Wow, guys, 30 reviews and 75 follows already? Pretty awesome for one chapter :D I'm really glad to hear you're excited about this. I sure as heck am :D Seriously, I just finished writing chapter 4 and it's AWESOME. Super exciting, I think you guys are gonna love it! :D ...Yeah, I get dumbly excited about my own stuff... Heh...

Also, I didn't mention this in my last note, but there're gonna be some Heroes of Olympus characters in this. The last one was strictly characters from the first series, but I'm expanding a little bit with this one. I've got... I think it's 4 from the new series? Something like that. The first one shows up next chapter.

This chapter's less exciting than the last, but hey - least we're rolling, right? Thanks, everybody! Enjoy!

They say we're never leavin' this place alive

Annabeth had never really liked hospitals.

That wasn't to say she was a stranger to them. On the contrary, she'd spent considerable time in medical care due to the nature of her former line of work. But there was something about them that made her feel like an outsider, like she didn't fit in. For so long, she'd been used to a life of darkness and danger, secrets and lies. The bright lights and the relaxing quiet of hospitals just weren't for her. Inside them, she felt different. Exposed. Vulnerable.

Even now, over a year after leaving her old, fast-paced life behind, that lingering discomfort remained. She stood still, her muscles growing tense every time she heard footsteps and refusing to relax until they walked past her door and continued down the hall. It was just after five in the morning on the eleventh of January and general activity at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel was low—which was good because as far as Annabeth was concerned, the fewer distractions existed at the moment the better.

Swallowing hard past the heavy lump in her throat, Annabeth numbly lifted a hand and placed it against the wide, glass window in the observation room, eyes peering through the clear surface and wishing it wasn't there. It was the only thing separating her from her fiancé, who was lying in a bed on the opposite side, sound asleep. She'd been told half an hour ago by the doctors that though the surgery had been a success and that his life wasn't in immediate danger, their predictions were still inconclusive. She didn't know exactly what that meant, but she was afraid to ask. She'd called an ambulance immediately after the assassin had disappeared, but if it hadn't been enough—if there was nothing they could do—if she had to lose him… She didn't even want to consider it.

Absently Annabeth tapped her index finger on the glass, breathing out slowly. She told herself to stay calm. She'd always prided herself in her level-headed assuredness, something she needed to make use of now. Panicking or imagining the worst would get her nowhere.

Suddenly the door to her observation room opened from the outside and her gaze snapped toward it, body tensing. But she relaxed immediately upon recognizing the face that rounded the corner.

"You made it," she said, her voice surprisingly low and whispery as though she'd made an unconscious attempt to copy the silence of the hospital.

Thalia Grace didn't respond. She didn't even smile, which was distinctly unlike her. Her blue eyes were worried and intense as she snapped the door closed and stepped forward, wrapping Annabeth in a tight hug that she returned without even a thought of hesitation.

"How is he?" Thalia asked in a tight voice when they separated and both girls turned toward the wide window. Annabeth noticed that Thalia was dressed in jeans, a plain T-shirt, and a hooded jacket, with her hair unstyled and no makeup on her face. She must have dressed hurriedly and left her flat within minutes after Annabeth had called.

"Alright for now," Annabeth responded to the question, crossing her arms and feeling as though a chill had passed by, even though the air was still. "He came out of surgery okay and they aren't expecting any complications, but no one seemed to know for sure. As for when he'll wake up, that's anyone's guess." It was irritating how hollow and emotionless her voice sounded, as though she were reading the morning news.

Thalia looked carefully around the room, though it was empty save for the two of them. "Annabeth, what happened?" she asked in a hushed tone.

Annabeth was quiet for a long minute, watching the heart monitor in the next room over and mentally replaying the night in her mind. Somehow, it still didn't seem real. They'd been free and happy for so long. They were planning to get married later that year. How could this have happened now?

"I thought we were safe," she finally whispered.

Thalia frowned, though her eyes widened just barely like she'd understood. "What do you mean?"

Annabeth turned and met her friend's gaze. "He found us," she told her. "An assassin broke into our place a few hours ago. We tried to fight him off, but…" She sighed and shook her head. "I should've been able to stop him. This should never have happened."

"Annabeth, this wasn't your fault," Thalia argued, hands clenching into fists and her expression seeming to harden. "You know for sure it was him?"

"The guy only said one thing," Annabeth replied gravely. "'Zeus sends his regards.'"

Thalia swore under her breath, her jaw tightening. Annabeth knew Thalia had never gotten along with her father, Ezekiel Grace—not since she'd left the organization, anyway—but hearing this sort of news still had to be difficult. "I can't believe this," she growled. Her stony gaze slid toward the glass again, staring through it at her unconscious cousin. "His own family. How could he…?"

Annabeth could still feel the stained traces of tears on her face, but her eyes had long since dried. A tiny anger had sparked insider her like a pilot light, and talking about Zeke and thinking of everything he'd put her and Percy through had a way of fanning the flames.

"I wish he could pay for this," she said quietly. "For all of this. Everything he's done to you, to Percy, to me… I've had enough."

Thalia's dark eyebrows drew together. She chewed the inside of her lip in apparent thought, making the black lightning bolt tattooed on her cheekbone shift and bend. After a heavy silence, she said with conviction, "So let's make him pay."

Annabeth looked at her sharply. "What?"

"You're right," Thalia said with a curt nod. "He can't get away with this, not this time. But no one else is about to stand up to him, which means it's down to us. You and me." She took a deep breath and turned away from the window. "Look, when he finds out his assassin failed, he'll act again. So I say we go to the States and hunt him down now, while he isn't expecting it—before he has a chance for a second strike."

"It's a nice idea," Annabeth admitted, "but how could we? The amount of planning it would take… We'd need a place to stay, for one thing. And equipment, transportation—do we even know where to find him?"

"Oh, don't worry about finding him," Thalia insisted. She shot a glance over her shoulder and somehow Annabeth knew that that was all she was going to get at the moment. "And as for a place to stay, well… I've got a friend I grew up with back home. I keep in touch with her every now and then; she usually comes to my concerts when we tour in the U.S. Nobody knew it—not my father, not even Percy—but I told her everything. She knew all about the organization when we were kids, about my role in it. And she kept my secrets. Always. I know she'd do it again."

Annabeth unconsciously narrowed her eyes. "You really think so?"

Thalia nodded grimly. "Yeah, I do. Plus, I might be able to get in touch with a couple of my old Olympus contacts for anything else we might need. It'd risk alerting Zeke, but if we move quickly we could probably sneak under the radar before it hits his ears."

"Are you sure about this?" Annabeth asked carefully, adrenaline already starting to rush in her veins at the thought of going after the central head of Olympus. "He's your father."

"Not anymore. He hasn't spoken to me since the day I left. As far as he's concerned, I don't exist. No, my real family is you guys, and he's threatening that. I'm with you—he has to pay."

The corner of Annabeth's mouth twitched in a tiny smile as she realized that Thalia really was serious. For years her only goal had been Olympus—taking them down and making them pay for what they did to her. Only a year ago, she'd thought she'd given up that goal after realizing that Olympus wasn't made up of the terrible people she'd always thought. Some of them had even become good friends—and more, in Percy's case. But Ezekiel Grace—he was different. If any one person in Olympus personified the image she'd used to define them for so long, it was codename Zeus himself. She decided she didn't care what happened to the organization anymore, but Zeke was standing between her and happiness. He'd taken the security she'd barely begun to feel and broken it—shattered it like glass into a million tiny pieces. And she would break him for it in return, whatever it took.

"Alright," she agreed. "I'm in. Let's do it."

Yes! Hey, want another update? Drop a review! The more I get, the quicker I'll throw up the next chapter. Trust me, guys, you want to get to 4. It's awesome ;)

Thanks, gang! Later days!

-oMM