Annabeth was worried. Well, she was naturally a worrier since her mother died; will she ever live up to her? Can she really juggle two lives and two jobs? Will Typhoon ever stop trying to surfboard down streets packed with shoppers? These were her struggles.

But now it was really personal. Now she worried about Thalia.

Thalia Grace was headstrong. She was fierce and she was fearless. Annabeth had only once seen that attitude waver, and it wasn't a good time then either. She knew who the thief was, and she wasn't telling Annabeth, which meant that Thalia was scared.

Thalia told Annabeth everything.

Like when she'd kissed Luke for the first time. Or when she found out that her little brother Jason had a crush. Or those many times that Annabeth had been given a little too much information and she couldn't look her best friend in the eye for days afterward. It was traumatic. And when she didn't tell Annabeth something? Practically unheard of, unless it scared Thalia enough that she couldn't feel like she could tell anyone.

So when Annabeth opened the door to find her home empty, she worried. She bit her nails. She paced. She suited up and searched the city. She even called Jason to check if he'd seen her (he hadn't). Where could she have possibly gone? And Luke was no help either; the idiot had left his phone on Annabeth's couch, and Thalia's was switched off.

"That face worries me" Typhoon greeted, swooping in on his wave of water and sitting next to her. Annabeth had found herself at one of her favourite thinking spots; a building overlooking the cemetery, where she could see her mother's statue. Her mother was a genius, she made the IQ's of everyone in a room go up when she entered. If Annabeth wanted to figure something out, she looked at her mother's statue, and it worked most of the time.

"It should. My friend has vanished" Annabeth said.

"What? Like suspicious vanished, or 'lost in a supermarket' vanished?" Typhoon demanded. Annabeth hugged her knees.

"Suspicious vanished. She knows something about the knife I was stabbed with. Athena's knife"

"I thought no one told you which-

"I'm not stupid, Typhoon, I figured out which Knife it was" Annabeth interrupted. That and she worked at the place it was stolen from. Perks of leading a double life.

"So, your friend knows who it was?" Typhoon asked. Annabeth shrugged.

"She knows something. Either who took it, or who stabbed me, or both" She told him.

"You shouldn't be out after that Night Owl. You need rest" He advised, but Annabeth shook him off. She'd taken enough pain killers to numb an elephant; she could hardly feel the effects of the poison, only that it made her feel like she was getting the flu. Granted, it also made her walk and fly as if she was drunk, but since Thalia and Luke had vanished off the face of the earth she didn't have a choice but to be out here looking for them.

"I need to find my friend, Typhoon. Then I can rest. We also need to find Oracle, since she's still with the guy in the gold mask. And we need to get rid of Gold Mask Guy, and then I'll hibernate if it'll get you off my back" She told him. She knew he was raising an eyebrow under his mask.

"I'm just worried about you" He said quietly.

"Well don't be worried about me. I'm worried enough for the whole of Olympus" She retorted.

"Do you not care about yourself enough to heal before you take off?"

"Do you not realise I want you to leave?"

"Why are you so defensive?!"

"Why are you so nosy?!"

"God dammit Night Owl, don't you realise that everyone wants to help you? Stop shutting the world out because of something you couldn't control!"

"You don't get it! I could've stopped it, saved them-

"Well you know what, I was there too. And I think that same thing, but you don't see me hurting the people that care about me by shutting them out because I can't face failing again"

Annabeth shut her mouth with a click, staring at Typhoon in shock.

"You-you were there?" She asked. She flashed back to the day the first team fell, racking her brains to place him at the scene, but couldn't find him. She didn't remember him being there.

"Yeah. You weren't the only one who changed their name when the day was over" Typhoon said quietly, and Annabeth gasped.

"You were Water Whip. That was you. And he disappeared, and then Typhoon came-

"And you went from Wise Girl to Night Owl. Looks like we're not that different after all" He said, and she frowned.

"But you- it doesn't even affect you. Its like you don't even care-

"I care, Night Owl. My dad was there along with your Mom. But its been three years- I've learned to move on. I've gotten better at fighting, controlled my powers, stop letting the past hold me back. You should do the same" He said, and there was a sharpness in his tone that Annabeth had never heard before. He got up, glancing at the statues in the cemetery before turning away.

"I hope you find your friend" He said, and water rose under his feet, lifting him up and away from her "And I hope you listen to me for once. See ya around, Night Owl"

Annabeth watched him go, eyes still like saucers, and when he vanished she hugged her knees tightly to her chest and watched Poseidon's statue, wondering how she could've judged someone so wrongly.

Eventually, Annabeth got back to searching; she flew lower, between the buildings instead of above them, waving back at the people who grinned and pointed her out. The streets were packed as usual, all lit up for the holiday season. This was why she liked working at the museum; they didn't put up Christmas trees (mainly because there was no room between the giant statues and Leo's many weapons that he'd bribed Reyna into buying), it was like any normal day there. Christmas Eve was in two days, and that was obvious from how frantic the shoppers below her were, who'd left present buying a little late and were trying to get it all done in time. Annabeth swooped into one of the quieter side streets, where there were secret entrances to bars and such, when she saw Rachel.

Rachel, who hadn't been to work since…well since Oracle vanished. Annabeth felt like she was onto something there, and landed before her. Rachel started.

"Night Owl! Thank God!" She squeaked, and she was covered in dirt, her red hair was matted with mud and leaves, and there was a cut across her cheek that had started to heal.

"What happened to you?" She asked, and Rachel looked around frantically.

"I escaped" She said, and Annabeth knew she was Oracle then. It was obvious.

"Escaped from…the gold mask dude?" Annabeth asked. Rachel nodded.

"I ran through the woods on the outskirts of town to get away, but he was preoccupied with Huntress-

"Huntress?" Annabeth asked sharply. Rachel flinched.

"You- maybe we should sit you down or something"

"I would rather stand"

"No I insist-

"Rachel. What about Huntress?" Annabeth demanded. Rachel fidgeted.

"Well, she turned up as I was about to make a run for it, and she and The Guy in the mask had this big argument about betrayals and his Mom and Heroes- and then he asked her to join him. I wanted to tell her not to, I mean I know this doesn't end well, but she said yes. And then they made out, but I ran because ew, Gross"

"Oh My Gods" Annabeth breathed, and Rachel frowned.

"What?" She asked.

"We need to call a meeting. Now. Come on" She said, grabbing Rachel and shooting upwards into the sky, heading for Mrs Jackson's infirmary. When they arrived Annabeth borrowed Rachel's phone and ordered everybody to get down there as fast as possible, and within five minutes they were there, surrounding her and watching her in utter confusion. Mrs Jackson patched Rachel up and everyone quietened down.

"What did you call us here for, Night Owl?" Chiron asked, hovering beside Rachel with a hand on her shoulder.

"Huntress has joined Gold Mask Guy" She announced, and there were sounds of shock, and betrayal. Red Woman stood beside Annabeth and put an arm around her, and Centurion squeezed her hand.

"Why would she do that?" Blue Spark asked angrily, fists clenched.

"Because she loves him. I know she'll hate me for this, but the only way we can help her is if you all know who she really is. And who he is" Annabeth said, looking at Typhoon, who was wearing an expression she couldn't read.

"You know them?" Shifter asked curiously, and Annabeth nodded.

"The Huntress' real name is Thalia Grace. And the guy in the mask…is her boyfriend, Luke Castellan. Now I know, I sort of get why he's doing this" She explained, and the whole room seemed to get colder. Red Woman's grip on her had tightened, and all around the room were looks of horror.

"What do you mean?" Typhoon demanded. Annabeth sighed.

"Huntress is my best friend. I know Luke. And I know what happened with his Mom"

"Well explain. We can only solve a problem if we know what it is" Chiron said gravely, exchanging a worried glance with Mrs Jackson.

"Well, do you remember when The First team were offering the chance for someone to join them? You know, get a power, be a hero- like Dionysus did" Annabeth began. There were nods and murmurs of confirmation.

"Well, Luke's Mom volunteered. She wanted the gift of sight- Rachel's power. The First Team said that it might not work, the power could reject her- but she insisted. Luke was only small"

"So, it rejected her?" Inferno asked, the only one not wearing their outfit; Annabeth supposed he didn't need to anymore. Still, it was weird to look at him and know who he really was.

"It did more than that. She was compatible with the power, and it seemed like it worked at first, but then- then it went wrong. She went sort of crazy; she saw too much, she had fits, she became so unstable that The First Team had to take the power away, and she was put into hospital, permanently" Annabeth told them, and everyone looked like they had crumpled slightly, as if the air had become heavier somehow and it pushed down on them. Annabeth looked at the floor; she hated hearing and telling this story, which is why she rarely did. She hated how guilty she felt telling the Heroes.

"Rachel got the power next" Typhoon guessed, and Annabeth nodded.

"Yeah. The First Team announced that there was a new hero, and it kind of drove Luke over the edge. He hated us, he hated our parents. When they died; I think he was the only person who was happy about it. He never forgave them for hurting his Mom, and then giving the power she was 'meant to have' to someone else and not condemning them to the same fate. That's why Thalia never told him who she was. She loved him and she was afraid that he'd hate her if he knew. She retired, quit the hero life, so she could be with him. And now, well; they're going to fight us together" Annabeth finished heavily, and the group kept their eyes on her, most of them wearing stony expressions. Shifter had transformed into a panther and was growling, whilst Centurion hugged his neck and whispered things to him. Blue Spark looked as if he was about to bring the whole building down, what Annabeth could see from his face was transformed with rage. Typhoon looked as if he was in the same state. Annabeth just felt a little empty.

"Well, now we know, we have more options. We can stop them before they go too far" Chiron said, always the optimist, and the heroes let out a collective sigh.

"Well we need to be quick; because they already have a plan. They're trying to wake up Kronos" Annabeth announced, and Praetor jumped so violently she slammed into Inferno, sending him sprawling across the floor. Typhoon pulled him up by his collar.

"What? That can't be possible" Centurion said, and a bunch of diamonds appeared around her knees, making a little nest around her that would set Annabeth for life.

"Well, Hypnos isn't around anymore; the sleeping spell he put on Kronos may be weakened. Is that what he wanted you for, Night Owl? To wake him up?" Chiron asked. Annabeth nodded.

"I refused to help him. He said for every time I refuse, he'd take someone else. And he took Thalia from me" She said sadly. Red Woman rubbed her back comfortingly.

"We'll get her back" Typhoon said "And we'll stop this"

"How?" Blue Spark asked "We can't hurt Huntress"

"We'll have to figure something out before its too late. Right now, we need to protect Night Owl; if Huntress is on Luke's side, its only a matter of time before they come back for her too"

Annabeth shivered, and the team looked to her, all determined.

"They aren't coming near you" Typhoon promised, giving her a grim smile.

"Yeah, we got your back" Red Woman agreed. Mrs Jackson beamed around the room.

"I'm glad you're all working together. Try not to get too injured okay?"

Typhoon winked at her, and Night Owl smiled. Maybe opening up won't be so bad after all.

hello! here's a new chapter instead of me revising and preparing for school tomorrow! Hooray for procrastinators everywhere. Hope you like it, leave me a review to grin at like an idiot (: