Author's Note: Hello... *wince* Yes, I realize that I have left everybody hanging with the first chapter for...quite a long time. I apologize. I have been fighting a horrible monster for the past few weeks (It's a monster called test preparation and test week. Have you met it before? It's really ugly, isn't it?), but now that that's over, I promise that I will update more often. I'm a horrible fanfiction writer, leaving for weeks with only one chapter posted...

Thank you to everyone that's reading this. It makes me really happy. Really happy. Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and his series.

Snow was lightly falling outside, and the moonlight reflected into my room. It was all too cold, really, and it didn't feel like spring. None of the young green grass peeking out from all the white. None of those pink, blooming flowers. Just snow, snow, and more snow.

Just white.

It must have been way into midnight, but my eyes refused to close, and I resigned to listening to the clock on my wall. Tick, tock, tick, tock… It soothed me and the thoughts burning in my mind; I've always loved clocks and their rhythmic beat that gave me the feeling of stability, strangely enough. Even when everything around you changes, time always stays the same. That was nice.

I kicked off my thick winter blanket and sighed, rubbing my hand over my eyes. I turned on the lamp by my desk, and my gaze came to rest on the card. It was the only thing I had out, and I could see the words from where I sat.

My fist clenched, angry, indignant, and annoyed.

My phone number stood out on the white card, scrawled but prominent in his pen writing. My number. I could imagine his sly grin stretching on his lips, knowing that I had been tricked and relishing that fact. Something was definitely...different, wrong about him. I took out my cellphone from under my pillow, and the numbers 3:42 blinked out at me.

Fine. I stood up, stretching and yawning, and then opened my closet to change. With my thick coat wrapped around me and my feet tucked in snow boots, I left my house and turned the corner.

.

Sunrise started with a dot of orange, and it spread into thin streaks that pushed away the darkness. It was Saturday morning, and people stayed inside. Everything seemed still except for the slight breeze that ruffled the leaves on trees.

For a second, everything was fine. The snow crunched under my shoes, and I walked at a leisurely pace, enjoying the silence for as long as they lasted. Another yawn had my mouth open wide, and that was when I felt something wrong. It was like a lurking darkness, but before I could even feel the fear, the world bent around me. Lines snaked where it should be straight, and colors blurred and mixed. Up and down smeared together, and I thought I heard a muffled thud. The sharp ice bit against the palms of my hands, and the pain brought some clarity to mind. That sound must've been me falling to the ground. Funny, I just didn't realize until now…

A pair of black leather shoes appeared in my wavering gaze, and the sun reflected on the shiny surface. Too bright… Something burned inside-with pain?-and I realized that it was getting harder to breathe.

"I can't-" I coughed, drawing a ragged breath, "I can't...breathe…"

A low chuckle filled my ears, and recognition flared in my foggy mind. I know this person. Who is it? It's...it's...who is it, who is it, who is it… My eyes started to close, and I felt every thought seep through and away-sand in an hourglass. I think someone picked me up and started to run, but I didn't hear any footsteps.

Before I completely lost my consciousness, one last image flew past my mind's eye, only to be lost again. A…scar?

.

A dull thumping in my head was what woke me up, and I was surprised to find that I had slept through my alarm. Though my body felt heavy and slow, my mind was clear and alert. My shirt was wrinkled under my back, and as I straightened it out, I made a face; I was still in my jeans and sweatshirt. My coat was damp where it hung on my door, and my headache intensified as I tried to recall last night's events. I left my house for a walk when I found that I couldn't sleep. I turned a corner, walked for a bit...I remembered following the bending path until... My memory jogged to a dead end, and my mind drew up a blank. How did I end up home? I groaned, putting my head in my hands, but I got up, getting ready for school when I heard my mother call my name.

I tried to find Percy as soon as I entered school, but I didn't see him. Somehow, through this confusing mess, finding him was my top priority. He could make this better, I thought. I didn't know why, but setting the goal of finding him comforted me. Unfortunately, he didn't show for a whole week and a half, and when he finally did appear, he was like a shadow. I'd catch glimpses of his back, maybe the messy black hair over the crowd in the hallways, but he would always seemingly vanish before I could reach him.

Those nights were plagued with nightmares. They weren't actually scary, but they would leave me with an unsettling flutter in my heart and a headache that never seemed to get better.

The grass is black and the sky is white, and everything else are shades of grey. A girl, around thirteen or so, sits near the flowers, humming a song beneath her breath.

"Ring around the rosie, pockets full of posies..." She looks up, picking a large flower and clutching a figure, and she comes up to me. I realize that her eyes are pitch black against the pale grey of her face.

"Flowers are like us." She smiles and whispers, her voice earnest and full of passion. "They start off as seeds, hidden in the ground, and nobody notices them. But then a small dot of green appears on the ground. Some are stamped down then-" she rips a young clover out of the ground and throws it back down, crushing it with her shoes. "-but others continue to live. They get bigger and more vibrant. They start having colors of their own. And then...then, they bloom, and it's really beautiful, you know? Like the sun just peeking from the horizon. You think that that's what life is about." Wind passes through her smooth hair, and she hands me the pretty flower. It's shining in my hands.

"But after that, they lose their strength and the will to live, to continue. They start to wither. They turn brown. They stoop low."

My flower turns a darker grey, and the stem gets thinner and weak. My heart thuds in my chest with dread.

"Ashes, ashes…"

This time, I'm the one muttering the lyrics. Something soft lands on my forehead, like dust, and I look up to see ash raining down from the sky. They pile, one by one, and it gets higher, higher, higher still until ash covers the ground to my ankles. A soft shiver runs up my spine, and my ears strain to hear voices carried by the wind.

"Ring around the rosies, pockets full of posies, ashes, ashes, and then we all fall down"

Giggles of young voices reach out to me, but the wind picks up speed, getting stronger and rougher until ash swirl from the ground. The song and the giggles are now a high pitched scream as the winds run past me. It's filled with sorrow and desperation and pain. My grip on the flower gets tighter, and the stem bends to the strength, drooping. I take a step back, but somehow I end up closer to the girl.

"And then…" The girl's face is filled with anguish, and it takes me a moment to realize she's crying. Her tears are a vibrant red against the dull black and white. "And then we all fall down."

The flower falls out of my hands as I reach for the girl, but she's already gone, her hands pressed against her temples and her mouth opened in a silent scream.

.

It took me three more days to realize that I would never find Percy as long as he doesn't want to be found, so I resided to my normal school routine. I jabbed at my salad making the dressing splash to my homework, and I couldn't help the sigh that escaped my lips.

"Not looking so good, Annabeth."

I whirled around when I heard his voice, and I stared.

"Percy."

He gave me a slight smile, and he stole a leaf of lettuce from my plate before hauling me off my seat.

"What-"

"Come on, there's something I want to show you."

"But what about school-"

He rolled his eyes, exasperated. "Stop worrying for a sec, will you? I've got it covered."

I couldn't say that I trusted him, considering the fact that I've only talked to him once before, but I deemed him safe enough to not kill me. And that's all that matters in the end, isn't it?

A half hour later, I found myself dragged to the top of the Empire State building. Funny enough, they let us in without waiting on the line, and we had the whole place to ourselves.

"I can only hold them back for a bit-"

"You? Hold them back? What?"

Percy gave an aggravated sigh at my inquiry. "Just, stop asking so many questions, will you?"

He rubbed his hands together before pouring a drop of water onto the middle of a card, and he pressed his pointer finger to it.

"Come on…"

As he lifted his finger, the drop followed his gestures floating just above our heads, and it disappeared when he closed his hands in a fist.

"You ready?"

He asked, and I nodded, though to tell the truth, I had no idea what was going on. All I knew was that his face had taken on a look of pure concentration, and that it looked… well, beautiful. My blond curls lifted in the wind, and he took a breath before releasing his hand.

For a second, nothing happened. Then, water burst from where the drop used to be, and dozens of translucent birds formed from them. The sun and the sky reflected in their clear bodies, and I felt my words die in my throat.

"Wow…"

I breathed, and I felt my lips tug into a smile. It was captivating and graceful, alluring and fascinating, and awe filled my mind as I took in the sight before me. Honestly, words cannot describe what I saw that day.

"It's...it's amazing."

I said, turning to Percy when he let the birds go. He was grinning at me, and his eyes swirled with satisfaction. I lost myself for the second time that day.

Oh my god...his eyes...

I had never noticed his eyes before. It was like I was seeing it, but they never registered in my mind. But right then, his eyes made me feel almost faint. It was sea-green, twinkling with delight, and they were deep. They drew me in like the tides in the ocean, and they were ever-changing like the waves that crashed ashore. They were strong and soft at the same time, dark and light and in between.

"I wanted you to see it, 'cause...well, you kinda seemed out of it today. And yesterday. And the day before that…" He chuckled slightly, "I'm sorry I couldn't talk to you before. I've been kinda busy, I guess. But...well, I'm glad you liked it. Er...you know what? I'm losing my cool attitude. I'm gonna stop talking now. Yeah."

His voice brought me out of my retrieve, and he sounded different acting so freely, but I saw him in another light, then. He really was beautiful, I realized.