers down on the receipt. A deep blush was still hiding her freckles. "Tell me when you're free."

Grover was stunned. "I…uh… yes."

Like a robot he took the paper and hobbled for the door.

.oOo.

DareBearRachel: That was the weirdest visit to your house I've ever had.

DareBearRachel: I met Percy's mom and your stepmother was there and you and Grover just ditched me?!

DareBearRachel: Also Leo would not stop flirting with me.

DareBearRachel: And Hazel was totally hanging off Frank! Shouldn't you do something about that?

AnnabethChase: Riiiiight. I should probably update you on that whole situation… We were never really a thing? It was fake.

.oOo.

"Do you think Dad would buy us a pet?" Matthew had been following me around all morning. "Mom never let us have pets because she said our house was too small but here-"

"Have you even talked to Dad?" I snorted.

I was midway through packing. My big grey luggage was out on my canopy bed and Matthew was lying haphazardly next to it, his head tilted off so he could look at my room upside down.

Bobby was at the end of my bed, a needle in his hand. He was intent on picking the lock to my chest because he was sure I was hiding a deep secret in there.

He was right, but he would also never pick the lock with that needle. It was a combination one.

"Yes," Matthew snorted.

"You said 'hi' and then panicked like a five year old girl." Bobby grumbled.

"Well at least I said something!"

I laughed. "What's the big deal? He's your dad, he's not going to bite."

I know, I know. I'm the world's biggest hypocrite. But after I had one conversation with him under my belt, it seemed easy. My Dad was not conversationally apt, you just had to lead the way. I wish I knew that five years ago.

"But… what if he doesn't like us?" Matthew said quietly.

"Then he's a shit father and doesn't deserve you." I said.

Hypocrite. Hypocrite. Hypocrite.

Bobby's head snapped up. "Hey! Why do you get to swear?"

"Because I'm older and I run this house." I said unapologetically.

Matthew started fiddling with a bottle of travel sized shampoo. Looking glum. "I guess it was dumb of us to put so much thought into what remeeting Dad would be really like, huh?"

Bobby shrugged like he couldn't care either way. "Yeah. We're morons."

"Just ask him about the great molasses flood of 1919," I said. "He loves to talk about that."

"A flood of molasses." Bobby was the cynic. Matthew was the optimist.

"What even is molasses?" Matthew asked.

I tested shutting my suitcase. "Ask Dad."

It was so easy. They slipped back under me in the sibling hierarchy like they'd never left. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why. Maybe it was because they were still kids and they didn't see me as a big scary adult.

"Knock knock?" Helen stood by the threshold of my door. A bag from the drug store in her hands. "Boys, you have homework. Let Annabeth pack."

"But Moooom."

"Ah ah. Don't make me ask again." She stood by the door expectantly. Without another word, they filed out. Either they were good boys, or they knew not to cross Helen.

Once they were clear, I glanced in Helen's direction. "Do they know that I'm…"

"They know a bit. Not all," she whispered.

I let the conversation topic slide. That welt that had followed me home from the hospital was growing dangerously large. Just thinking about the near future… my skin would crawl.

Helen plopped the plastic bag on my bed. "I bought some things for your trip. Tums, pepto bismol, extra hair elastics, and some ibuprofen."

Things people always forget to pack. Clever woman.

"Also an 'Andrea Perkins' called for you. She wanted to confirm the billing address?"

"Ah." I finally got the zipper to my suitcase closed. "My therapist. Or soon to be therapist. I have a session tomorrow. Should be interesting."

Helen leaned against one of the pillars of my bed. Probing me with her eyes. "Just one?"

"Well I don't exactly have all the time in the world to sit on a couch and cry. One will have to be enough. Maybe two, if I feel like it's necessary."

I stood up my suitcase and set my hands on my hips, satisfied. Then I remembered Helen's small bag of supplies and I internally groaned. I guess they could ride in the carry on?

"Annabeth… if you're uncomfortable with us here… if you want us to leave at any point just say the word and-"

"Not at all!" I turned to face her. A little corner of me was always jumping when I looked at her head on. The pain I had caused was still seared in my head. "Helen, this is where you guys need to be right now. Not just for me, but the boys…"

Helen's gaze fell. "I know… I should have never let them get estranged from their father like that. It's… well, it's one of the biggest mistakes of my life."

I took a heavy breath. Thinking through all the things I needed to do, all the secrets I needed to keep. "I should talk to Dad. Get him to talk to the boys, they're really freaking out about him-"

"Don't even think about it. I'll handle your father and the boys. You just focus on having a good time and your health. Hear me?" Helen held her head high. She still had that flighty element about her. She was still afraid but she was determined to make things easier for me.

I could see that much.

"Okay." I said. "I'll do exactly what you tell me to do."

Unlike when I was a child.

.oOo.

Greece smelled like fresh parsley and wind that had just whipped peaks into the ocean. Mr. Grace may have owned the island, but its heart belonged to the people who lived there. The grecian shopkeepers, cooks, fisherman, and repair work force. An entire little society of people dedicated to the tourist business Mr. Grace had introduced.

People who's faces were weathered by the sun. Who laughed and smiled until their eyes were permanently lined with happiness and who danced under the moon just because they loved its shine.

They had a love for life that ran so deep, it made me ache for my own. Three months more and I'd be a thing of a past to the world. I didn't want to think about it. The welt in my gut was still growing. It didn't help that my mind was swimming with my therapist's words.

Above the pale stone cliffs laced with patches of dull grass sat their village. Squat square buildings lined the grey cobbled streets. Painted white and blue that glared with such an intensity under the full sun that it hurt your eyes.

Rachel brought me a pair of sunglasses because she knew I would forget mine. Bless her. As we toured down the quaint little streets, she was dragging Percy from one store to the next. Ooh and ahhing at little hand carved trinkets, purses made of leather and portraits of the open ocean with white gulls surfing the breeze above a golden sunset.

Hazel and Piper were keeping in stride on either side of me like weak body guards. The rest of the guys were ahead, goofing off. Grover had opted for some alone time that day in the hotel spa.

"You guys can go shop. It's okay," I said for the millionth time. I didn't want to be tempted into buying anything. Since in three months all of my belongings would become just junk my Dad had to clear away, I didn't feel like adding to that pile.

"We have oodles of stuff already," Piper waved off. "Besides, I'm not a big shopper."

"And none of this stuff you can eat," Hazel groaned.

"So you're just going to walk with me as everyone else browses?" I asked. "Lame."

"The street view is gorgeous," Piper pointed out.

"And shopping is super boring," Hazel said. "We should've gone to the beach first."

Peering through my hand, I looked up at the bright sky. "At least we'll be tanned when we get back home."

"Us and the rest of the student body," Piper snorted. "I don't think a single person at Goode has stayed home this spring break. Everyone was talking about big fancy plans."

"Well if it's fancy plans they were talking about, I think we have them all beat. We're living bougie right now," I said.

"Annabeth!" Rachel came running up to me. Rifling through a paper bag in her other hand. "I bought you a platypus with a fedora!"

She plopped the little wooden thing into my hands and grinned estatically.

I moved one of its little arms. "It's adorable… but why?"

"Eh, I saw it and thought of you," she said simply. Giving me an impish shrug before taking off again, Percy still in tow.

I sighed and looked at the little thing. Three months of ownership. It seemed hardly worth it. But the smile Rachel had on when she gave it to me, she truly thought I needed this shaped piece of wood in my life.

"Are you okay?" Piper peeked around my curtain of hair. "You look like you want to throw that semi aquatic, egg laying mammal into the ocean."

"Nah, I'm fine." I slipped it into my purse. "We should go to the beach later. I want to see what Greek sand looks like."

"Probably just like ordinary sand." Hazel said.

I made a face at her. "No spoilers!"

They laughed.

As we wound our way deeper into the village, I spotted more tourists like us. Milling about, trying on hats and taking pictures of the view. Some were sitting at wrought iron tables and chairs, enjoying lunches of salads and sandwiches at tiny restaurants. Amongst them all I caught clippets of their lives as they wandered past. Someone was looking for a souvenir for their mother, someone didn't like the lighting for their instagram photos, someone was considering the tip for their waiter. There was a disgustingly sweet couple scanning the glass cabinets filled with engagement rings.

Why does the world keep spinning when I stop moving? Why does it feel like I'm already a ghost to this place?

It was a weird sensation, knowing that everything was going to be just as it has always been when I died. Everything would keep growing, adapting, shrinking, changing, and I wouldn't be there to see any of it. These people were just going about their daily lives and yet I wondered how many would care if they knew I was doomed. I wondered how my life, which meant so much to me, could mean so little to the rest of reality.

And then I thought of all the love triangle 'appendages' who had come before me. That woman in albania. Others who were at the mercy of a person they loved with all their hearts, and yet were cast out and died from it.

At least this is my choice.

Percy looked bored. Everytime Rachel held something out to him, he'd feign interest then glance back in my direction, longingly. He was trying his best, bless his heart, but he needed to try harder. Sooner or later Rachel was going to catch up on the looks he was giving me. She may have been too lovesick to notice me, but she was certainly lovesick enough to notice every little thing about Percy.

And what would that have felt like? What if I'd fallen in love with Percy and he chose my best friend over me and condemned me to death? How could I have dealt with such a blow?

I guess you could say I was the lucky one. Even if I was going to die in three months and fourteen days, I was pretty damn lucky.

"Hello? Earth to Annabeth?" Piper was waving in front of my face. "Are you listening?"

"Huh?" I said eloquently.

"We were just talking about lunch." Hazel filled in. "Where do you wanna eat?"

"Oh, wherever. I'm not picky."

Piper pursed her lips. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. My brain felt fuzzy. I didn't have the willpower to decide between even two things at the moment.

"Dang, I wanna eat where she's eating," Hazel said, stunned. I followed her point and was instantly dazzled by a model casually walking in our direction.

Long caramel hair braided down the side, sharp fox-like eyes above her well shaped cheekbones, and tan skin clear of any visible blemish. Her simple white blouse and boot cut shorts just amplified her neck turning beauty.

"Huh," I said. "I guess greek goddesses do exist."

"Mi luz!" Leo raced forward to greet the young girl.

"Someone kill him before he makes us all look bad," Piper groaned, covering her eyes.

But the girl didn't shy away from our gangly latino. A sunshine filled smile lit up her entire face and she opened her arms.

They kissed, and he happily slung an arm around her waist. "Guys! Come meet my girlfriend."

Hazel nearly choked out her lungs. Piper's jaw fell open. Frank and Jason exchanged disbelieving eyerolls and Rachel and Percy were still off in some shop.

I guess I had to be the one to reply to this.

I stuck out my hand. "I'm Annabeth."

"Calypso," she replied in a thick grecian accent. Her hand felt as soft as butterfly wings.

"So you are dating… that thing?" I gestured broadly to Leo.

"Hey!"

"It's our second year anniversary next week," She smiled kindly.

"THAT LONG?!" Piper sputtered before she could put her filter back on.

Calypso laughed into her hand. "Yes. That long. I would be stupid to let a guy like him go."

"A serial flirt?" I winced.

"A shrimp?" Jason added jokingly.

"A scary spineless scarecrow child?" Frank said under his breath.

"An ice-cream machine breaker," Hazel gave him the evil eye.

Leo scowled. "I fixed it."

Calypso shrugged one of her perfectly tanned shoulders. "It is hard to find a guy who is my intellectual match and who also has a sense of humor. Usually a man can either keep a good conversation or is funny. Never both."

By the way Leo smiled softly to no one but himself, I could tell it was love.

"So you're a genius?" I asked.

"Genius?" Leo scoffed. "She's above a genius! She's above 'highly intelligent'! She's-"

"Based on the test results from when I was analyzed; yes, I am a genius. But seeing as those tests were created by humans and humans are incapable of perfection, I don't know how much faith can really be said for the system that put me aside as a 'genius'. There is no infallible way to measure one's intelligence." Calypso interjected. "By 'intellectual match' I just meant that we communicate well. We 'get along' as the hip say. We see the same world."

No hip people have ever said that, but okay.

I nodded once. "Yeah, you're a genius."

"So if you've been taken all this time why have you been flirting with every girl that comes into your sight?" Hazel crossed her arms.

Leo shrugged. "Social experiment. Likability vs confidence. Besides, it's fun. I never go past flirting."

"And we do have a long distance relationship," Calypso said. "Sometimes you just want to dance with someone, or tell someone that they have beautiful eyes."

"I don't know whether to be endeared, concerned or freaked out." I said. "But your relationship is strong enough to bring you all the way to this tiny island so alright I guess."

Calypso giggled and threw her arm over Leo. "I did not come just for him, although it was a driving force."

"You didn't?" Frank asked.

"No! I came to show you all the beauty of Greece!"

.oOo.

Calypso was a knowledgeable gold mine. Not just about quantum physics, microbiology and structural engineering, but also about the little hidden treasures Greece had to offer.

Using a yacht, we traveled to the mainland and were led through the city streets all afternoon. Exploring the cobbled alleys and cultural street foods vendors. We saw ruins and old temples, markets and street performers. At dinner time, Calypso found us a restaurant overlooking a sunset ocean and set us up at tables for two for a romantic evening. She even lured a musician off his corner by the town square with a wad of cash so he'd sit beneath the balcony of the restaurant, playing his violin.

(I sat with Grover.)

When it was time to return to the hotel, we were all touristed out. Having fully scoped the entire town and eaten to the point of bursting.

I thought the night was over. I swore the night was over. But Leo and Calypso insisted on watching a movie. 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding'. (I say 'insisted' but the truth is they bullied us. We might as well have been sitting on that couch at gunpoint.)

And then, just when I was getting into the movie, Calypso stood up and turned the TV off.

The audacity.

Earning her a few heavy complaints and confused looks before she waved us to a silence.

"Someone help me with the redhead," she said very seriously, yet giddy at the same time as if she was having worlds of fun.

There must've been a language barrier because no one answered except Leo. Who stood up and stretched a big stretch before following Calypso to where Percy sat on the loveseat. With Rachel sprawled over him, sleeping daintily in a way I could never, he was stuck in position.

Together they started grabbing her arms and legs and lifting her free of him.
"Wait!" I hissed, jumping to my feet. "Don't wake her!"

Calypso shot me an impish grin over her shoulder. "She cannot be woken. I drugged her."

"You WHAT?!"

As if to prove her point, Leo lost his grip just then and Rachel smacked head first into the carpet. Smooshing her cheeks against the fabric and leaving her body in an awkward 'v' shape with her butt in the air.

I raced over to her, checking for injuries. "Why would you do that?!"

Calypso shrugged. "For love."

"WHAT DOES THAT-"

I didn't get to finish my thought. Piper and Hazel grabbed my arms a moment later. Forcefully, they guided me out of the room.

"Don't fight it." Hazel giggled next to me.

I was going to. I was going to raise hell until I noticed that the boys had got a hold of Percy. Really, Frank had caught a hold of Percy and kept him headlocked as they also drove him out of the room. Despite every one of his snarky jibes at them, the boys were smiling wide.

"What's going on?" I demanded.

"Girl time. Obviously." Piper grinned at me.

"Yes, but what does that mean?"

It meant a luxury suite on the top floor. It meant getting my head forced under a gold faucet and my hair lathered and scrubbed with a rich smelling shampoo. It meant Calypso painted my nails while Hazel dried my curls and Piper spritzed me all over with a weird body oil moisturizer glimmer stuff. It meant being LOCKED IN A CLOSET UNTIL I PUT ON THE STUPID DRESS THEY PICKED OUT.

White. Sleeveless. Flowy, with little blue flowers printed in clusters around the skirt and a high-low hem that showed off my legs.

Calypso did my makeup, humming as she worked. That impish smile never left her face.

"What is this all for?" I sighed for the millionth time.

Piper and Hazel were sitting right behind Calypso, watching her work. Admiring the results with gleeful eyes. A box of jewelry between them as they slowly mulled over which set to inflict on me.

"Well…" Hazel said. "You and Percy never did get to go out on a proper date."

"So we thought we'd remedy that." Piper finished.

Calypso leaned back, examining my face again. "Unfortunately this idea wasn't conceptualized until after they landed in Greece. So there were no supplies to pull it off. Luckily Leo called me."

"A date?" I said with a pit starting to form in my gut. "With Percy?"

"Yep," Piper said.

"But what about Rach-"

"Tranquilizers will wear off in seven hours or so, you have quite a lot of time."

Seven hours… They'd planned this out well enough that the dosage and deliverance of the drugs would knowingly last seven hours. I should've felt grateful. I know I should've felt grateful. Instead I felt this ringing hollowness. A weak form of dread.

Sighing heavily, I rested my hand on Calypso's forearm signaling her to stop. I shook my head. "This is really sweet you guys but… I'm not Percy's girlfriend. There's a reason I avoided being alone with him for too long, I-"

"Do you know why I am with Leo?" Calypso raised her eyebrow at me.

I hardly thought it mattered. Or maybe I was just deeply entrenched in my own worries to the point I didn't care about others. Still, I indulged her. "Why?"

"Because the heart wants what it wants." Calypso lifted the blender brush to my face again, caressing my cheeks with soft swirls of motion. "We believe that we are soulmates. That we didn't need the magic to bring us together because we already found each other. But nobody else sees it that way. All they see are two teenagers, separated by an ocean and deluding themselves into thinking that their feelings can reach that far for that long. To be honest, we did try. We tried to stay apart because we were conscious about how the world saw us. It didn't work. All we did was make ourselves unhappy."

I shifted in my chair. A flutter in my chest. "No disrespect, but I think my situation is a tad different than yours. If I end up kissing him then-"

"Do you not have faith in yourself?" Calypso asked abruptly. "Or is it because you believe you do not deserve him?"

I could feel Piper's and Hazel's eyes boring into me. They knew how I was, how I thought of myself. They knew which answer was true, so I didn't dare speak what I thought outloud.

Calypso took my silence as defeat. "You are afraid."

"Wouldn't you be?" I asked sadly.

"Absolutely," Calypso answered gently.

"Totally," Hazel said.

"Shit-brained petrified," Piper added.

"It's such a delicate situation," Hazel chipped in again. "I mean you guys are handling life and death here. You have the right to be wary and afraid. But that doesn't mean you can't have moments of happiness right?"

I wasn't so sure. Any one moment of happiness could quickly turn into Rachel's death. Any moment I let down my guard felt like my world, my plans, my very intentions would crack and fall away. One brief instance of joy wasn't worth Rachel's life, I had already decided on that.

"Besides, it's not like Percy would go against your wishes right?" Piper said. "You trust him."

I trust him.

I really did. But accidents and trust don't correlate.

"Just take a chance, Annabeth," Hazel said. "One night. One date. You both deserve that much."

"Just pretend the triangle doesn't exist for one night." Piper said, while bringing over a single pearl on a golden chain to hang around my neck.

Calypso was putting her compacts back into her makeup caddy. "And if things turn towards a risk, you can always bail. You are not obligated to stay."

I thought about Rachel again. Sleeping face first into the bristles of a very beautiful grecian carpet. How deeply betrayed she'd be if she knew…

But Percy…

"Alright." I sucked in a deep breath. "Alright. Let's do this."

"YES!" Piper bellowed and tackled me in a hug. Hazel and Calypso joined, smothering my laughs.

.oOo.

I was given directions. A rocky trail along the coast, lit with little white lanterns that shivered and danced with warm flames. Before I left, Piper braided up half my hair with an array of little white flowers that pulled and shuddered in the warm breeze. My skirt flowed like liquid silk around me.

Percy was on the beach.

Well a beach.

A private beach in a small gulf, blessed with white sands and thick greenery that seemed to be reaching for the gentle ocean. He was under a white canopy, standing with his back to me and watching the calm lines of the ocean slowly sway into shore before retreating as softly as it had come.

The hotel staff must've helped set up because the layout looked like it took hours. The four post canopy ws draped in white material. Gathered at each corner in soft billows. Beneath was a carpet rich with designs and lit by flaming torches and short stubby candles peppered around in a calculated way. Tasseled pillows and folded blankets crowded in each corner while the middle was piled with silver platters filled with such an amount of disturbing junk food you'd think Rachel had a hand in the planning.

Percy didn't hear me approach. The sand was too soft.

The boys had attacked him well. He had a cloud blue coloured button up shirt on, the sleeves rolled back to his elbows, and a pair of beige linen slacks I recognized as being a popular choice among Greek men. However, whatever they'd tried to do with his hair had been fruitless. The ocean breeze had tumbled and ruffled it back into its glorious unstately being.

"I never thought I'd tolerate being forced into a first date." I said

Percy jumped, then wheeled around out me. The shock died in his eyes upon recognition but slowly built up again as he looked me over. A slight part in his lips and a deep softness in his green eyes I couldn't help but melt a bit over.

For a moment we said nothing. Victim to the notion that we were on a date. We were alone. Together. We were in love and we were fully accepting that reality for once. Or should I say it was just Percy in awe that I was accepting that reality.

I swallowed nervously and clutched a fistful of my dress. "How do I look?" I asked.

Percy met my eyes. "Devastating."

"Devastating?"

He marched over the last few feet to stand in front of me, but to only stand. Not reaching out to touch me, giving us a healthy distance. By the way he was gripping his fists in his pockets I could tell he was holding back. "Without all the blue… kinda makes you look like… it just… you're stunning. But you're always beautiful…"

My brain was already sorting through his sentence crossword. Shifting and fitting different nouns into the space he left, trying to unravel his sentiments. Trying to understand that hollow sadness he was suddenly under.

A bride. My brain settled on. Without all the blue in this dress I'd kind of look like a bride.

And of course I'd never be a bride.

I'd never be his bride.

I stepped forward, into him. Looping my arms over his neck and constructing a light smile that wasn't all fake. "You look dashing yourself. I'm surprised those idiots were able to do anything with you."

Percy's shoulders fell. That easy endearing smile of his surfaced a moment later and he steadied his hands on my waist. "I was shocked too. Leo is basically pigpen from Charlie Brown, meanwhile Frank was convinced I needed a full tailed tux complete with tie and pocket handkerchief. If it wasn't for Jason I might've arrived in a tophat and doused in so much body spray and aftershave you'd have to have worn a hazmat suit around me."

"Too bad, I packed it for no reason then." I said, patting his cheek.

When I pulled away, his hand trailed my arm until he could entwine our fingers. Anchoring us together as I led us over to the canopy, and more importantly the food.

Cheetos, chips, chocolate bars, gummies, cupcakes, mints, rockets, lollipops- there was everything. I sat down in front of the beautiful collection of goodies with my back to it so I could admire the ocean and crunch on some chocolate covered almonds at the same time.

For two minutes we sat in a content silence before Percy scooted himself over to me and pulled me into his lap. Tenderly, he folded me into his arms and planted a few kisses against my neck. Igniting me with a burst of sparks that seeped warmth into my core.

"I haven't been alone with you since the flower shop parking lot," he murmured into my skin. "I'm sorry to say that I was super happy to learn that Rachel was drugged."

"Percy!" I scoffed, scandalized yet slightly amused by such an absurd statement.

"What?! It's not that I don't like her, it's just… every moment I'm with her, all I can think about is that I'm losing time I could be spending with you."

I turned to face him. Examining his dark eyebrows, the curve of his nose, the sharpness of his jaw, the way the tips of his raven hair fell over his forehead, and his green eyes glimmering from the fire light. "Did you ever like Rachel?"

Percy semi-grimaced. He was studying my face too. Gently, he reached his fingers up and brushed his thumb over my lips, wantingly. "I liked the idea of her for a while. The idea of someone special to me. But the longer we spent time together the more I felt like she wasn't it."

I shook my head. Hot tingles were playing rhythms in my sternum. "What changed? When did it all-"

"I don't know." he cut me off. A dark, thoughtful expression pursed his lips together. As if that question had been stumping him for months. "Maybe it was our first date? When I picked her up, I kinda wished I was taking you out instead."

I barked a laugh. "You mean when I had mayonnaise on my face?"

"Yup. And talking crazy things like bunny costumes and freaking your neighbours out."

"Seriously? You're such a dork."

"Hey-!"

"You saw me with my ratty sweatpants and threadbare t-shirt that was way too baggy and with mayonnaise on my face and you thought 'Aww yeah. I'd date that psycho'."

"Why're you using that voice? You're making me sound like such an idiot!" Percy laughed.

"You are one!" I said, smiling. "Meanwhile Rachel was right behind me all glammed up? I mean, are you insane?!"

"I know, I know. I'm bad." Percy chortled. "But… I don't know. You were just so… easy to like. Easy to be with. And funny. It was honestly a foul that you answered the door and acted so charming when I was supposed to be dating someone else. If anything, that was your fault."

"Me?!" I scoffed. "I was trying to put you off."

Percy leaned in closer to gaze into my eyes, a playful turn in his lips. "And look how well that turned out."

Yeah. Okay. He had a point.

"What about you?" he tilted his head at me. "When was the big, 'oh no, I think I might be falling for this super hot and hilarious guy'."

He spoke in a ridiculous girly voice that made me slap him playfully on the chest.

"Hilarious? You wish."

"C'mon tell me. When did you… feel something?" Percy grinned back at me. Taking one of my hands to lace our fingers back together.

"Maybe a little after that." I blushed. "Remember that party we went to?"

"When I was your knight in shining armor?! Yes!" Percy's eyes lit up. "You fell for me because I came to your rescue! Oh Annabeth, how medieval of you."

"I take it back. It was totally the moment I got you to wear a pink sparkly shirt."

"Too late. I'm your loyal knight and you are my princess."

I feigned barfing. "You're so full of yourself."

"It was a fairytale moment for you, you're just too proud to admit it."

"You're also too cocky to stand."

"Did I mention I ran from the house to where you were? Ran."

"I can't believe anyone would ever find you charming."

"And yet here you are, on my lap, still listening to me talk about how great of a defender I am."

"Shut up," I chortled.

It was so easy to be close to him. Physically I mean. I didn't even realize our proximity until our foreheads brushed. I could feel the rhythm of his breathing graze over my lips and instantly my heart rocketed into a gallop. Red heat flared over my cheeks.

Percy didn't pull away. Instead he nuzzled closer to me. Close enough that I could almost feel the smile on his lips. "You're cute when you blush."

That just made my cheeks burn more.

"I wish I could kiss you."

"You can't," I said.

"But I wish I could." Percy's voice lowered. "I'd kiss you senseless."

I shivered. "Don't think about it. We've already messed up once."

"Do you still consider that a… hiccup?" he asked quietly.

Leaning back I started playing with his hair. Pushing it around, spiking the ends, dragging my fingers over his scalp. Percy groaned happily.

"No, it was the best kiss I've ever had." I finally said.

Percy raised his eyebrows but kept his eyes closed. "And how many kisses have you had?"

"Two, counting ours." I said. "My first kiss was at summer camp when I was in the seventh grade. Some kid named Albert. What about you?"

"Tiffany Holdish tackled me. I don't really think it counts as a kiss, more sexual harrassment." Percy said with a nervous flutter of a laugh.

Snorting, I cradled his cheeks in my hands. "So count our kiss as your first. Tiffany Holdish has nothing on me. Boo her for being a harasser."

"Hopefully Albert from summer camp has nothing on me." Percy said with a slanted smile.

"I don't know. It was a magical two seconds behind the camp outhouse." I teased. "Our kiss didn't have such an ambience."

"Apologies. I wasn't really thinking clearly in the moment. If I had a clear head I would've dragged you to the bathroom and kissed you there." Percy rolled his eyes.

I laughed. "Even without a loo present… it was still a darn good kiss."

"Yeah… yeah it was."

He glanced at my lips just then. Between the firelight bouncing off the peaks of his face, the hush of waves, the smell of sea and smoke, and the way he was looking at me - I knew what was pulling in his chest. I had to cover his mouth with my hand because I was tempted too. We were already getting too comfortable. All it would take was one willpower crumbling to completely kill Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

"No thoughts of that," I murmured. "Before we make an irreversible mistake."

Sighing heavily, Percy nodded. He pulled my hand away just long enough to plant a tender kiss on my cheek.

"I hate that kissing you would be considered a mistake," he said.

My heart pulled. "Me too."

After a couple of minutes of silence, Percy chortled softly to himself. "I can't believe Leo has a secret girlfriend. And for two years?"

"And she's so pretty!" I added.

"I thought I knew him."

I shrugged and reached over Percy's shoulder for another chocolate almond. Popping one into my mouth indiscreetly. "Yeah well, everyone has secrets."

"Even you?" Percy asked. Pegging me with his green eyes.

Smiling, I freed my hands from him to squish his cheeks together. "No. Not from you. Not anymore."

Even though his lips were sticking out, that soft smile still turned up. A gentle ardent affection came into his gaze as he pulled me tighter into him, cradling me against his body. My head on his shoulder.

"What about you?" I asked. "Any secrets? Any big things about your life that I don't know?"

A rumble went through his chest when he laughed. It made my chest feel light.

"I accidentally ruined an entire stock of pickles at the grocery store because I climbed the shelf when I was seven."

"Pah!" I leaned back to grin at him. "If that's your biggest secret, I'm looking pretty good now."

Percy's smile didn't completely reach his eyes. It was half empty, like he was regretting something. Like he was hiding something. I wasn't going to probe, as nervous as it made me. Turns out, I didn't need to anyway.

"My Dad met his soulmate when I was born," Percy muttered after a pregnant pause. "She was one of the delivery nurses who… yeah."

"You're Dad's alive?" I said stupidly.

C'mon Annabeth. Buy half a brain.

"Yeah… he's alive. Every few years he'll try and get in touch but I was never interested in meeting him. I was so bitter at him for a long time for leaving my Mom. I thought soulmates were the worst and then suddenly I was one."

Percy gaze wandered the ocean again. A faraway look in his eyes. A mountain of regret and confusion playing a game of torment on his heart, I could see it.

"That's why it was so hard for you to tell your mom," I said. "Because soulmate magic took your dad from her."

Solemnly, Percy nodded. "Then when I didn't really feel anything towards Rachel? I thought my negative view on soulmate magic had messed me up. I thought… I thought I was really really messed up."

Idiot. You hurt him so bad. My head said first. Shut up. I consciously thought to myself.

"I'm sorry-"

"No. It's not your fault. Besides, it's all sorted out now isn't it? And… now I have you so everythings a ton better even." Percy squeezed me lightly. I could feel the soft upturn in his lips as he pressed a kiss into my temple. I hummed a happy note with my heart skittering in my chest.

"Well if you don't mind me saying… you're dad's a dick. He shouldn't've just left like that because he found his soulmate."

"... Thanks." Percy said. "It… feels good to be validated like that. Especially from someone who's so level headed."

"Level-headed?" I scoffed. "Do you know me at all? I am Annabeth Hot Mess Chase."

Rising to my feet, I faked a fighting stance. "I will take down all logic in pursuit of messy drama and unnecessary tears any day of the week. I'll-"

When I looked back down at Percy, he had that teasing smile on again. Having successfully tempted me into a frenzy with just two words, he was thoroughly enjoying my show.

"Jerk," I fake kicked him, unable to not laugh.

It was as I was sitting down again that I caught sight of the large blanket in the corner. A little memory bounced out from the back of my brain and sprang forward to get it, then looked at the sky.

"C'mon" I told Percy excitedly. Racing out from under the canopy, away from the light and warm of the space and into the darkness.

As I spread the blanket down in the sand, Percy stood at a distance. Slightly wary. "What… are you doing?"

"Something I've wanted to do for months." I said seriously. "Human sacrifice."

"What?"

"Relax. Just sit on the blanket."

I grabbed a few bowls of junk food. Some of the pillows. Another blanket for coverage. Then we were all settled. Sitting cozy in the sand, in the darkness. An inky sky above us bejeweled with so many layers of stars that it set a dusky light on the waters and made the film of fog in the distance glow silver.

"Now," I said, settling myself in his arms. "Ask me about the constellations. Let me be a know-it-all."

Percy shifted, then chuckled under his breath. "Seriously? You remember that?"

"I wanted it the moment you said it."

"For real?"

"For real."

I was taken off guard when he hugged me tight. Nearly knocking the wind completely from me. "Then you better be ready because I'm going to ask about every single star in this sky."

.oOo.

We saw two shooting stars that night. A perfect two, one for each.

But I was selfish. I wished for two things.

That I would be able to see my mom again.

That Rachel would find happiness after everything that happened.

I must've drifted off talking about star formations and lightspeed, because when I woke up I was still on the beach. Percy on top of me. The sky a blushing pink as if it were embarrassed to catch us entangled on the sand spotted blanket.

I allowed fifteen more minutes of cuddling as was Percy's request but then we had to head back to the hotel.

I spotted Piper and Jason by the hotel patio, hugging and leaning against the brick arch of the gate. Each in a housecoat and with a steaming cup of coffee behind them on a wrought iron table.

A flood of thoughts and expressions coursed to my mind. Despite my disheveled appearance, I couldn't wait to tell Piper about the date. Thank her for everything she did for me last night, how she encouraged me to go in the first place. Mostly I was just glad to have a place to be alone with Percy for an hour. I felt energized, ready to fight life, I felt spirited.

Before I could prance down the path to them and start babbling like a toddler, Percy grabbed my forearm and held me back.

For a second I stared at him, confused. But then I heard it.

Piper was sobbing. They weren't just being cozy.

In despair she rubbed her tears into Jason's shoulder and cried out a mess of broken words I had to piece together. One repeated phrase stabbed me straight through the chest.

I just don't want her to die. I don't want her to die. She can't die.

A flare of guilt scorched me straight down to my core. I withered back. Choked with unsaid feelings, speechless and not knowing what to do. My therapist's words came screaming back to me and fought with everything that was rolling around in my chest.

Percy guided me around a little garden by the patio and towards the front door. A hand on the small on my back.

"That's not your fault," he said.

"I know," I lied.

.oOo.

"Are you okay Beth?" Rachel cocked her head at me. "You seem a bit forlorn."

I was. I couldn't get Piper out of my head. For some stupid reason I thought she was different. I thought that since she became my friend with the knowledge that I was going to die, that it would be easier for her. But it wasn't. And where did that put Hazel? Was she suffering just as much because I was going to die?

"Didn't sleep well last night." I pulled the brim of my sunhat farther down to cover my face. However, the rush of wind off the ocean was fighting with me. It was a perfect beach day but I felt like being anywhere but.

The sand was too white, the water was too blue, the sky was too clear, and the air smelled too fresh. My head was too full to process everything. Piper was back to her normal smiley self. She'd already made two sandcastles and had bought me my favorite ice cream bar from the beach shop.

Hazel hadn't stopped smiling too, but she was having a water fight with Frank. I didn't know what to make of it.

Which smiles were real and which ones were fake? How could I have not noticed?

Rachel grabbed my arm. "Still not your fault."

"Rach-"

"Helen, Bobby and Matthew being back proves that, doesn't it?" she said earnestly. "She must've really missed you and your dad if she came running back a week after you made first contact. Right Grover?"

Grover was next to me on a towel, splayed out on his belly in the sun. His eyes glued to his phone with a sharp twinkle in them.

"Grover?" Rachel leaned forward to look past me then blew a raspberry at him. "How about that! He gets a girlfriend and suddenly it's radio silence."

"Hey! You went radio silent when you were first going out with Percy!" Grover shot back.

Rachel's eyes widened. "AND you grew an attitude? You should've gotten a girlfriend years ago."

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"But you want her to be." I caught him with a sly smirk.

Grover melted into his blush, cradling his phone. "Yeah. Yeah, I really do."

"Well nevermind." Rachel waved off. "My point still stands. Annabeth, it was not your fault. It still isn't your fault. And I'm sure Helen and your half brothers completely agree with me."

"I appreciate that Rachel," I said while pushing her sunglasses up her nose. "But I wasn't thinking about that."

"What were you thinking about?"

I folded my hands in my lap. "The future. Their futures. Piper, Hazel, the rest of us. I wonder what will happen after graduation."

After my death.

Grover's eyes peeked in my direction. The corner of his mouth tightened in stress. He almost set down his phone.

"What, you don't think we'll stay friends with these guys?" Rachel said.

"Well with university and all, and some are heading away for school…"

"Annabeth, if it's meant to be, it will be." Rachel said with a bright smile. "Besides, I have faith in our bond with these crazies. Don't you?"

"Not even an ounce." Grover said without hesitation, still fiddling with his phone.

Rachel's jaw dropped and she pushed the sunglasses off her eyes. "Grover Underwood! Has this girl done the impossible and given you confidence!?"

Grover's blush came back with a flying force and he tucked his neck in. "No?"

I grinned at him. "I think she's building you quite the ego there. How many compliments has she given you?"

His cheeks turned from a blossom pink to a deep scarlet.

Rachel tutted her tongue. "Many, many compliments I see. Well I hope you know you deserve every single one of them."

"Why does that sound so aggressive?" Grover muttered.

I patted him on the back. "Because it's coming from Rachel. She's a firesprite."

"And I will be now and far into the future!" She raised a fist. "Also, speaking of the future, I have a bone to pick with you Miss Chase."

She couldn't possibly know of the triangle. I knew that. So why was my skin suddenly zipping with static? Why was the hair on my arms sticking up? Why did I feel like jumping in the ocean and hiding beneath that crystalline surface of blue.

"I got an early acceptance email from The Royal College of Art this morning." Rachel crossed her arms.

Everything inside of me relaxed. Both Grover and I sat up, overjoyed. Congratulating her on such an accomplishment when-

"I didn't apply to The Royal College of Art." Rachel raised a stern eyebrow at me.

Chuckling nervously, I twisted my fingers together. "It was just in case you actually did want to go?"

"I wanna go where you go!" Rachel said with a hmph. Rather childishly really. "We said we'd go to the same university since kindergarten. If you're not in the UK, I don't want to be there."

"What about Percy?" I asked. "Don't you want to be where he is?"

Grover stiffened.

Rachel shrugged. "We're soulmates! We'll end up in the same spot eventually. It wouldn't be the end of the world if he and I went to different schools. It might be good for us to experience a long distance relationship. Teach us to appreciate each other more. If he were just my boyfriend I'd want to go to his school but he's my soulmate. It's different. We're tied and no distance can truly come between us. Although… it would really suck. Really suck. "

I remembered the New Years party. How Percy confessed his feelings for me an hour before he showed Rachel his soulmate heart. I remembered how anxious Rachel was before the holidays. How she wanted Percy to come with her no matter what because she felt as if she didn't truly have him.

But now that she had one of his heart stones in her possession, now that she was assured that Percy was her soulmate, she knew that they would never become like her parents. Without the relationship anxiety, she's stopped her cling to him. But not her obsession with him.

I swallowed. "When do you plan on… plan on bonding?"

Abruptly, Grover rose to his feet and hobbled away on his crutches. Throwing up sand. Rachel didn't notice, she was tanning with her eyes closed. I watched him go. The welt in my gut was throbbing.

Same buddy.

"I don't know. I was thinking soon. I even entertained the idea of bonding on this trip but Percy seems weird right now. I don't think it's a good time for him."

I felt like I couldn't breathe. I turned my face away so she wouldn't notice. "Weird?"

"Jittery. Jumpy." Rachel wiped some fine white sand from the edge of her towel. "We still haven't talked about the fact that you introduced me to his mother and not him. That's going to be a fun conversation. Plus I feel like I need to properly know his family before I bond with him. Seems like the right thing to do, y'know?"

"Have you introduced him to your parents?"

"My parents?! Please. If I wanted to introduce him to two trainwrecks I would've brought him to the historical crisis museum. My parents aren't going to even get a whiff of Percy's cologne for as long as I'm around."

"Isn't that unfair?"

"Unfair?! I'm doing him a favor! You know what my parents are like."

"Well… I guess…"

"Besides, when we bond I want to be alone." Rachel twisted on her side to shoot me an excited gleam over her sunglasses. "Ambience, music, a romantic date out. The whole package."

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I took this from you. Percy doesn't really love you. It's all an act because of me.

"What about right after graduation?" My throat felt thick, it ached. I couldn't look at her. "It will be like one chapter of your life is closing and one is beginning."

"Heeey, I like the sound of that." Rachel sat up, a grin on her lips. "It would be the perfect time… and if I talk to Percy about it now we could plan the perfect evening and-

"Annabeth!" Piper and Hazel came jogging up to me. Happy, exciting, smiling. I was relieved to see them. Saved from hearing the plans that would have sour on Rachel in the future but at the same time, Piper's sobs were still ringing in my ears. Their upturned expressions, their sparkling eyes…

Is it even real?

"Want to go snorkeling?" Hazel asked.

"Want to go boating?" Piper asked at the same time.

"Yes," Rachel decided. Now in a fantastic mood. "To both of those things."

.oOo.

We saw even more ruins in Athens. I tasted olives fresh off a tree (gross). Rachel and I danced in the rain downtown. We caught a beautiful view of the sprawling landscape on some hill and visited a zoo right after. We did an enormous amount of swimming and a tiny amount of fishing. Piper and I collected shells for hours and hours. Calypso told grecian horror stories around a fire pit (marshmallows included). Jason and Frank both managed to get tangled in a beach volleyball net, photos were taken. We visited a few famous Greek gardens. Leo accidentally insulted a French politician on holiday (who cares about the French anyways?) and we had to run from his security. Grover showed off his amazing skills on the piano in a fancy restaurant all because Juniper asked for a video of him playing. Hazel started a food blog on greek food that had seven reads, but she didn't care as long as she got to eat food. (She is so thin?!)

And Percy lived for moments he could snatch me away.

Anywhere, anytime. In the middle of the mall? He'd just grab me and pull me into a small store. Kiss my cheek or my neck or between my eyebrows and whisper that he loved me, then boom I'd be back where I was before. Blushing and heavy blooded but pretending like the love of my life wasn't sweeping me off my feet one spontaneous moment at a time.

One time he pulled me behind a pillar at some ruins just to say that he forgot to tell me that I was beautiful and then he kissed the corner of my mouth and spun me away. I staggered out from behind the pillar, still wavering for my balance on my jelly legs and smacked straight into Rachel. She wanted to know if I had a fever, I told her yes. Then she said she was looking for Percy and I nearly turned to dust from shame.

Piper and Hazel were a few feet behind her, making mock kissy faces and giving me thumbs up.

But is it genuine? Are they really happy?

The week wound down with a karaoke party on the Grace yacht. Catered food was eaten, soda was toasted like champagne and all the speakers were dialed up to eleven. Even Grover got into the spirit and danced along semi-awkwardly. Between Piper and Calypso, there was some serious vocal talent being displayed. Also strangely Jason who could sing like Frank Sinatra. I passed the mic by on more than one occasion. My song voice was like a sack of rabbits getting softly killed with a slipper. (Although I couldn't pass up singing Chiquitita with Rachel.)

When everyone was taken by Calypso and Piper's duet, I slipped onto the main deck for some fresh air. My head was full and buzzing. My heart felt like it was dangling near my knees. In my mind's eye I had an image of my therapist sitting across from me in her strict black pantsuit with her legs crossed. Elegantly holding a pencil poised above a notepad, her eyebrows furrowed aggressively as I talked and talked and talked. Unable to cork the flow.

"It's a beautiful night," Frank came up behind me. He must've followed me out.

But I guess it really was a beautiful night. Stars glimmered above. The crescent moon had made an appearance behind a few dusky blotting clouds. On the gentle waves came the salty smell I'd become so accustomed to. Lovingly, the ocean petted the sides of the yacht with a rhythmic lapping noise.

I hummed a happy note and glanced sideways at him. "Hazel seems very content to be near you."

Instantly Frank blushed. "Well I… I did what you said. I just explained things to her."

"And?"

"And she said she'd wait for me. She was more than happy to, actually. She didn't even care when I cried."

I snorted slightly. What was it with men and crying? My Dad wouldn't look at me with tears in his eyes while I was the one in a hospital bed. I knew Paul was emotionally frayed constantly probably because he didn't let things out. Here Frank was, talking as if crying in front of Hazel should've been a disgrace.

Suddenly I was a ton more grateful for Percy and his openness to me. He wasn't afraid to cry in front of me. It felt like a rare quality that I should cherish.

But it shouldn't be rare. So to all the guys out there reading this? Cry you idiots. Just cry.

"I told you she likes you," I said, rolling my eyes. "She doesn't need anything from you but your honesty and loyalty. Not while you're just friends who like each other at least."

Frank chuckled and gave me a look that screamed gratefulness and kindness. "I'll remember that."

"You better." I bumped his shoulder with mine. Smiling.

For a few minutes, that was all. Frank wasn't a talker, and for some reason I never felt pressured to talk while around him. Giving each other our company was enough, so all we did was stand there and admire the ocean under darkness. A beautiful sight. A quiet gentleness to it all.

(Except Leo butchering an Elvis Presley song in the background.)

"I hope I feel ready soon," Frank murmured, deep in thought. "I don't want Hazel to have to wait too long."

I shrugged. "You've got the time. Use it. There's no need for you to rush."

Only after I said it, did I realize how bitter and guilty-trippy it sounded. Like I was jealous Frank had time to spare while I was staring at my last three months and nine days.

"I mean… don't rush yourself if you don't have to. It's not like the world is ending- I mean it's up to you, but I doubt Hazel's going to pressure you. She's patient! I didn't mean… before when I said… aaaauuugh." I covered my face in shame. "Please throw me overboard now."

Frank let loose a deep steady laugh and patted me on the shoulder softly. "It's okay. I get what you mean."

"Thank you."

Frank pursed his lips and nodded. An acceptance of my gratitude of sorts. Staring off into the ocean again, he cleared his throat.

"Y'know, if you want my two cents about all this, you seem happier since February," he said.

I didn't know if I liked that or not, Frank monitoring my happiness levels. In some perspectives it was sweet, but in others it felt like he was wasting his time. It doesn't matter what a dead girl feels when she's a foot away from her grave.

I took a deep breath, deciding to be truthful. "I am."

But at what cost? Percy was stuck watching the slow horror show of my death. Piper was putting up a mask just to make me feel good. Grover was jumpy around me. Helen had abandoned her job and risked her boys' education for me. Was all the support I craved really worth it? Was I worth it?

Yes. I forced the voice myself. Shut up. Shut up. Just shut up you evil twisted voices.

But I didn't believe myself. My dark goblin was still living in my chest.

"Frank… can I ask you a sensitive question?" I mumbled. Afraid to look at him.

"Sure."

How was his response so easy? How could he be fine with my snooping ways?

I grit my jaw down and fisted my hands. "When… when your mom died… did you feel guilty?"

I expected him to be shocked and disturbed by the question. I expected him to feel attacked and to walk away from me. But he didn't.

His shoulders fell, his gaze softened. He made sure to look me straight in the eyes.

"Yes," he said.

"About what?"

"About everything. How I should've snuck in during non-visiting hours to spend more time with her. How I wasn't a bone marrow match when she needed a transplant. How I… how I wasn't there when she died… I know… I know I didn't have control over any of these things but…" his eyes started to shine.

I grabbed his arm. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked-"

"No. No, it's okay." Frank said, wiping his eyes with his forearms. "You have to talk about it sometimes, right? My Grandma says that grief isn't a monster to defeat but a vicious stray dog you have to befriend. It's the love you had for someone reaching over the wall of death. And reaching that far just hurts."

"I seriously need to meet your Grandma. She sounds like she could give Gandhi a run for his money."

Frank wheezed out a weak laugh. "Gandhi didn't have any money."

"A run for his clothes then. How would your Grandma look in a white khadi wrap around?"

Frank wrinkled his nose. "Like she'd just gotten out of the shower."

While laughing I noticed a dark silhouette pull away from the wall and move towards us. Percy gave me a pressed smile and cuddled up next to me instantly.

"Oh, I've interrupted a rendezvous," Frank instantly said apologetically. "I'll just-"
"Frank, no. It's fine." I assured. Although I did like the way Percy's arm came comfortably over my shoulders. Not to mention a little more alone time with him wouldn't kill me. (In fact it would do quite the opposite)

"It's okay." Frank read the atmosphere with a bashful smile. "I promised Hazel I'd sing a duet with her."

I made a face. "I've heard her sing. Goodluck."

Kidding. My voice was like a riot of old men who smoked for forty years. Compared to me, Hazel had the voice of kitten angels.

The moment he was out of sight, I wrapped my arms up around Percy's neck and kissed his cheek.

"Hi," I said.

"Hi," he said semi-absentmindedly.

I loosened my hold on him. "Is something wrong?"

"Well it… I just… I kind of overheard a part of your conversation there," he admitted, confused. "... why are you asking Frank about guilt?"

My first instinct was to peel back. Run away. I know I said one of Percy's problems was he couldn't confront his issues, but I guess I'm a little like that too. I just felt scared to talk about it.

I lay my head against his chest. Listening for the soothing rhythm of his heartbeat.

"I visited a therapist," I whispered into the fabric of his t-shirt.

"... and?" he asked gently. Readjusting his arms so they tied me tightly to him by my waist.

"She… she told me a lot of things that just make too much sense."

"Like?"

I could hear his voice through his chest. Part of me didn't want the conversation to get any farther. By letting her words out of that little room, it was like I was making them real. It was easy to shove aside what she said, when I was the only one who knew.

"She told me that I hide from grief with guilt," my voice shook. "That when I was a kid, it was easier for me to deal with feeling guilty than feeling the grief of my mom's death, so that's why I acted the way I acted. That and anger from all the trauma. Then when Helen left I had no way of making myself feel guilty without dishonoring my mom's memory so I just started blaming myself for everything. My Dad's distance, Helen's leaving, pushing away the few friends I had in elementary, any bad grades I got. It was a problem that was never addressed when I was a kid so now… it's just part of who I am I guess. She also said that grief resurfaces when big life events happen. Like graduating or learning terrible news like you're terminal. So… so for these past few months things just keep getting worse and worse because I started to grieve for my mom again but my natural response was to hide from that grief with guilt. I just came to crazy conclusions. I blame myself for shit I have no control over. When… when I saw Piper crying? That hit me really really hard. I just… I-"

I broke. I couldn't say it all. It was too much. I'd be there all night. My breathing was ragged. My eyes were burning. My throat felt like it had a softball lodged in it. I probably looked crazy. My dark goblin was telling me that Percy didn't care about any of this. That I was wasting what little time he had left with me on something so insignificant and stupid.

Shut up!

But everything Percy was doing contradicted my own stupid head. He was holding me tenderly, like I was his world. He was searching my eyes with so much care it made me break a little more.

"Tell me," he said quietly. "Tell me everything."

Tears ran down my face, but he stopped them with his thumbs. I grit my teeth and fought my voice back into submission.

"I'm hurting her," I croaked. "I told myself I wouldn't make anymore friends before I died and I swore I wouldn't allow her far into my life but now? Oh styx, Percy, I've made her into a fake smile machine. I've torn her heart by making her love me! I've- I've-"

"Blamed yourself for something you have no control over." Percy said softly. Cradling my face lovingly.

I nodded miserably. "And then I remember what my therapist said and I try, I try to not feel bad about it. Tell myself that it's not my fault but… I've just- I've been this way for so long that it feels impossible to be anything else. I just… I feel broken and useless and like I can't touch the world without leaving a scar. I feel like I'm ruining everyone else's lives just by being there."

More tears seared down my face. Too many for Percy to wipe away. They ran over his fingers and pattered against the deck.

My throat scorched.

"And how am I supposed to change now?! With three months and nine days away from death after a lifetime of being this way. And the harder I try the more things twist back on me. Because most of what I feel guilty for is a direct consequence of one of my actions. Like you knowing! I should've checked the weather that morning. I should've charged my phone. If I hadn't trapped you in that cabin with me you'd never have known why I died. You'd never feel like you had any part in it. You-"

"Annabeth." Percy hissed, close to tears. Then he pressed his forehead to mine and held me so tight it stalled my hiccuping breath. "My love."

And my entire body prickled into stars. He'd never called me a pet name before.

"My darling, my beautiful, my everything," he continued ardently, holding back his pain. Gritting his jaw to hide its shake. "It's not you. It's your leaving. You're so kind and funny and brave and smart and charming and beautiful and quick witted. You're so amazing, you make things better for everyone. Everyone. Piper isn't hurting because of you. She's hurting because she won't have you in the future. It's the same for everyone. Including me. Especially me. You're not the one hurting anyone. It's the triangle. It's the situation."

A sob split past my lips. I clung to him desperately. "But I could've saved them from the pain! I could've-"

"Kept them from the happiness of knowing you?" Percy cried. "Kept them from the happiness of loving you? Annabeth, you are the light in this dark situation. You. Make. Things. Better. Everyone who chose to be friends with you at this time knows what's going to happen. They know and they're still here for you because you're just that incredible."

I had never looked at it that way before. I guess I never allowed myself to look at it that way before.

Still, it wasn't that simple. That dark goblin in my chest rebelled at the very notion of being blameless. I was shaking. Filled with every little thing that had happened those past few months that brought pain into other people's lives. I couldn't purge those images from my head.

"Percy." I sobbed. "What if I never know what it's like to not feel guilty over something?"

"We'll figure it out," he gasped. "We'll get somewhere."

We'll. My heart burned. He was in this with me. He was here for me.

"But in three months?" My doubts persisted.

Percy didn't answer that. I doubted he had an answer to give. Instead he hugged me close and let me cry.

And for the millionth time, I cried myself hoarse.

.oOo.

Rachel sensed something was wrong on the way back. She held me for the entire eleven hour plane ride home. She never had to say anything. It was something in the way she hugs just soothes things.

I don't know, maybe she's magic.

I came back to a different environment. The kitchen had plates in the sink, raisin bread in the pantry, and cookies on the counter top. The washing machine was running with a cycle of clothes that were neither mine nor my Dad's. Giggles of delighted kids echoed from downstairs where the twins were either playing a table sport, or using the zipline, or abusing the ice cream machine, or all at the same time. They were louder than twenty raccoons stuffed into one garbage tin.

Helen had made her office space in one of the spare rooms upstairs and listened to LED Zeppelin as she worked. Humming along to it as if she didn't have the memory to recall all the lyrics. The sound drifted down the stairs like a fresh spring breeze.

My Dad's study door stood open, inside was barren. For the amount of times I'd stared at his door, his stupid immovable bare faced door, it was a weird feeling looking inside.

His desk was cleared off. The normal stacks of books that lined the walls and sat half open on his wing back chair were tidily put away into the shelves. The light was off, only the sunshine from the west facing window spilled across the floor and up the spines of aligned books. From what I could see, a thin sheen of faint dust, only a week's worth, was gathering on the surface of his desk.

I couldn't believe it. I floated inside his office space. Smelling the mildew and mustiness of old paper. Gently, I swiped my fingers over the surface of his desk. Oak, and normally well polished but now a sprinkle of fine grey dust was coming off on my finger tips. I took another sweep just to be sure.

It was surreal the amount of change the house had gone through. I felt as if I'd fallen through a crack in reality or maybe was on an episode of the twilight zone.

Suddenly, what felt like an empty shell was now a home. Something being lived in. Something being cherished for the shelter and warmth it gave. I leaned against the desk, shocked.

Just as I was turning to leave, a flicker of movement caught my attention. Someone was outside on the side of the house.

My Dad.

Before him were an array of tools that glimmered in the grass. He was scratching his head over two bicycles. One red and one blue. He had a pump in his hand, and for once in his life he was wearing a t-shirt.

Apparently satisfied with his work, he wiped his dirty hands against his jeans and stalked towards the door. A smile on his lips.

"HEY BOYS! THEY'RE FIXED!" He hollered just inside the hall.

They sounded like a dozen bowling strikes as they thundered up the stairs. I watched them sprint past the study, their eyes alight. Seconds later, they were on the side of the house testing out their bikes. Bobby was instantly trying to do a wheelie and Matthew was dancing around Dad with a million questions about how he did it.

Together, they sat in the grass and my-… our dad showed him what each cable, each tread, and each gear did. Even Bobby came cycling back in order to listen.

And this is all I get to see of them. I'm not here for long. That welt in my gut, that bubbling, festering welt of pure fear was growing. Every little thing that reminded me of my death just added to that tense mess in my stomach.

"Annabeth?" Helen gasped behind me. "When did you get home? Oh I'm so happy to see you! You look so much healthier and tan. Did you have-"

I turned around just then. Helen's excited expression fell.

"What's wrong?"

I had a tear on my cheek. I didn't even realize it. I didn't even really know why either. Stubbornly, I wiped at my eyes and tried to side step past Helen, claiming that I was fine. She didn't buy it.

"Annabeth?"

"I don't know. I… I know I'm happy because it's like we're a family again. Clearly you did a few things around here." I gestured to the window broadly. "But… I… I guess I just wish that I would be here for longer than three months to see more of it? Maybe I'm just over reacting. Maybe three months will be enough."

Helen didn't respond to me at first. She set her stack of papers down on my fathers clean desk. Not quite facing away from me, but not facing me either. Her eyes darted to my form every few moments.

"I never should've left in the first place," she said quietly. Her tone was steeped with guilt. "For five years I've lived in complete ignorance but now… now I know that family's fight for one another. I didn't fight for you. I should've fought for you Annabeth. I should've tried to save you from your fathers flaws."

The dark goblin in my chest hissed and withered back. I clenched my fists at my side. "Helen, it wasn't you. After all I put you through, of course you'd feel like you'd have to leave-"

"But I made a commitment when I married Fredrick to be your mother and I failed you!"

"I wasn't ready to have a mother! You didn't have to-"

"What you were ready for and what you needed were two different things. You weren't ready for a mother but darling you needed one and when you needed me I wasn't there."

She was crying. I hated that she was crying. The sheen of tears against her cheeks looked so unnatural. Helen had always seemed like such an unmovable force in my life before she left and now she was before me. Vulnerable.

She squeezed her eyes shut. "Can you forgive me, Annabeth?"

"Forgive you?!" I gasped raspily. "How can I forgive you when I don't even blame you?"

Helen weakly laughed at that. Finally her soft brown eyes found mine and she shook her head. "I know you think you were the world's worst child but there were times… you were sweet. I saw how you treated your brothers. I knew everything you took out on me wasn't because of me but because you were in pain. If you can believe me Annabeth, I loved you as my daughter. I still do. And I'm… I'm… oh lord above, I'm scared of the day when you're gone from us."

Biting my lip, I glanced back at the window again. "I believe it."

Because no matter what I did to Helen, she always tried. She'd do my hair. She'd take care of me when I was sick. She took me shopping for school supplies, and with our six years together she never missed a school play or science fair.

Maybe that's why I felt guilty about pushing her away most of all. Because no matter what I did, she never cut me out or turned into the villainous stepmother I wanted her to be. Her love was unconditional.

And maybe I relied on that. Maybe that's why it cut me so deep when they left. Because secretly, deep deep down I was relying on Helen's patience, on her kindness, on her love. Little eleven year old me, hiding from my grief and getting by on Helen's constant care. Even though I convinced myself that I didn't need her, I still looked for her in a crowd, I still searched for her gaze in the dark rows in the audience. I needed to know she was watching over me.

Somebody had to.

"I should start dinner." Helen sighed, wiping her eyes. "No need to fill your entire day with tears, hhmm?"

She was walking towards the door and that welt in my gut was consuming me. Clawing at my throat. Constricting my lungs into tight wheezy breaths.

Let her go. You only hurt her.

She was nearing the threshold. Her short brown hair bobbing with the movements. Her hands clasped in front of her.

She's not your mom.

She was almost through. Almost gone. Almost far enough away from me to be free.

Why would you torment her more with your problems?

But this time, I defeated the goblin.

"Helen," I said. Weakly. Desperately. With a quiver in my lip that marred my call with frailty.

Tears poured over my eyes. That telltale ache expanded in my throat. Shakily, I took a step forward as Helen wheeled around at me. I felt pathetic and open and exposed. I felt seven again, but this time I wasn't hiding in a closet telling myself not to cry. I let myself cry. "Can I have a hug?"

In four steps, Helen had crossed the room and pulled me into a tight everlasting embrace. If you have a mom, you know the kind. I could tell she was crying too, but she didn't say anything as she petted my hair. She smelled like mint toothpaste and fabric softener and the kind of comfort I'd all but forgotten. She felt warm and secure and protective.

That welt in my gut felt unbearable. Boiling, burning, scalding me from the inside out. My mind was scattering and stretching towards the future. The tiny scrap of future that was running thinner and thinner by the day.

"I'm scared." I finally whispered the haunting secret that had plagued me since the hospital. Gripping her tighter I buried my head in her shoulder. "Mom, I'm scared. I'm so scared."

"Oh honey," Helen gasped. "I know, sweetheart. I know."

It was enough. I didn't need to say anything more than that. I just needed to be listened to. I needed to be held again. I needed her and this time I was admitting it, and this time she was here.

This time we got it right.

.oOo.

I wish I had more to write here. I wish I went on some breathtaking, amazing adventures in my last few months of life. But things aren't like the movies or books we read, are they? Adventures take planning and time. Neither of those things I owned anymore. My only focus was on graduation. My last big event before I faded out of the world like a morning glory in the afternoon.

Walking across the stage was the most bittersweet moment in my life. It marked my achievement, my promise to myself and the torch I still held for my mother. I had beaten my dyslexia enough to not only graduate but to be an honors student, and a valedictorian candidate. I'd proven myself to myself.

But where that stage was a take off point for my fellow classmates, it was my landing pad. My last hurrah and a reminder that that was only as far as I would ever get. My life was over. The thin delicate paper that marked my milestone was useless.

I tried not to think about it as I watched my peers celebrate. Everyone was in high spirits and eager to leave Goode High behind.

Piper would be heading north to Queens University. Jason was going to Harvard and starting an apprenticeship at his Dad's company. Frank was staying in town to go to a local community college and Hazel was taking a gap year to find what she wanted to do. Leo was jumping straight from highschool to some special NASA program for smart kids. Grover had found a local university because he wanted to be close to his new girlfriend (and his mother).

And Percy? I knew he was going to NYU on a swimming scholarship. He wouldn't talk about it. Not with me at least.

Rachel thought I was going to Yale so that's where she was headed.

After the ceremony (where my brothers screamed themselves until they lost their voices), Percy's family came over to celebrate. A surprisingly good mix of people.

My brothers are apparently good with babies and kept trying to outdo each other in making Stella laugh. Helen and Sally were a reader and writer alike so they instantly had an entire library of conversation topics. And my Dad and Paul were a historian and a passionate english teacher so they got along like coffee and donuts.

With everyone paired up, that left me alone with Percy. Sally gave a blind eye when we disappeared to go upstairs and hide in my little closet bedroom.

"You're bonding next week," I said quietly from the mattress.

Percy was sitting semi behind me, my back to his chest. His arm was looped around my shoulders. Occupying himself by playing with my fingers. He didn't say anything to my reminder but I could tell it was weighing heavy on his mind. All afternoon he'd been abnormally quiet.

"Rachel dragged me all over the mall the other day to buy a new outfit." I chortled, empty. "Don't be surprised when she gives you an engraved watch to mark the occasion."

He stopped his mindless playing with my hand. Hovering, his fingers grazed up my knuckles, past my wrist, up my forearm and bicep. Leaving a trail of goosebumps. Gently, he pulled my hair away from my neck and hugged me tightly by my waist. Without warning, he placed a loving kiss right below my jaw.

"Annabeth," he whispered against my skin. I shivered. "I don't know if I can do this."

"Wha-?"

He clenched me tighter to him. "I can't do this Annabeth. I can't. I can't just let you go."

Second thoughts. I should've been prepared for this, but I wasn't. It hit me like a dump truck. Shocked, I tried to twist around and face Percy but he held me firm. He knew if I looked him in the eye he'd slowly crumble and give in. The last thing he wanted to do was give in.

"But… but you said-"

"I was wrong."

"So… you're not going to do it? You're just going to let her die broken-hearted? All because you felt like you couldn't live without me?"

He didn't say anything.

I shook my head with a heavy sigh. "Alright, fine. Kiss me."

"What?!"

"You heard me. Kiss me. Let's bond." I repeated with a straight face.

Percy went rigid. I could feel his breathing pick up pace as I turned to face him. My expression was stony and empty as I stared him down, our features lined up.

"Well?" I asked.

Scattered, he glanced at my lips, then into my eyes, then down at my body as if he couldn't stare at anything on my face. His hands found the curve of my waist and he held me there. But he didn't make a move forward, he didn't even try to kiss me. It was as if he was holding me to keep me at a distance.

I pushed some of his hair away from his forehead softly. "See? You can't bond with me either. Because you can't hurt Rachel like that, and you can't hurt me like that. You're too kind to hold onto what you want Percy. And… I hate that I can take advantage of that but-"

"No. Don't you dare." Percy crushed me into him a second time. "You're not blaming yourself on my behalf, not now."

I nuzzled into his neck and kissed him lightly a few times. "You need to remember that I'm going to die in love, while being loved. That's more than Rachel has right now. I can't imagine the pain of being cursed to die by the person you love the most. I'm glad she'll never have to feel it."

Percy took a shuddering breath. "You don't need to keep selling it. I'll do whatever you ask of me."

"I know," I sighed. Tracing my finger over his jaw, I admired his handsome face. "I love you for it. You keep saying that I'm selfless for doing this but… you're just as selfless Percy. For doing this for me? You're a-"

"Don't." He turned his head away from me. "Just don't. Ninety percent of the time I feel like a complete nincompoop for even agreeing to let you go in the first place."

Instead of making him uncomfortable, I leaned back and stared up at the twinkle lights. "Ninety percent of the time I feel like a moron because I'm willing to leave you."

Percy snorted softly. "So that ten percent holding us in place is just that strong, huh?"

Shaking my head, I reached out to tenderly cup his face again. "That ten percent is Rachel Elizabeth Dare and she is a force that even mother nature bends to."

.oOo.

Percy and Rachel bonded on a Saturday. A gorgeous evening and a beautiful sunset. I remember lying in the park a few blocks away from Goode High, waiting for him. Breathing in the intoxicating scent of the lilac trees in full bloom.

Have you ever seen purple blossoms dusted silver in moonlight? It's breathtaking. I highly recommend it. With the pain in my chest and my sudden new weakness, I was only focusing on the trees, on the sky, on the moon. I couldn't let the fear overtake me. Not yet.

My night had been full of chaos before then so I was glad for the silence and lullaby hush of the wind through the trees.

Neil had me hooked up to all the machines. Eager to track every change that my body went through in the anticipated moment. Helen came and sat with me. My father read a book on the same sofa I was on. And we waited.

I wish I could say I didn't feel anything. That the night passed over me without leaving a scratch. But of course when the magic controlling your life tightens the noose around your neck, you're going to feel it.

It was like I was displaced from my own body for a moment. The pain forced my soul out through my mouth and ravaged every nerve, every bone and every muscle. When I came back to my senses, I was shrieking. My voice carried down to the hall and echoed back at me. Such a violent sound of agony that it haunted my own ears.

Helen was gripping one of my arms, my dad was gripping the other to keep me from thrashing. Neil was violently punching buttons into a machine.

As all the feelings blurred away from my grasp, I fell into a brief darkness.

Afterwards, everything ached. My soul felt empty, my eyes had trouble focusing as if reality was already shifting away from my grasp.

My Dad and Helen begged me not to leave, but I'd promised to meet Percy at that park. Neil drove me in complete silence. His thoughts were probably surrounding the mayhem he had studied just an hour before. Or maybe he felt sorry for me, I don't know.

Percy was late. I didn't mind. It gave me time to sit in the grass, wet with the start of dew, and readjust to this new self I was experiencing. This hollow human I had become. Full of a desperate pain I couldn't feel in any one body part but all at the same time.

How I saw the world had shifted too. Suddenly the place I was sitting wasn't just the field, it was where I ran from Percy and his friends the day after getting my first heart. The stream running nearby? It was where I sat and cried by the water then where I watched my soulmate vent at his friends about me.

It was as if every place around me was no longer a potential, but a little holder for a memory. Because that's what I was reduced to. Memories.

Potential is for those who live.

Thankfully, before my thoughts could drift to the dark side, my phone started ringing. Chiquitita.

"Hey," I practically whispered.

"Oh did I just wake you up?!" Rachel sounded so bright and chirpy. So alive.

"Nah." I ripped out a few blades of grass and let the breeze carry them away from my fingers. "So… how was it? Was it everything you ever wanted?"

She gasped out a little happy wheeze. Ecstatic, dreamy, wonderstruck. I didn't even need to hear her answer anymore. Her voice pulled at the melancholy in my chest and surfaced a smile on my lips.

"Oh Annabeth, everything and more. I can't believe I'm bonded! I feel like such an old lady now."

Me too.

"And it was such a magical first kiss. I don't know how it can ever be topped. Just thinking about it- heaven's my cheeks are burning." Rachel was giggling.

But can't you see that it was all fake? Percy sucks at acting. How are you so easily fooled?

I guess love really is blind.

"Did you give him the watch?" I asked.

"Yes. He loved it."

Percy didn't wear a watch. Couldn't remember to put it back on after showers. Sometimes he couldn't remember to take them off before showers and killed a few that way. I knew he didn't love the watch, but I was glad Rachel thought he did.

"I feel so free right now. I feel so happy." I could hear the grin on her voice. "Do you know how close Yale is to NYU? An hour and thirty minute drive. It's not such a long distance. We all could hang out together on the weekends! Either us two can go visit Percy or he can come visit us. Oh Annabeth, it's going to be so great!"

"I'm sure it will be." I chortled. Her happiness really was infectious. It was soothing too.

I made the right decision. I knew I did.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a silhouette approach. Percy came out of the darkness and looked down on my figure sadly. His eyes were bloodshot and hollow, his jaw was tense, his lips were pursed. He plopped down next to me in the grass without a sound.

"Annabeth, I really have to thank you," Rachel said quietly over the line.

I blinked. "What for?"

"Well… you mean so much to me. I don't know how I could've handled this year if you'd refused to get along with Percy. You opened your mind to him because I asked and that… that just made my whole senior year, y'know?"

I bit the corner of my lip. "I know."

"Mmmmh, It's late but I kinda want to hang out now. Watch some old movies, eat junk food-"

"Talk about your bonding face to face?" I knew Rachel too well.

Percy was still tense beside me. I could feel his presence like a swarm of threatening bees. Before I'd felt so at home sitting next to him. Now I felt disjointed.

"Maaayybe," she laughed. "So I should come over?"

"Oh…" A flutter of panic hiccuped up my throat. "I don't know. I mean… with Helen and the boys around now… I think we might disturb them?"

"Oh… yeah… Well, I guess we both kind of got families this year, huh?"

Those words hurt my soul.

"Yeah… I guess we did."

"I'll come over tomorrow. Be ready for snack-plosion, the revenge of the snacks." She laughed.

"I'll ready my mouth." I promised.

"G'night?"

"Night."

With a quiet little beep, our call ended. I let my phone fall to the spongy earth and looked up at the empty black sky. Too much light pollution for stars within the city limits. (Not that I couldn't make my own.)

"So…" I said.

I was scared to reach out and touch him. For some reason, the side of my body he lay closest to was layered in shivering goosebumps. I was having a physical reaction to him. Almost allergic even.

"So…" Percy repeated back to me. Hollow.

"Did it take more than one-"

"One try," Percy muttered. "I made sure it would be one. I don't think I could've… I could've… done that twice to her."

I tried for a smile. "Pffft. You sound like a little boy that's scared she had cooties. Scared of saying the word 'kiss' like a third grader too."

"It wasn't a kiss." Percy scoffed. "Kisses are acts of love not… awkward face connections so that somebody doesn't die."

"You have a real way with words, you know that?"

"You have called me a caveman on multiple occasions for my 'lack of communication skills'. Make up your mind, Wisegirl. Either I have words or I don't."

I shrugged, giving him a playful smile. "You have weird words. Your lexicon is like monkey poop after a chimp got loose in a seafood and candy store."

"Wait, your point here is I'm the one with a way with words?" Percy's smile weakly found a way back to his face. Dimples and all.

My heart did a little twirl. I was suppressing the urge to reach out and grab his hand. Percy didn't feel it, but there was suddenly an invisible barrier between us. He was Rachel's bonded. Off limit territory for me, the cursed.

"Let's just say we're vocal matches," I laughed off.

"We're more than vocal matches."

Soulmates.

And just like that, the airy topic was gone. It had been nice to pretend like nothing was truly wrong for a short second, but it couldn't last. Not with my world slowly falling apart while all I could do was watch.

"So… two weeks from now. Big day…" I said quietly.

Percy grabbed my hand, and a shock slithered up my arm. Not a good shock, not the usual warm one. It was cold and prickly, like I had a million needles draining the blood out of my arm.

"You're scared," he said. "Aren't you."

Despite the pain, I squeezed his hand back. "I'm terrified."

"Annabeth… this is crazy."

"I know."

"This is the worst."

"I know."

"This is going to completely destroy me."

"... I know."

Percy was looking at me. I could feel his gaze, examining the side of my face as I looked for shapes in the orange clouds painted against the night.

"If you need anything, anything Annabeth, just ask me. Okay?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'll give you a list of undesirables and a lead pipe. Will that work for you?"

"Only if I'm supposed to destroy their cars in a firework show."

"Naturally."

Before I could say anything else, Percy rolled over top of me. My view of the sky disappeared behind his green eyes and black hair. A look about him made my heart plummet through my ribcage and twirl back up again.

Or maybe it was his closeness.

With my skin jumping, he leaned in and kissed me. A proper kiss on the lips. Holding himself up with one hand and cupping my face with the other. Soft and passionate.

It was like fire.

A fire made of darkness. Scorching my insides, boiling my bones, stripping away my muscle one tendon at a time. That desperate welt in my gut expanded with the chaos I was suddenly experiencing.

If before I had a fire of rose, I then had a dark star. A black hole. Sucking me dry, pulling me apart. Freezing me and scalding me at the same time. But I didn't care. I cradled Percy's face and kissed him back. Shoving aside the feeling of razors slicing my stomach to ribbons, shoving aside the slow dizziness that was claiming me, shoving aside the liquid lava in my tight lungs.

When he broke away for a second, the gasp of cold night air was a flush of painkillers but it evaporated quickly. Clenching his shirt, I held him closer. Intent on holding on, on kissing him more, on giving him one last memory with me but a violent surge rushed up to my throat. I barely had time to shove Percy off of me before I was vomiting into the grass.

"Annabeth?!"

Not blood. I could only taste the bile stinging my nose. Trembling, I retched again and watching as the foamy contents of my stomach settled in the grass. A pile of black shiny things glinted back at me. Like a pile of beetles or smooth river rocks, inkier than the pupil of an eye.

Soulmate hearts, I realized. My soulmate hearts, devoid of stars. Hopeless night.

"Annabeth!"

I don't know what Percy saw in my face but it couldn't be good. I felt weaker, lost. Empty almost. Under the light from the streetlamp by the skate park, I could see the paleness of my fingers splayed in the grass. I could count the veins webbed on the back of my hand. Where the pain once ravaged my body, it ached more terribly than before.

Where Percy touched me, my skin felt like it was splitting.

Groaning, I momentarily saw Neil running over the grass towards us before I tipped forward.

My face never met the grass. I was lost in a deep and painless sleep.

.oOo.

Throbbing skull, dry mouth, sensitivity to light and sound. I felt hungover.

Thankfully I was all swaddled up in my bed at home. Darkness surrounded me and the only crack of light came stretching from under my door. I wasn't upset to be in my canopy bed instead of my little closet, I found. In fact, I was quite comfortable where I was.

A figure sat next to me. At first, despite my squinting, I couldn't figure out who it was. But as my eyes cleared, and my senses slowly spiraled back to me it was easier to put things together.

"Sally? What happened? How long have you been here?" My throat felt like a gummy bear left under the sun. Hot and sticky.

Sally was wringing her hands softly. "Your father said you would wake up soon… he is a doctor I guess, he would know. And I'm… I'm here to say goodbye dear."

"Goodbye?!" I tried sitting up but Sally was faster. She clamped an iron hand on my shoulder and kept me deep in my sheets. "Why is this goodbye?! I'm not dead yet!"

Sally patted my arm softly. A quiet mourning in her eyes. "I know… I know. I just… I won't visit you since Percy can't."

"What do you mean Percy can't." I started to hyperventilate. "What happened to Percy?!"

"Nothing! Nothing. He's… he's managing, I guess. Dear, just let me explain a few things okay?"

I tried settling my heart but it was pulsing at new speeds in my chest. Sweat was dampening the edges of my forehead and down my back. I knew I wasn't going to like this.

"Okay."

"Tonight, Neil discovered that… well you see…" Sally took a deep shaky breath. "You can't see Percy anymore. Or even hear from him. Being around him makes you deteriorate twice as fast now. Neil said that based on the condition he found you in… it would only take a couple of hours being near him to…"

She couldn't say it all. Tears poured over the corners of her eyes. She held a shaking fist to her mouth as if keeping what words came in next would protect me from what was to come.

"No." I said as the meaning sank in. "No! I don't care! I don't care! Tell him I don't care! It's only two weeks!"

Sally shook her head, a tightness in her shoulders. "Percy… wanted me to tell you that this is what he can give you. By keeping away he can give you more time."

A sob was forming in my chest, fueling the heat in my eyes. "I don't want more time."

"I… I'm sorry Annabeth. I know my boy. He's not going to back down," Sally whimpered. "So I'm here to say goodbye. And… and to give you this."

She held out a book. A simple blue cover with gold scrawl lettering over its face. I already knew where this was going, I didn't want to accept her gift of her newly published book (although, deep down I was happy for her). I wanted to convince her to take me to Percy. To let me see him if only for a few hours, and if only it was the last time.

We couldn't part like this.

It wasn't supposed to happen like this.

"Open it," Sally whispered.

I did. At first, my eyes wouldn't focus. Then the lighting was screwing with the words on the page. But I could at least recognize the length and build of my own name sitting square center on one of the first pages.

Her first book was dedicated to me.

"You have been such a positive force in my life," Sally said through the tears. "You have completely… transformed my family. You became one of us. You helped us grow. I know we're not perfect, but we aren't where we were because of you."

"Sally…"

"You are going to be in my heart for the rest of my life," she cried.

It's times like these that I'm afraid of being cheesy. But I guess you can't be afraid of feelings, right? You can't be afraid to express them. And this really was the end, if this was the last time I was going to see her, I needed to be frank. So this time, I sat up and I tossed my arms around her.

"You're a force in mine," I spoke into her shoulder. "I love all of you guys so much… Even Paul in his strange bumbling manners."

Sally gasped a weak laugh.

I was ready to hold onto her forever, but my Dad cracked my door open. A stethoscope in one hand, a plate of food in the other. Looking stoic as usual but with a new upwards turn in his eyebrows.

I sank back into the sheets, cradling her book to my chest. "Tell Percy I love him?"

She squeezed my hand one last time. "Of course."

"Also tell him that I'll totally haunt his ass if he does anything stupid."

"Hah, sure dear."

She kissed my forehead before she left. Once it was just me and my Dad, I didn't hide my tears.

He stood by my bedside. Silent but not cold. It was like a patient silent. He was waiting for me to speak first.

"She's a wonderful person," I sniffled.

He nodded. "I got that impression."

"She doesn't know it, but she really helped me when the triangle first struck. Just her kindness..."

"I believe it."

I wiped my palm up my nose to get rid of the tears and snot. "Is that mac and cheese?"

It was still dark in my room. Either it was mac and cheese or lumpy applesauce in a bowl. My Dad started and instantly handed over the mystery meal. It was indeed boxed mac and cheese.

"I… well I'm starting from the bottom cooking skill wise and I thought…" He bumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

Smiling softly, I looked up at him. "You're still trying to cook?"

"Just as long as people need me to." My Dad lowered himself into the chair Sally once occupied. Making old man noises the whole way down. "I'm… I'm trying to do things people need me to do before they have to ask."

I nodded approvingly. "Cooking is a good place to start with that."

"No… no. You were a good place to start with that. But I messed up. I always just thought that if you wanted something you'd come and ask. I was a terrible father."

No you weren't. That dark goblin in my chest was still alive. It was my fault.

But no. He really was a terrible father. And I didn't just have to admit that to myself. I had to admit that for the boys. They needed him, and they needed the best version of himself he could possibly be.

"You just weren't a father." I said. "That's why you were bad at it. You just never acted like you were supposed to."

His eyes fell in such a way that I felt like taking back my own words. "Doesn't that make you angry at me?"

I searched for that feeling. I guess in situations like mine, that's where I was supposed to be angry at him. Deny him my company in my last few days. But that person before me? He wasn't vicious, he wasn't purposeful. He was just ignorant of the people around him. Ignorant that he was supposed to tell me about his divorce to my mom, that he was supposed to seek me out and find out what troubled me because I didn't know how to as a child, that he was supposed to do more than put a roof over my head and food on the table.

I could be angry at that ignorance. It was my right to be.

But I guess I'd grown up because I felt like I wasn't looking at my Dad anymore. I was just looking at a human. A human person who had an entire past I didn't know about, who was formed under circumstances which were before my time. Yeah, he sucked but there was no use at getting angry. Not if I could spark change.

"What do you do when you don't know a subject?" I asked instead of answering his question.

He seemed to falter. "Study it?"

"Exactly." I took a bite of my macaroni. It was undercooked. "Buy a book on parenthood. Study it. Don't mess up the boys."

He blinked. Twisting his stethoscope between his big hands. "Is that… is that you saying you're not mad at me?"

I shrugged, still wiping the remaining tears off my face. "I bet if you read a parenting book you'd be able to tell."

.oOo.

It took me three days to turn into a banshee looking creature. My pale skin was pulled tight over my face, and hollow eyes. The bones in my elbows, knees and ankles became quite prevalent no matter how much I ate and dark crescents were a constant.

The boys didn't talk with me much at that time. Instead, they dragged in a large TV from one of the guest rooms and watched cartoons with me on my bed. (Gravity Falls was my favorite because the villain was also a triangle.) I think they were a little numb from the shock of my deteriorating state.

Rachel called me nonstop. It broke my heart. She was getting harder and harder to keep away. I told her I had the flu and that I couldn't see her unless she wanted to get sick. When she still insisted, Helen took over the line and pretended to be a wicked stepmother who was barring me from seeing anyone until I was better to 'stop the spread of germs like a well adapted member of society'. Thank goodness all Rachel did was call her a few unpleasant names instead of barging over.

I didn't anticipate how much I would miss Percy. Neil had confiscated all of his hearts from me, so I didn't even have a scrap of him to hold. For a while, I did sulk, but quickly found that writing letters to him for future events soothed that ache a little. I hoped he liked the first one where I called him a stinky-two-faced-gremlin-child for being honorable and selfless and leaving me to create more time with my family and friends.

The gang of crazies I had formed during my time in a triangle visited me every night. I still had the energy to get up and walk around, so we'd usually sit in the basement and talk about random things. Grover had been adopted among them I'm glad to say.

"I just want this to be over," I admitted to Frank. "I'm tired of waiting. I'm tired of being scared. I just want to be dead, I want my funeral to be over and I want everyone to be over their grief."

Frank shook his head. "After the funeral is where it will be the hardest for us. Because that's the first day of the rest of our lives without you."

When the one week mark hit, I couldn't move from my bed. My legs were shaky and unreliable. My knees gave out without warning. Moving made my breathing labored and sweat would wrap my shirt to my body from just making a trip downstairs. I was officially confined to my room.

Despite my lack of mobility, I caught my Dad crying six times in one day. He spent what time he could in my room without choking up and we talked about useless things. The shape of wombat poop, characters with crow canes, a strange attachment I had as a child to plush manatees named Barbara. Normal useless stuff. It felt good to just talk to him.

On the following Monday, I had made up my mind about something. Something everyone wasn't going to like. Rachel had still been calling me nonstop, I hadn't answered any of her calls. I was starting to get traumatized by the skeletal person who stared back at me through the mirror.

I didn't want to be seen anymore. Or heard.

"So you guys have to take her away for the last three days of the week." I finished up the game plan. Sitting up with a million pillows propped behind my back. Six pairs of eyes stared back at me. Jason, Frank, Piper, Hazel, Leo and Grover. "It'll take one day to get there, one day to get back."

Clutched in their hands were the tickets I gave them. Tickets to a lanterns festival being held nine hours away. I had bought and printed them with Helen's help that afternoon.

"Hopefully… hopefully I'll be gone by the time you guys get back."

Piper was gritting her teeth. I could tell she was fighting a look of pain but her eyes still held an undeniable shine. "But… but by distracting Rachel, we won't be here."

"I know." I folded my hands in my lap. "And honestly I think that may be for the best. I don't want you guys to remember me like this. And in the next few days things are only going to get so much worse."

"We don't care." Hazel's voice was no louder than a mouse but her words were potent.

"But I do." I gripped my fists. "I don't want you guys to see…"

The grosser side of death. How long was it before I couldn't go to the bathroom on my own? How long before I couldn't swallow things properly, and food mush spilled out the sides of my mouth? How long before they could see the veins stringing up my arms? The shape of my bones?

It wasn't going to be pretty and the least I could do was spare them from that spectacle.

"I'll just… I'll feel so much better if I know you're all with Rachel and she's having a good time when I go. Can you guys do this for me?"

"Yes," Frank said quietly, solemnly and with a sorrowful twist in his eyebrows. "We'll do it."

The others wouldn't look at me. All they had left with me was time and suddenly I was taking that away from them.

No. I'm not taking anything from them. I'm just laying out my last wishes.

I hadn't really gotten far on that 'not guilty' thing. But what could you expect? Change is hard. Change under pressure is even harder. I wasn't going to hold myself to be a perfect human being when I died so I'd mostly given up. I, Annabeth Chase, just so happened to guilt myself my whole life. That was a fact I had come to peace with.

As we sat in silence I heard a buzz of noise from downstairs. A scramble of footsteps, someone was yelling. Interested, we all looked between each other. Wondering what was going on.

"The twins?" I suggested.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare rammed into my room a second later. Cussing like a pirate and stumbling from throwing her shoulder too hard against the wood of the door.

Percy was right behind her, clawing for her arm but only grasping air. He halted just shy of the door frame, and when our eyes met my entire body started stinging.

"Why haven't you been answering my calls?!" Rachel scoffed, wiping dust from her jeans. "And your stepmom can go STRAIGHT back to the UK, she's a total bitch."

Cold. That's what I felt. A numb sort of cold that started from the back of my neck and reached down to my tail bone.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

Rachel still hadn't looked at me head on. Instead she glanced at each one of my guests positioned around my room, her lips twisted down slightly. "So they can visit you but I can't? What are you guys doing here?"

Percy hovered by the door. Tears were shining in his eyes as he stared at me. I tried not to look like I was drinking in his presence but after missing him for a miserable week it was hard not to lock onto him.

Dejectedly, he backed away and stood in the hall out of sight. I could feel his presence, lingering just beyond view but not out of earshot.

"We came to invite Annabeth to a lantern festival next week. Wanna come?" Bless Piper Mclean and her ability to lie.

Leo abruptly stood from his chair. "Yeah, it's going to be a blast. Wanna talk about it in the Great Below with a bowl of ice cream?"

Rachel's expression was still grim but not guarded. "Just a minute, I need to talk to Annabeth about something."

"It can wait, right?" Hazel took her hand softly. "I'm dying for some ice cream right now."

"No, I-"

"Hey, we could also watch a movie. We have never used the great mini movie theater they have." Jason added helpfully.

"But-"

"I could go for some ice cream." Grover was almost shaking.

"Could you guys just stop it for one second?!" Rachel snapped, pushing them away from her. "First Percy was lying all day and now you guys are acting weird. Annabeth, what the hell is going… on."

There. She looked at me. Head on.

And finally, finally, she saw. She saw the jut of my cheek bones and collarbone, she saw my pasty complexion that was turning yellower each day, she saw my hollow eyes and dark circles and cracked lips and weak gaze.

When her expression blanked to shock, I felt like turning into a pillar of salt and blowing away. I felt number than before.

"What happened to you?" she hissed softly.

Everyone stood back. They'd tried, but this was my battle now.

"I got the flu," I said. But my heart wasn't in it. I couldn't lie like Piper.

"Spanish flu I'd believe." Rachel floated forward to my beside, her eyes raked over me again and again. Why did she have to look so hurt? "The bubonic plague I'd believe. But this is not the flu. So what the hell happened to you and are you going to be okay or should I be flipping out right now."

I tried for a smile. "You're so dramatic. I'll be fine. What did you want to talk about?"

Coldly, Rachel held up Percy's phone. With a simple click, she was in it and punched the photos app. Quietly, she laid the problem before me. An album of pictures, all of me. Some I was posing for, but most were when I was caught off guard.

Staring over the side of the yacht in greece, sitting by the fire in the Blofis house on Christmas, laughing with Sally by the kitchen counter, sitting in class with a stream of sunlight hitting my hair, curled up watching a movie with Rachel, sitting at my kitchen counter as I went over my notes. If a stranger had been going through his phone, they would've guessed that I was his girlfriend.

Which was why, I guess, Rachel was looking so severe. Or maybe it was me instead. Maybe she came in a huff because she wanted to talk about Percy's photos of me, but my appearance had suddenly taken priority in her eyes.

My theory was confirmed when her gaze slid down the base of my bed. My trunk. My hearts filled with stars. For a moment I thought she'd dropped the idea but then she turned around to glance through the crowd towards the door. Towards Percy.

"Rachel-" I tried reaching out to her but she was already moving down the end of my bed. "Rachel, don't."

But I don't think she even heard me. Like a phantom she drifted in front of the chest and stared at it for a few seconds. A quickness in her breath made her chest rise and fall like a rodent hiding from a fox.

Then she bent to her knees and twisted in the combination.

No. I didn't tell her it. But she just knew. She's my best friend. And of course I'd put the date of my mothers death to guard my deepest secret. Of course she'd know that.

When I heard the sharp click of the lock, I gave up. I was tired of hiding, I was tired of fighting. And if Rachel knew, that meant one thing: I would get to say goodbye to her. I wouldn't have to hide before I died. I'd be able to hug her one last time. Tell her that I was sorry.

The shine of my hearts hit her face, they glowed in her eyes. Still her expression stayed neutral, vacant. As if she refused to believe what was before her.

Suddenly her gaze flicked up to me in a fury, an agony, a betrayal, a loss. Our friends parted for her as she gracefully flowed to the door on light easy steps. Stepping just outside to the hallway, where she could face Percy but also keep me in her side view.

"You knew," she croaked. "You knew and you didn't tell me."

"Annabeth told me not to," Percy said thickly. "I tried to keep you from here I-"

"AND THAT WAS A GOOD ENOUGH REASON!?" she raged suddenly. Tears raced down her cheeks, her face was inflamed with red. "SHE JUST TOLD YOU NOT TO TELL YOUR GIRLFRIEND AND YOU WERE FINE WITH IT?!"

"Dont!" I tried to get out of the bed but Hazel caught me and held me where I was. "Don't yell at him, Rachel. Please don't yell at him!"

Rachel's eyes snapped back to me. Holding a manic unhinged stare that chilled me straight to the bone. "You're going to DEFEND HIM? AFTER LETTING THIS HAPPEN TO YOU?! AFTER HE-"

"Rachel!" Piper held up her hands to her. An act of surrender. "It wasn't just Percy…"

Rachel stumbled back. Her eyes wide, a hand sprawled across her chest as if her heart was about to break free.

"All of you?" her voice cracked. "Grover?!"

Grover was already crying. Close to sobbing. Shaking his head as if he couldn't afford to give her an answer worth hearing.

"Rachel." I was swallowing the heat in my neck. I was trying to keep my eyes from swimming. "Rachel, don't blame them. It was all me. Blame me. I made them keep it a secret."

"You can't make anyone do anything!" She gulped a quick breath and crossed her arms over her body. Panicked. "I SHOULD'VE KNOWN!"

Slowly she fell in on herself. Trembling, staring at nothing, grappling with the truth. Only a spectacle now as the others tried and failed to come up with useful things to say.

"Rachel-" Percy fell into the room. Stealing glances at me every two seconds. "Rachel. You need to calm down. Annabeth needs-"

"YOU." she wheeled around at him. Rage darkened her eyes to a skin crawling shade. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!"

"Annabeth told me not to-"
"BULLSHIT! DID SHE MEAN SO LITTLE TO YOU THAT YOU JUST DIDN'T CARE TO MENTION SHE WAS IN A TRIANGLE WITH US?! I THOUGHT YOU TWO WERE FRIENDS! I THOUGHT YOU'D BE HONEST WITH ME FOR HER SAKE AT LEAST!"

"Rachel-" Percy's jaw was quivering. My insides hurt. Tears burned my cheeks.

"IF YOU WANTED TO PICK ME THE LEAST YOU COULD'VE DONE WAS TELL ME THAT I WAS BEING PICKED AND THAT YOUR ACTIONS WOULD CALLOUSLY MURDER MY BEST FRIEND-!"

"I DIDN'T WANT TO PICK YOU!" Percy finally broke.

His words ended everything. Rachel was verbally punched into a stunned silence. The gang stood in a mournful quiet. Grover was still weeping.

Percy's eyes slipped closed, a dribble of tears leaked out the corners. Exhausted, he released his fists.

"How would you feel," he said softly. "If the love of your life, your everything, asked you to let them go and to keep their cause of death a secret? Wouldn't you do anything for them?"

Rachel coughed a huge exhale, winded. Despairingly, she searched Percy with her eyes, her mouth open and her lips trembling. She shook her head. "I don't know… You've never asked anything like that from me."

Then she fled. Running from my room, thundering down the stairs. I even heard the front door slam behind her. Percy gave me one last forlorn look.

'I love you' he mouthed.

'I love you too'. It was hard to see from all the tears but I caught his pressed smile.

He disappeared behind the door. To chase after Rachel I presume.

His bonded.

.oOo.

"I'm so sorry," Piper was shaking her head. "I tried to get through to her but…"

"It's okay." It wasn't okay. "I'll just write her a letter."

Piper's eyes were watering. Her lips were pursed into a tight white line. Over the facetime call, she looked twice as heart achy. I wished I'd never asked her to go talk to Rachel.

"She's in a dark place," she whispered. "Her house… her parents must be gone because everything is coated in paint."
"Paint?"

"Murals, pictures. Painted images are all over the walls and floors and ceiling. She's really good too. Her entire house is almost full of them. I bet she hasn't stopped painting since she learned about the triangle."

My heart hurt. "Does she look physically okay?"

"Not really. She hasn't slept or eaten since two days ago." Piper moistened her lips. Her eyes drifted away from the phone, away from me. "I… probably didn't help. I kind of had a yelling match with her."

"I…" I couldn't talk. I felt like the world was bearing into me, eating me slowly. I couldn't take all of this. "I'll just write her a letter. Don't worry about it."

"Annabeth, I'm so-" Piper's voice cracked. She lowered the phone away from her face, but not before I could catch her wiping at her eyes. When she lifted the phone again, she caught my sympathy and furrowed her eyebrows. "No. I won't cry. I'm good."

I bit the corner of my lips. "You mean you won't cry around me."

Piper was silent. We didn't have much to talk about anymore anyways. Talking about the future is for those who are going to live to see it, and almost everything present revolves around the future.

"I saw you in Greece, right outside the Hotel." I spoke softly. "I know you're trying to hide your pain from me but you don't have to."

Piper shook her head. "I have the rest of my life to be sad. I'll be sad then."

I guess she was right. I was grateful for Percy for being open with me about how he felt, but watching Piper through the screen, I realized that I was also grateful for the brave face she was putting on. She was pushing off her own feelings for me, so I wouldn't feel like I'd need to help her.

"I gotta go." Holding up the phone for so long was tiring. "Say hi to Hazel for me, okay?"

Piper fabricated a smile. "Tell her yourself the next time we facetime."

I didn't know if there was going to be another call. They left for the lantern festival tomorrow. Instead of feeding her doubt, I smiled back.

"Of course."

I poked the red button and a sharp click ended our call. Tired, I dropped my hand back to my side and stared up at the canopy of my bed.

My room no longer felt too big, I realized. I'd been dying in that bed for a week and a half already, and I wasn't itching to get back into the closet yet. I couldn't even remember the last time I'd been in my closet.

"Annabeth?" a small voice asked by the door.

Matthew was standing there. Clutching a collection of crumpled printer paper in his hands. A daunted look in his eyes.

"Can I come in?"

I shifted over and patted the mattress next to me. Easily he slid in beside me and pretzeled his legs. He smelled like outside. Grass clippings, dirt, and sweat from being under the sun.

"I made you a book," he said, presenting me with the pencil crayon and sharpie mess. "Bobby and I thought about all the greatest things we did together with you when we were little- well, littler. And we put it in a book."

I was the stick figure with the yellow pencil crayon hair and I was on the cover. A big honor if you ask me. I ran my fingers over the spine of staples and felt my heart melt.

Matthew peeled back the first page. "This is when we went to that fair and you won us a big stuffie. This one was when we had a picnic in the backyard and you made us the sandwiches. Oh, and here was that time Bobby accidentally fell down the stairs and you fell down too to show him that it didn't hurt that much."

I squinted at each poor illustration. "You remember all of that?"

"Well… yeah." Matthew shrugged. "I remember everything we used to do. Don't tell Bobby, but you were my favorite sibling… kinda still are sometimes."

I chuckled as I flipped through the rest of the pages. Most of the things there I hadn't remembered, or probably couldn't've remembered on my own. I thought of my younger self as a demon, but in this book it was clear I wasn't terrible to Bobby and Matthew.

"Where is Bobby?" I set down the 'book'.

Matthew scratched the back of his head. "Hiding in the bathroom? He's… he just doesn't wanna talk to you right now. I told him he was being a noob but he still won't come out."

"Ha, he's like Dad then," I wheezed a laugh. "It's a good thing he has you."

Matthew nodded slowly. He wouldn't look at me. When I reached for his shoulder, I finally saw the tear on his cheek.

"Hey-"

"You're never really gone right? Mom says that if we keep you in our hearts then you're never really gone." I'd seen him cry as a tiny kid. Over a scraped knee or broken toy. This was different. This was the mature tears. Understanding tears. The kind that burned harder and lingered longer.

"That." I agreed softly. "And I'll probably come back to haunt you."

Matthew snorted a weak laugh and I pinched the corner of his cheek.

"You can't haunt me," he scoffed.

"I totally will. I'll possess your transformer toys and make them dance at night."

Matthew made a face, but thankfully amused now. "They're not toys! Their action figures!"

"Sure buddy."

.oOo.

At midnight, I woke up to something rolling in my bed. Bobby was laying next to me asleep. His eyes were swollen and puffy, his lips were raw from biting them. Someone so young to go through such pain. Heart heavy, I remembered crying myself to sleep in my mothers blanket when I was eight. I saw myself in the way he was clutching my bed. Desperate to hold on to anything.

I brushed his hair away from his face.

You have support. I thought with a twist in my heart. Talk to them. Please. Just talk to them. Don't be like me.

.oOo.

So.

This is it.

The part where I die. The part where I learn what area of the afterlife I've earned for myself. The part where I drift into the dead like everyone is doomed to.

It had officially been two weeks since Rachel and Percy bonded. Rachel was still locked up in her house. Percy was on his way home from the lantern festival with the others. I hoped they lit one for me.

In my room, the sun had set for a final time. I knew I wouldn't survive the night. The curtains were drawn tight, my trunk of stars had been left open allowing the mystical light to bless me one last time.

My Dad had managed to get a heart monitor and an IV drip to closely watch me. When the oxygen tanks were rolled in to help me breathe better, I knew I was in the endgame.

Neil came and went at random times. Documenting things as quickly as he could so he could stay out of my way. Bobby and Matthew were staying at a friend's house. Helen and my Dad occupied chairs by my bedside, ready for anything.

It's kind of awkward, being watched as you wither into nothing. Being forced to ask for help to do simple things like eat and go to the bathroom. Even bathing. But at that point, I was so weak, so drained, that I didn't even care. I needed the help.

Then it was just a waiting game. Every breath I took felt like it could be the last, every time I closed my eyes, the darkness seemed more welcoming. My body was a prison and I just wanted out.

When the clock hit one in the morning, I knew I wouldn't live to see two. It was only a matter of minutes now.

But before that anticipated minute could arrive, my bedroom door cracked open and there stood Rachel.

A mess. Stewing in the same clothes she had left my house in, now paint covered. Pockets of colourful dry paint clung to her hair and glued to her scalp in some places. Her eyes were heavily bagged, her lips were dry and cracked to the point of bleeding. Her sallow skin was smeared with random colours. On her cheeks sat a mini painting of stars, sliced through by her tear tracks and smudged on the edges from when she wiped. Up both of her exposed arms, she had painted jellyfish that were already starting to crack and peel away.

"Leave us," she said with a sinister anger.

"Rachel-" Helen reached out to her.

"I SAID LEAVE US!"

Warily, my parents looked at me. As per usual, I was calling all the shots. I gave them the slightest of nods and they edged around the psycho redhead and into the hall. Shutting the door behind them.

Then it was just me, Rachel and the magical light from all my soulmate hearts.

"Rach…" I couldn't sit up. I could barely speak. A suffocating thickness was pulling my throat down. I had to swallow away the feelings. But I was so tired. How could I gather the energy to get through this?

"Why?" she said blankly. "Just… why?"

"Because I love you, you dumb idiot," I rasped.

My answer seemed to knock her breathless for a couple of seconds. Distraught, she raised a trembling hand to her forehead, trying to gather her thoughts. I could see the panic she was fighting, the fear and grief. I could also see the anger there. My lies had cut her deeply.

"Rachel," I said softly, hoping to comfort her. "I don't regret anything about this. If it was between you and me I'd pick you everytime."

Tears poured over her eyes. "I wouldn't have fought it. If I knew about the triangle, if I knew Percy wanted you. I would've-"

"I know. That's... why I didn't want you to know."

The blue tinted light made her look beautiful, despite her crazy appearance. It caught against the moisture on her cheeks and lashes and illuminated her face in a portrait worthy scene.

"So this is it?" she cried. "Now you die?!"

I didn't need to answer it. She knew. I was a gaunt shell, a puppet on its final string. Just looking at me, you could tell that it wouldn't be long.

"Worth it," I said.

"What?!"

"You're… worth it." My lungs felt soupy. My tongue was slow. "You've always been my anchor, Rach. You've always been my rock. I would die a million times over for you."

She looked like she'd been shot. Devastated, she took a few staggering steps towards me, the tears overwhelming her face, before she collapsed by my bedside and buried her nose in my sheets. Sobs wracked her body, shaking her shoulders, forcing heaves into her lungs and splitting the room with her mournful cries.

"This isn't right!" She sobbed. "This isn't right! How am I supposed to live after this? How- how am I supposed to even exist without you?! Annabeth. Annabeth. Why?!"

There was nothing more I could do, nothing more I could say. So I settled my hand on the top of her head in her wooly red curls and softly I began to sing with my terrible voice.

"Chiquitita, tell me what's wrong.

You're enchained by your own sorrow."

"Anna- Annabeth, no!"

"In your eyes there is no hope for tomorrow.

How I hate to see you like this. There is no way you can deny it.

I can see that you're oh so sad, oh so quiet.

Chiquitita, tell me the truth. I'm a shoulder you can cry on.

You're best friend, I'm the one you must rely on."

It's normally such a dance inducing song, but I couldn't sing it like that. I couldn't meet the energy it required. All I could do was sing it slowly, sing it softly. Closing my eyes to allow the lyrics to fill me. Our song had never been more perfect. Gently, it lulled Rachel's heart cracking cries. Shortening her gasps of agony into long sorrowful mewls and relaxing her shuddering shoulders.

When I opened my eyes, Rachel was staring into her palm. Into the misty green of one of her soulmate hearts. Not admiring it anymore. Hating it with every fiber of her being. A sour turn in her lips.

Before I could finish the song, she tore into her back pocket and pulled out a stick of gum which she chewed with an unholy violence.

"Rach?" I croaked.

Then she spat the gum into her palm and stuck it to the floor.

I coughed in disbelief. "Rachel!"

Unceremoniously, she stuck her soulmate heart to the gum attached to the floor. When she grabbed my metal cylinder water bottle off my bedside table, I could tell where it was going.

"Rachel! Don't!"

Too late. She brought down the water bottle with a passion and split my ears with the clang of metal. Her heart didn't move, it didn't dent and thankfully it didn't break.

But Rachel wasn't done. Not yet.

"I REVOKE SOULMATES!" she shrieked. Bringing down the water bottle again. "I REVOKE ROMANCE. I REVOKE EROS."

Clang. Clang. CLANG. With every sentence she batted her smoky heart one more time. Driving fissures in the side of my water bottle and sprinkling water all over the floor.

"Rachel!" I reached out to her, but I was too weak. I couldn't do anything.

"I REVOKE BOYFRIENDS! I REVOKE PERCY FREAKING JACKSON!"

My water bottle came down in her hands and struck her soulmate heart directly at its core. A green flame exploded outwards when it shattered. Shards of glowing emerald spiraled across the room. Rachel was thrown back by the blast and crumpled to the ground. I screamed but my voice was lost to the way the air rang with a soul sucking silence. It was as sound vibrations had been banished from my room.

Desperately, I clawed my way out of my bed. With my heart thudding against my throat, I hit the floor and wiggled as hard as I could. Screaming Rachel's name over and over again but with nothing reaching the air. Glowing green smoke still lingered across the floor, smelling like Rachel and dancing in front of my eyes.

I couldn't find her pulse. Her eyes were closed, her chest was empty of breath. She was dead.

She was dead.
I screamed for my parents. For someone. Anyone. But no sound was around me, no sound was coming out of me. It was a silent torture chamber. I couldn't reach the door, I couldn't reach my phone. All I could do was clutch onto her.

In anguish I shook her body. Pouring the last of my energy into trying to wake her up. Tears scorched down my cheeks and made my mouth salty.

WAKE UP! I shook her harder. WAKE UP!

But she didn't.

The smoke around me shifted. As if it were listening to my cries, as if it were deciding on my fate.

Please. I sobbed. Please no.

The smoke responded. In a chaotic rush it flowed back to her body and filled her eyes, her nose, her mouth. Lifting her away from me, up into my room. A flash of light ignited within her. Green and powerful. Flushing her body with a burst of colour again. Lovingly, it lowered her to the ground, and completely disappeared inside of her.

Rachel stood on her own. Breathing heavily, wincing and holding her head. Open mouthed, she coughed a barking noise and just like that the silence was lifted.

"Rachel!" I clung to her ankle. "Rachel!"

Rachel wasn't focused on me. She wasn't focused on anything. Her eyes were faraway. Enchanted. As if in a dream she walked away from me and picked my phone up off my side table. I heard the beeps of her call go through. I lay there unsure on what to do.

"Piper." Rachel said smoothly. A new line of tears were on her cheeks, but was she still crying for me? "Get Percy over to Annabeth's place now. He's still with you, right? Good. Floor it bitch."

She hung up.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "What just happened?"

Calmly, Rachel came back over to me. As if I were a rag doll, she propped me up against her and hugged me close. The kind that said, she wasn't going to let me go even if she had to hook my soul to the bottom of the ocean.

"Just hang on." She was still crying. "I'm trying to fix this. So just hang on."

.oOo.

I heard the car door slam from my room. I heard Helen answer, her confusion. I heard them pound up the stairs, some two at a time. When they burst in my room, Rachel was still holding me and I scarcely had the strength to lift my head and greet them.

"What's going on?" Percy was at the front. My heart was leaping that he was here again but I was also withering up inside. I looked terrible.

Rachel put an arm under my legs, and one around my back and lifted me up. Solemnly, she crossed the room to Percy, to the others. With a gentle nudge, she placed me in his arms as if I were just a pile of leaves.

When she stepped away, I could make out the tracks on her cheeks again. Four on each side.

"Save her," she said softly.

Percy's lip shook. "Rachel… Rachel I can't. We're-"

Rachel opened Percy's hand, prying it away from my thigh. Delicately, she placed the shards of her broken soulmate heart into his palm with a sullen silence.

It took Percy a few moments to truly understand what he was looking at.

"Save her," she reiterated sharply.

Then, with a last look to me, she maneuvered around us and went out the door. Dragging the others with her. When the light of the hall disappeared, I knew we were alone. Percy's arms tightened on me, and he brought me over to the bed.

"Will this work?" he asked fearfully. Scared to hope. "Will this… can we…"

"I don't know," I breathed.

But I did know. I was fading. I could feel the warmth of something else pulling on me. Every second longer, was one I wasn't supposed to have. Even if Percy did kiss me, even if we bonded…

Well, it was worth a shot, wasn't it?

I barely had it in me to hold his face when he leaned down. Our lips met.

Everything washed away. The aches, the weakness, the fear. I was floating. I was strengthened. My chest started flying with flames. Powerful scorching ribbons of light and heat that warmed me to my very core. They blasted apart and suddenly I could feel Percy again.

Not his body, not his lips softly romancing mine, but him. Just him. All of him. His soul almost. It was like I was caught in a spiderweb of sunshine, slowly being woven together to him. One twirl more of silk and we were glued together. Unmovable. Unbreakable.

Butterflies swarmed every part of me. My mind was mush but dancing with electricity at the same time.

Finally he broke away and gasped a big breath of cold air.

"It worked," he whispered against me, ecstatic. "It worked! We're bonded!"

"We are," I hummed.

But it wasn't enough. My weakness returned, my lungs felt like two saggy balloons, my mind was empty and fading.

"Annabeth…" Percy cupped my cheek. "Annabeth? It worked right?! You're better, right?!"

That warmth, I'd felt before. My mother, I realized. She was calling me. Pulling on me. She wanted me to come home. I couldn't move my legs anymore. I couldn't lift my arms.

"I'm sorry," I barely whispered. "It's not your fault, my love."

"Annabeth… Annabeth please! Please! No!… NO! NO ANNABETH NO!"

I couldn't feel him anymore. I couldn't see him, my eyelids wouldn't open. I could only hear him crying for me, but soon that drifted away too. I was embraced, I was reeled in, I was brought home to my mom. I left my body behind.

And that's how I died for Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

Chiquitita by ABBA:

Chiquitita, tell me what's wrong

You're enchained by your own sorrow

In your eyes there is no hope for tomorrow

How I hate to see you like this

There is no way you can deny it

I can see that you're oh so sad, so quiet

Chiquitita, tell me the truth

I'm a shoulder you can cry on

Your best friend, I'm the one you must rely on

You were always sure of yourself

Now I see you've broken a feather

I hope we can patch it up together

Chiquitita, you and I know

How the heartaches come and they go and the scars they're leaving

You'll be dancing once again and the pain will end

You will have no time for grieving

Chiquitita, you and I cry

But the sun is still in the sky and shining above you

Let me hear you sing once more like you did before

Sing a new song, Chiquitita

Try once more like you did before

Sing a new song, Chiquitita

So the walls came tumbling down

And your love's a blown out candle

All is gone and it seems too hard to handle

Chiquitita, tell me the truth

There is no way you can deny it

I see that you're oh so sad, so quiet

Chiquitita, you and I know

How the heartaches come and they go and the scars they're leaving

You'll be dancing once again and the pain will end

You will have no time for grieving

Chiquitita, you and I cry

But the sun is still in the sky and shining above you

Let me hear you sing once more like you did before

Sing a new song, Chiquitita

Try once more like you did before

Sing a new song, Chiquitita

Try once more like you did before

Sing a new song, Chiquitita

The End

I'd like to take a moment to direct your attention to the title….

That's all folks.