Disclaimer : I do not own Percy Jackson, or any of the content published from Rick Riordan no anything from Ed Sheeran's Photography.

Sorry there is a bit of filler in this chapter. There is some pretty rough stuff coming up to which I think I might need to change the rating back to M. Please leave a review letting me know what constitutes M rated material in your eyes. I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks so much to those who are marking this as a favorite and to the rest of you readers out there! Read, review & enjoy!

Chapter 6

Two weeks later, Annabeth found herself walking to her apartment alone for the first time. Both Percy and Thalia were still at work and she was allowed to head home early for once. She figured this would be a good time to finish up the last minute changes to the Texas project. She had called to let them both know but all she got was the voice mail for both of them.

The hallway to her apartment was eerily silent and she knew she was causing herself to panic for no reason. She hadn't seen or heard from Luke since the last phone call, and while she knew he was planning something, he wouldn't dare show his face where so many people could hear her scream.

She attempted to get her keys out of her bag but it wasn't happening with the amount of blueprints in her hands, plus she still hadn't gotten used to the cast on her left hand. She decided it would just be easier to drop everything than it would be to try and balance things and kill her hand more as it was screaming in pain at her again. That was when she realized she was being watched.

She was about to turn around to see who was staring at her when a large body slammed into her and shoved her up against her door. A large arm wrapped around her head so that his hand could cover her mouth to muffle any noise she made to keep nosey neighbors at bay.

Annabeth tried to use the door for leverage and push him off of her but he was too strong for her. Her broken wrist was protesting as she used the tips of her fingers sticking out of the cast to push back on the door and she knew this pain was causing her to not think clearly.

"I told you that you were going to have to pay for what you did to me," Luke hissed in her ear. "This is just a little reminder that I am waiting for the right moment. Don't let your guard down Annie." A smirk ran across his face as she struggled against him. "I like it when you fight back! I am going to have to hold off a little longer though, I don't think you are quite strong enough to give it your all right now."

Annabeth was trying to scream into Luke's hand but he had so much force on her that she just couldn't make a noise. She could barely breathe as it was with his stubby fingers pushed under her nose and over her mouth. Panic was setting in quickly as she began to squirm and try and fight her way out from under his weight. Little squeaks of sound escaped her throat but they never made is past Luke's hand.

Just as suddenly as he was there, shoving her into the door he was gone. The pressure released off of her body and she instantly fell to the ground and began sucking in huge gulps of fresh air. Annabeth looked behind her and saw him glaring at her from inside the elevator. 'Don't let him see you cry,' was all she could think.

"Remember Annie, I'm watching! Ditch Jackson and come with me and all this will be over," he growled at her as the elevator doors closed.

As soon as the doors closed she allowed herself to collapse, the tears falling from her eyes in uncontrollable streams. She searched almost blindly for her keys in her bag and then quickly unlocked the door. In a fit of rage she shoved everything inside the apartment foyer and then crawled inside, not having the energy to stand. She shut the door, locked both locks and let the panic take her over.

After what felt like a lifetime to Annabeth, she finally stood. She checked her watch and realized it would still be another hour before anyone would be over to sit with her. The panic she had managed to cry off was back. She quickly ran into the living room.

"Grounding . . . I need grounding," Annabeth said she paced her floor furiously. Her breathing was quick and shallow and she was on the verge of hyperventilating. "Five things. Five things. Five things I can see." She stopped pacing for a moment and looked around the spacious room. "Books, lamp, sofa, blue prints, television," she said quietly and she started pacing again. "Four things I can touch," she said desperately to herself. She moved to the book case and touched her favorite architecture book. She then moved to the sofa and touched her favorite satin throw pillow, then on to the over-sized chair and ran her finger tips along the suede of the chair and finally across the fuzzy blanket hanging over the arm.

Annabeth could feel her heart rate slow but only slightly. She needed to continue on with the grounding for it to be fully effective. "Three things I can hear," she to the empty room. "Shit, it's too quiet in here for me to hear anything!" She forced herself to listen and the only thing she could hear was the pounding of her heart in her chest. "No, no, no!" She screamed at herself and the panic was starting to rise again. Then she heard a small click and the sound of the AC unit circulating cool air throughout her home. She walked down the hallway toward her guest bathroom and heard the sound of water dripping in the sink. 'That's two,' she thought, 'one more to go.' She then ran back down the hall to her room and listened as bubbles made their way to the top of the fish tank. "Three!"

"Now, two things I can smell!" Annabeth ran to her bathroom and sprayed her favorite perfume into the air. The light citrus scent of lemon hit her and she was able to take in a slow deep breath but it only lasted a moment. She quickly ran back out to her living room and grabbed the pillow Percy was using the night before. She inhaled deeply and caught the faintest scent of the ocean. Suddenly she needed Percy right then and there. She was panicking again. "Last one . . . something I can taste!" She ran to the kitchen and found a peppermint in the candy dish on the counter.

"This isn't working," She shouted to her empty apartment after she finished the peppermint. Suddenly she remember something her mother once told her.

Annabeth was curled up in a ball on the floor of their entertainment room. She had her knees to her chest and was rocking furiously front to back. Tears were pushing out of the corners of her eyes. Her mother had told her only moments ago that her father won sole custody of her and she was beyond devastated.

"Mom, it's not working," she cried. The panic attack felt like it was killing her. Her chest was tight and her heart felt like it was going to beat right out of her chest.

Athena Chase walked over to her daughter and sat down next to her. "Breathe baby. Just close your eyes and breathe."

Annabeth did as she was told and a moment later she was in full distraught mode. She quickly stood up shaking her head and paced the floor. Four steps forward, stop, turn, four steps forward again and repeat.

"I can't ground mom. I . . . I . . ."

Athena didn't say anything but slowly stood up. This wasn't the first time Annabeth had melted down. There were some things in this life that she couldn't handle and her mother and father getting divorced was the first thing that sent her world crashing down. The next was telling her that she would be living with her father and that she would only see her every other weekend and every other major holiday.

As Annabeth paced back in front of her, she grabbed her daughter by the elbow. "Come with me." Annabeth kept her eyes shut, trying to close out the world but she couldn't get the pain to go away.

Athena carefully guided her daughter to the piano and sat her down in the middle of the bench. She peeled her daughter's hands away from her ears and placed her hands on the keys of the baby Grand. "When you can't ground, remember that music is the key to the soul. Music will help you ground so whenever you need to, sit down and play. It doesn't matter what you play, just that you play."

Annabeth's hand sat lightly on the keys, her fingers moving slightly as if preparing to play. Annabeth sucked in a deep breath and started playing the lullaby her mother wrote for her before she was born. Halfway through the song Annabeth felt her body relax as her breathing slowly returned to normal. She felt her mother kiss her lightly on the temple and she continued to play.

Annabeth ran back to her room and practically dove into her walk in closet. She made a beeline for the very back and fell to the floor. There in the back corner tucked behind a suit case was her Daisy Rock. She quickly knocked the suit case out of the way and grabbed the black case that was behind it and yanked it into her lap. Before she knew it her Wildwood was positioned and ready to play.

Annabeth leaned back into the closet wall and began playing. It had been years but her fingers remember what they needed to do.

Percy popped the key he borrowed from Thalia into the lock and tried to open the door. The knob turned but that was all it would do. He prayed the same key would open the dead bolt and thankfully it did. As he walked in he was about to call out to Annabeth but instead he dropped everything he hand in his hands for dinner and panic spread throughout him as he noticed all of her things spread across the foyer floor.

"Annabeth! Annabeth where are you," He called out as he ran into the living room.

Percy looked around the apartment, everything was where it should be. Nothing was out of place and yet something felt off. He closed his eyes for a minute and then he heard what he thought was music coming from Annabeth's room.

"Annabeth? Annabeth please say something," Percy pleaded with only the air.

As he walked farther into Annabeth's room the music got louder and yet he didn't see her anywhere. He continued to walk until he stopped at her closet door. He peeked in and found her leaning against the wall with her eyes closed strumming on a guitar. Percy was about to call out to her again but then she started singing.

"And if you hurt me, that's okay baby only words bleed,
Inside these pages you just hold me,
And I won't ever let you go,
Wait for me to come home.
Wait for me to come home.
Just wait for me to come home."

Annabeth's eyes opened just before she sang the last line and before Percy knew what had come over him, he was by her side pulling her into his lap.