Hey gang! Some good news for you, I'm finally making a bit more comfortable headway with this story. I have through chapter 13 finished and am partway through 14, so (knock on wood) I should be able to get back to once-a-week posting. I'm weaning my way back to Thursday, as you can see, since I like that as an update day.

So, thanks to those of you who stuck with me while I worked through my slow patch. Chances are looking good that I'll be able to stay regular with this for a while, hopefully through to the end. We're more than halfway done now, which is awesome :D

Thanks for the reviews! This chapter's not too exciting, but I did enjoy writing it so hopefully you enjoy reading it! :D

For all of us who've seen the light / Salute the dead and lead the fight

Twilight was tugging at the sky by the time the cab pulled into the private drive on Grant Avenue in the suburbs of Hammond, Indiana. Annabeth inhaled as she peered out the back window, an eyebrow arching of its own accord. She felt a momentary spark of apprehensive doubt—was this really the address Reyna had given them? The cab driver didn't seem concerned, so she didn't ask. He drove around the circular strip of pavement in front of the house and stopped, and Annabeth and Leo paid him, thanked him, and sent him on his way.

As he drove off, Annabeth paused to look up at the home that supposedly belonged to Reyna's sister. It was big for a house but not gigantic, with smoky stone walls and black tiered roofing. It was an attractive dwelling for sure, but what really stood out were the grounds. A line of perfectly-shaped, snow-dusted pine trees separated the house from the road, with a break for the driveway to snake through them. The yard had to be at least five or six acres of gently-sloping grass, covered by a few-inch layer of white snow. The precipitation had been neatly plowed from the pavement and the alabaster stone walkway that led up to the black oak front doors and was framed by neat, tiny berry bushes. Glancing around, she wondered in slight awe what a place like this must have cost. A few intimidating numbers came to mind.

"What does she do?" Annabeth meant the question to come out as conversational, but the surprise in her voice was palpable.

"She works for Amazon," Leo answered, also eyeing the house with a touch of nervousness. "She's on the board of directors."

"Huh," Annabeth replied, impressed. She started down the stone walkway until she reached the front doors, eyeing the pointed icicles jutting down from the awning above them, but paused with a frown when she realized she was standing there alone. She turned around and gestured to Leo, who was still waiting back by the driveway. "Aren't you coming?" she asked.

He blinked, looking at her as though just realizing she was there. "What? Oh, uh… Yeah. Sorry."

Annabeth set a hand on her hip, remembering his apparent reluctance when Reyna had first mentioned her sister back in Chicago. "Are you okay?" she asked suspiciously as he came to a less-than-resolute halt beside her.

"Of course. For now, anyway." Before Annabeth could ask what he meant, Leo added dully, "Just ring the bell."

She did, hearing a muffled chime from inside the house as a result. Only a few seconds passed before the left door was pulled inward to reveal the house's owner—a tall, slim woman who could only be Reyna's sister. She was noticeably older—perhaps in her early thirties—but had the same cappuccino complexion, long onyx hair, and dark chocolate eyes. Her face had a stern seriousness implying that this was not someone who was safe to cross. She immediately folded her arms across her chest as though falling into a default stance, a finger tapping steadily on her elbow.

"You," she said in a low, chilly voice, narrow eyes fixing on Leo without the vaguest glance at Annabeth.

Leo grinned and waved, standing his ground despite the obvious nervousness in his expression. "Hey, Hylla. Long time no—" He broke off when the woman stepped abruptly forward, drew back an arm, and without warning slugged him hard across the jaw.

"Hey!" Annabeth stammered in surprise, jerking reflexively toward them both as Leo staggered backward off the front step.

The woman ignored her. "Don't get all friendly with me," she snapped at Leo. "What have you dragged my sister into now? She calls me up out of the blue and says you need a place to hide? That she isn't coming—that she's got something else to do?" She advanced on Leo as he straightened and poked him forcefully in the chest. "If she's in trouble because of you, Valdez, I swear to God—"

"This isn't his fault, it's mine!" Annabeth said hurriedly, this time pushing her way between Leo and Reyna's sister. "I dragged them both into this. And for the time being, Reyna's safe, I promise."

The woman—Hylla, Leo had called her—leaned backward and pursed her lips as she looked Annabeth over. "Who are you?"

Annabeth took a deep breath, meeting Hylla's gaze unflinchingly. "My name's Annabeth. Reyna and I have a mutual friend. Look, we'll explain everything, okay? But I'd rather do it inside, if that's alright. It's sort of cold out here."

Hylla exhaled shortly, her breath a puff of smoke in the air. Her left eye twitched as she glanced piercingly over Annabeth's shoulder at her sister's boyfriend. "Fine," she decided. "Follow me." She spun quickly on her heel and marched back into the house, leaving the door open behind her.

As Annabeth released her breath, Leo dropped a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. "Thanks," he said with a weak smile. "Not to say I wasn't expecting that. In case you couldn't tell, she and I aren't exactly best buds. I don't think she likes the fact that I have a criminal record."

"Gee, you think?" Annabeth responded dryly. "Might've been nice to know that ahead of time." Leo laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck, rotating his jaw with a cringe. Annabeth's eyes shot to the bruise forming below his ear and realized that Hylla, much like her sister, could really pack a punch. Must run in the family. "Come on," she said with a wry smile, as she grabbed Leo's jacket sleeve and led the way into the house.

Unsurprisingly, the inside of Hylla's home was every bit as impressive as the outside. Annabeth didn't allow herself much time to mull it over, though—they were in the middle of an important operation, and securing Hylla's trust was at the top of their to-do list.

They followed her into a sitting room off the foyer and immediately launched into their tale (or, most of it; they left out some of the more crucial details, only telling Hylla what was necessary). Annabeth did most of the talking, given that every time Leo opened his mouth Hylla would grind her teeth and tighten her grip on the pillow in her lap. When she wasn't doing those things, though, she listened quietly and attentively, her grim expression never changing. She sat on one end of the loveseat, leaning sideways against the armrest with her legs crossed at the knee. She was dressed casually in dark green jeans and a black V-neck T-shirt, her long hair tied back in a ponytail. If Annabeth hadn't just watched her attack a guy bigger and taller than her without provocation, she wouldn't have taken her for the violent type at all. Glowering expression aside, she seemed very normal.

When they finished, Hylla let out a long sigh, a hand toying absently with the end of her long ponytail. "Well," she said heavily, "if you need a place to stay, you've got one. Reyna knows I'm always there for her and her… friends." She shot Leo a look of clear disapproval at that last word, and he winced as though she'd hit him again. He offered her a weak but grateful smile—one she didn't return. "Just remember—if anything happens to her, I'll hold you personally responsible. Both of you," she added with a stern, though not reproachful, glance at Annabeth.

"I'll make sure she's okay," Annabeth promised, meaning every word. She felt bad enough for getting Leo and Reyna caught up in her and Thalia's crusade. She would do everything in her power to make sure neither of them ended up paying for it. "And thank you. We don't need to stay long—just until this whole thing blows over a bit and we can come up with a plan."

"Right." Hylla stood, straightening her clothes and tossing her ponytail over her shoulder. "Well, I've got work to do in the study. Help yourselves to anything in the kitchen, just don't make a mess."

When she disappeared from the room, Leo breathed out dramatically and leaned backward on his armchair. He pulled a familiar black Zippo lighter from his pocket and started reflexively flicking it on and off, and Annabeth had a brief, disconcerting vision of what Hylla would do if she saw him playing with fire in her house. "We'd better pull this off," he said, "or she'll make sure Reyna and I never come within ten miles of each other again."

"I'm sorry," Annabeth said with a grimace.

Leo waved an arm lazily. "How many times do we have to tell you it's cool? You know my history with Zeus. I want this just as much as you do."

Annabeth smiled, but her expression twitched into a frown as her own reasons flooded back to the forefront of her mind. Flashing back to her conversation with Zeke, she stood abruptly and turned around, striding into the hall. She heard Leo call something and get up to follow her, but she wasn't paying much attention. She crossed the foyer and looked into the first doorway she found, revealing what looked like a coat room—no good. The next open doorway led down two carpeted steps into a den with big, cushy furniture and a flat-screen television set. She stepped inside and dropped onto the middle of the sofa, picking up the remote and pointing it at the screen. A single button press brought it to life.

Almost robotically, Annabeth started flicking through the channels, pausing anytime she saw something that looked like the news. Most news stations were recounting local stories, including routine weather and traffic reports. Finally, though, she found what she was looking for—a specialized station reporting on recent global affairs.

And immediately her heart sank into her stomach. The top story was the exact one Zeke had shown her—a terrorist bombing of the Royal London Hospital. It was real. The article he'd produced on his computer hadn't exactly looked falsified, but still Annabeth had refused to believe it without substantial proof. But now, here that proof was, staring her in the face in the form of an on-site reporter interviewing a paramedic outside the partially-collapsed wing of the hospital. The headline at the bottom of the screen read 'BOMBING AT LONDON HOSPITAL – DEATH COUNT NOW AT 93.'

So Zeke hadn't been lying after all—not about that. Which likely meant that he hadn't been lying about any of it, especially considering the fact that he'd seemed very much to believe what he was telling them wholeheartedly. He'd said that Percy couldn't have escaped—that the explosive was planted on him. Did that make that true as well? Annabeth didn't want to think so, but suddenly she was having a very difficult time convincing herself otherwise.

"That's it, isn't it?" Leo said grimly from behind her. She felt him lean his arms on the back of the couch on which she was seated. "The hospital your fiancé was at, the one you said Zeus attacked."

Annabeth's mouth felt as dry as sand. "Yeah."

"Well… Okay, just because that actually happened doesn't mean… I mean, there's still a chance…"

She could tell he was grasping at straws in an attempt to reassure her, and she felt a weak swell of gratitude for the attempt. But the time for false hope was over.

"He's dead," she said, her voice surprisingly low and leaden. The words felt alien on her tongue—like she was speaking another language without realizing it.

"Annabeth…"

The language senses of her brain must have been on the wrong setting, because even her name sounded off. She tuned her surroundings out for a second to allow the truth to sink through the membrane of denial in her mind—it was just as Zeke had said: Percy really was dead. After everything she'd done a year ago—her assignment to take him out, her mistake of letting her guard down, her decision to leave the CIA to be with him, to flee her old employers and his dangerous family—despite it all she hadn't been able to hold onto what she'd fought so hard to earn: a free life with him. What she wanted most was gone, leaving an empty pit in the middle of her heart like Zeke had dug into her with a frozen scalpel and the ice from his cold, evil eyes had rooted there, drawing from her body all the warmth Percy's love had ever given her.

The images of the news report blurred across her vision, becoming a dim wash of indiscernible colors. Unnerved, she blinked hard a few times, realizing that her eyes were damp. She forced the tears back, not ready to let them fall. She wouldn't give Zeke the satisfaction of breaking her—not until she broke him first. Her journey wasn't over—not by a long shot. The sooner she accepted that, the stronger her resolve would rebuild itself to be.

"It's okay." Her voice was starting to sound like her again—calmer and less raspy. "I mean—it's not okay, but…" Her throat tightened like she was trying to breath gelatin instead of air and she gave up on talking for a beat. Leo stepped around the sofa and sat down on the left cushion, angled slightly toward her with his hands on his knees. His expression was uncertain, like he wanted to say something but didn't know how or what. And why should he? He was a friend of a friend of a friend. The two of them barely knew each other. Annabeth couldn't—shouldn't expect him to talk her down, comfort her. After all, he'd never even met Percy. And he'd only met her a day ago.

For an instant, she wished Thalia were there—and then she felt another painful pang when she realized that sooner or later she would have to tell her about this.

"Look," Leo finally spoke up, "if you want to call this off, I totally get it. This kind of changes things—"

"No," Annabeth interrupted, her fingers tensing on the remote. She switched off the television and set the remote on the sofa to her right. "No, the only thing this changes is my reasoning. When I got here, this was about stopping Grace—getting him out of our way so we could live in peace. Now, it's…" She took a slow breath. "It's about revenge." Her eyes lifted to the television screen, and on the black surface she imagined for a second she could see Ezekiel Grace's smug, sneering face. A hot flash of anger sparked like a popped fuse inside her. She would make time to grieve for her fiancé, that much was certain. But not until the man responsible for his death was erased.

She realized she'd thrown a little more venom in her voice than she'd intended and shifted to meet Leo's eyes, expecting to see apprehension on his face. But she didn't. He was watching her with a steely expression, and a bit late she remembered that revenge had been his reason for joining their march against Zeke as well. Maybe he understood a little better than she'd presumed.

"That," he said with a short nod, "I can get behind. Zeus has cost us all enough." The corner of his mouth ticked up in a humored smirk. "Past time we make the bastard pay up."

Somehow, despite all she was feeling, Annabeth actually smiled. On a whim, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Leo. She wasn't really sure why—maybe she just needed a moment of security, to allow herself the smallest hint of the weakness she'd never given into before. Maybe it was residual longing for the man she loved, in the form of a simple desire to feel close to the only person near her. Or maybe it was much more basic than that—maybe she just wanted to thank him for understanding, for being there for her despite their lack of history. Whatever the reason, the contact gave Annabeth an inexplicably stable feeling. She and Leo were in this together—they'd both been wronged by Zeke in the past and had their minds set on retribution. They'd been through a lot in the past day alone, and who knew what else would happen before this was over? He wasn't just a friend of a friend of a friend. Not anymore.

Leo seemed to hesitate a bit before returning the abrupt embrace. His body was surprisingly warm despite the winter chill of the spacious house, like boiling water rushed in the veins beneath his skin. When she pulled away, Annabeth realized that her muscles had relaxed and her breathing had evened out. She glanced up and smiled, glad when he grinned back at her without question.

"Well, if we're gonna do this," he said, leaning back against the arm of the sofa and drawing a leg up onto the cushion beside him, "we're gonna need a plan."

And so they set to work, going over everything they'd learned so far and calmly hashing out every possible course of action they could take. Annabeth was done making rash decisions. For so long, she'd prided herself on her level-headedness, her ability to handle herself well in a crisis. This time was different—she was suffering a major emotional blow that, understandably, would be difficult to ignore, even for a short time. But somewhere under all the changes she'd been through in the past year, that old person was still there—the cool-headed CIA assassin who could overcome any challenge and eliminate any mark (assuming she didn't fall in love with said mark first).

And that was the person whom Ezekiel Grace needed to fear, because that was the person who would stop at nothing to see that burning, electric light disappear from his icy eyes.

Well, obviously we know Percy escaped. And fear not, Annabeth will figure that out soon enough. But for now, more drama equals more fun for me so this is how it's gonna go ;)

So drop me a review, and this time I promise I'll see you all next Thursday for the (hopefully permanent) return of my regular update schedule!

Later days!

-oMM