Chapter 7

A/N WARNING: This chapter may cause major damage to feels. Please read with caution. If this chapter causes you to have a feels overload stop reading immediately. I do not take responsibility for damage to feels. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Also, major BoO spoiler in this Chapter

Annabeth wanted to come out of the closet. She was a demigod; she was brave. She had survived Tarterus, she had fought countless monsters, she had single-handily saved both camps, but she couldn't do it. She wanted to be with Percy so bad, but she didn't think she could look at him dying and know she did that to him. She was mad at herself; she wished the nightmeres would go away. Why couldn't she be normal?

Why did her mom have to leave? Why did Helen have to hate her? Why did Luke have to betray her? Why did Bob, Leo and Luke have to die? Why did she have to fall into Tarterus. Why did that knife have to be poisoned with Hydra venom, to which there was no cure?

All this was running through her head as she sat up against the wall, gripping her leather necklace, tears streaming down her face. She inspected each of the small beads, including the newest bead, a white bead with an orange flag and a Purple flag crossed inside of a laurel wreath. She looked at the piece of coral Percy had given her, it was a pretty orange and shaped sort of like a 9. She could always feel it on her neck when sh in battle. She would feel the piece of coral rubbing up against he neck and she would think of Percy.

She ran her finger down the beads, stopping when she reached the bead with the trident on it. Annabeth remembered the campfire when she got this bead. Percy and her had been called up to get their beads together. Annabeth looked at Percy. He had this mischievous smile on his face, along with some ketchup from dinner, and the glow of the fire made his look golden. Annabeth looked him right in the sea green eyes and at that moment she knew that she loved him. She was only 12 and had dismissed it as a childish crush. Yet over the next 4 years it got harder to dismiss those feelings, until August 18th, two summers ago. She didn't know why she had kissed him, but once their lips touched, Annabeth knew that it was more than just a crush. They were happy together and they had been through so much, she couldn't find the courage to come out of the closet.

Annabeth didn't know how long she had been in the closet when she heard a knock. "Annabeth? It's Reyna. Annabeth? Can I come in?" Annabeth didn't say anything she just wanted to alone right now. Annabeth heard the knob jiggling, a sigh, then a complex set of thumps, jiggles and something that sounded like a knuckle cracking. The door slowly swung open and Reyna entered, sitting down next to Annabeth.

"Travis taught me that. Didn't think I'd ever use it though." Reyna said, "You feel like coming out." Annabeth didn't say anything. "I know what you're going through. I understand how you feel."

"How could you know? You haven't been to Tarterus. You aren't a monster. You haven't hurt someone you love."

"Yes I do. Can I tell you something? A secret. I've only told Nico."

Annabeth was silent. "I killed my father. My father was in the army and he suffered from post-traumatic stress. My sister Hylla told me that he was gentle and kind when I was very little, but he started to change. He would get mad and throw things at my sister and me locking us in our room. We would sneak out until he would calm down, and no matter how bad he was we would always go back. One day he had faded in to a chaos sprit. He threw a chair at my sister and knocked her out. I thought he killed her and I grabbed the closest thing which was sword, it must have had been imperial gold or something, because I hit him with it and he turned into dust. I never told anyone but Hylla and Nico because killing your parents is a crime punished by death in Rome. Nico says it doesn't count, but I still haven't told anyone yet."

They both remained silent for a minute. Finally Annabeth broke the silence. "How do you do it? How can you know that you killed your father and still be so brave? How can you be so strong?" Annabeth put her head on Reyna's shoulder, and Reyna put her arm around Annabeth.

"I'm not strong. I just put a smile on my face and don't let them find out. But, you have real strength. I mean you are one of like five demigods who have survived Tarterus. You've fought a titan, who was your friend. You've completed a quest that so many have failed. You are the strongest person I know." Reyna paused and they were both silent. "You can do this, Percy's not dead yet and if I know a single thing about him, he's not going down without a fight. He's going to need you there if he's going to live."

Annabeth looked Reyna in the eye. "Is it really that bad, is he really dying? Don't lie to me, try to protect me, I've survived Tarterus remember. How bad is he?"

"I-he's well, Annabeth. I don't know. The mortal doctors are doing all they can, we've given him all the nectar and Ambrosia we can. I brought some of the most powerful healing potions I could find, but nothing is working. There is no known cure for hydra venom. I've known a few demigods who have survived it in small amounts, which is good, but it was a celestial bronze weapon and it's terribly infected. Annabeth, I don't know. His chances are really slim."

Annabeth went pale. "Oh." W2as all she said. She knew her Seaweed Brain only had a slim chance, but she knew he would take it. Reyna was right, Annabeth was strong, and she could do it. "Let's go."

"Alright he's on the 2nd floor, follow me." Reyna put her arm around Annabeth and they left the closet.

Marcus's POV A/N new character, my favorite boy's name. I always put characters in my stories named Marcus!

Marcus was a demigod, son of Apollo member of the 4th cohort. He had served his 10 years, leaving camp 8 years ago. He went to medical school and now was a doctor. He now lived in LA with his girlfriend Katie. He hadn't been to camp in 6 years and had a demigod dream in 4 years, yet Christmas night he received a dream message from his father.

In the dream he saw a boy with black hair tossing and turning from fever. A voice boomed in over the scene "Seawater, nectar, unicorn horn and a bit of coral mixed together can cure a child of Neptune of poison once in his or her lifetime. It is prophesized that a son of Apollo will save a hero of Olympus." He was then awoken by his alarm clock going off.

Marcus thought about his dream as he got ready for his shift at the hospital. A child of Neptune they were bad luck. He left early on a strange hunch. As he got in the car he remembered what the voice in his dream had told him about what could save a child of Neptune from poison. Marcus had a feeling that the boy in the dream was the boy that he was prophesized to save.

On the way he stopped at this natural market and went to a man selling lobsters in a tank. "Is that seawater?"

The man running the stand turned around. "Sure is. From the San Francisco coast, caught em' last night. There some mighty fine ones ya know."

"Oh, I don't want to buy lobsters. Mind if I take a little bit of the water?"

"Sure. Though the thing you supos'd to buy is the fish." The man turned around and went back to what he was doing.

Marcus smiled and took a water bottle and took a little of the seawater. He turned around and headed to the hospital where he worked. He got there just in time for his shift and lunch wasn't for another 6 hours. He had nothing exciting all day. He worked at his desk for most of the morning with a few breaks to check in on a few patients.

When lunchtime finally came at noon, he was mostly done with his work for the day. He went down to the cafeteria to meet his friends, Felix and Maggie. Felix worked in pediatrics (Children's medicine), which was perfect for him because he was a ham and was always able to cheer up the children. Maggie was a social worker, which fit her quiet, kind nature. They had been dating for almost 2 years and Marcus didn't know how, but some how they were engaged.

They got food and sat down at their favorite table. "So, how's your day been," Marcus asked over bites of food.

"Ok," Felix replied.

"Long," Maggie replied. "I'm working with this family, but I'm not getting answers. They bring their 17-year-olds son in this morning, half-dead. He's got this bad cut on his chest and it's infected. They said he got it a week ago, but he didn't tell them. They said they know who did it, but they don't want to tell us. On top of that somehow the knife he was stabbed with, was laced with snake venom, how I have no . The snake venom is nothing we can identify, and his girlfriend knows, but is refusing to tell us. You want to know something funny Marcus, the boy and his friend both have tattoos like you."
"What do mean." Marcus hadn't told many people about his tattoo. He mostly covered it up, but when people asked, he said it was a drunk dare. He had 10 bars for the ten required years in the legion, under the symbol of Apollo and the SPQR.

"Well, the girl's tattoo has a symbol kind like yours but different, I don't really remember, and the SPQR, but she had like 5 bars instead of ten and the boy has only one bar and his symbol is different. It looks like this." Maggie drew they symbol on a napkins and passed it to Marcus. He looked at the trident she just drew. He had just found his child of Neptune.

A/N Wow, that was a long chapter. Having a little contest. First person who gives me an appropriate word, and I will find a way to make it my 10,000 word. As always, thanks for reading!