Author's Note: I AM SO SORRY! I think I posted the WRONG chapter the night before! I'm very sorry to all of you who were confused.

This is the RIGHT chapter...Once again, sorry!

Hello :) Well, here I am, with Chapter 3... Er...It's kind of a filler chapter though.

I promise it's important to the story! The rest of the story's going to be hard to understand if you don't read this chapter, if everything goes to plan.

Thanks to anyone who's reading this, and please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series.

I'm looking through the eyes of my seven year old self, and I recognize this as the time that I had fled from my house in hopes of finding something...anything. I needed family, friends; a shoulder to cry on.

I'm clutching a silver hammer that I had stolen from the garage, and I sneak around the shopping mall, trying to steal some living necessities. It's thundering outside, though I can't recall when it started to storm. When the next lightning strikes, bright blue fills my mind, and the view zooms over my form and outside the mall. Everything rushes by for a moment, and when my sight clears again, I'm still watching the outer walls of the building. There's a certain change in the rain though, and I somehow know that it's been a few years from the first scene. There's a crisp burning smell, and with the black smoke comes two young voices. My view moves, following the voices until I see two children, one crouched down and the other under the collapsing roof.

"I-I can't move the piece. Oh god, oh god, oh god! I can't-I...I-"

The younger, who I now see is a boy, makes a desperate sound in his throat, his skinny arms trembling as he pours all of his strength into lifting the debris, but it doesn't even budge.

My heart sinks to my stomach.

"Go," The girl, though she only seems to be around thirteen, sounds calm and soothing as she orders the boy. "Leave me. Run."

The boy's fighting to hold back his tears, trying to act strong before the girl, I can tell, but he lets out a heartbreaking sob. "No! No, no, no, no, no, no! Please, please don't do this. Come on, move, m-move! Move!"

The girl's eyes are a striking sky blue, and her lips are pressed in a line from strain and pain.

"Look, you and I both know that I'm not gonna be able to leave-"

"I'm staying! I'm not gonna move!"

"-and I want you to escape. Please, do this for me, will you? I...If I get out, I'll find you again."

The boy hugs the girl, choking back his sobs, and I see a tear slide down her cheek.

"Go on, kelp head."

The boy turns and runs just as the rest of the building gives a shudder, and after he rubs the tears from his face, I see his eyes.

They're a familiar swirl of green and blue.

.

I shot up in my bed, my hand gripping onto my covers as I tried to make my breathing calm. I stared at my ceiling, letting the white paint dominate my view, and I gave a sigh, wishing I could sleep peacefully for one night. These nightmares made me uncomfortable, as if I were prying into someone's private past, and the worst part was that I had a good idea of whom it may be. I rolled around until I fell to the floor, and I grunted. My cellphone blinked on my desk, and I blindly reached out, dropping my phone on my face.

"Ow."

I squeezed my eyes shut before opening them wide, shaking my head to wake myself, and I read the text that-I squinted-Luke had deemed necessary to send at five in the morning.

"Hey :) I know you might think it's weird, considering that we aren't really on our best terms, but I wanted u to know that I still care about you. And...well, that guy, Jackson? He's bad news. I just wanted to warn you. Just...be careful, and stay away from him, ok?"

I frowned. Of course, I thought, Luke has a point. So far, everything Percy had done had brought forth raised eyebrows, and no matter how many questions I asked, the answers were a vague "It's not time yet" or a straight forward "Your questions are annoying". At the same time… I trusted Percy a million times more than Luke. Luke had been my childhood "brother", as to say, but he had changed in the past few years, as had my trust and faith in him. Percy, on the other hand, gave me a sense of giddiness and comfort that I hadn't felt for years even when I still didn't really know him. So it's a 50-50, I decided. Besides, Luke doesn't have the right to rule me. Not anymore.

"I'll do whatever I think is right. However, let me remind you that we're not friends anymore. Remember?"

I got up, irritation making me forget my sleep-deprived tiredness, and I slipped downstairs to our kitchen. Quietly, I prepared eggs and bacon for breakfast, my ears straining to hear that pair of slippers that used to scare me as a child. And yet again, maybe they still do scare me.

"Good morning, Rachel."

I kept my muscles from straining, forcing a cheerful smile onto my face as I turned around, hugging Susan.

"Morning, Mom."

I swallowed the bitter taste that the word mom leaves in my mouth. Years since my father remarried, and I still couldn't get used to living with this woman. I supposed that the same could be said for her.

"It smells really nice, Rache. You help out so much."

My name is Annabeth. Annabeth! And I "help out" because you forced me to, all those years ago!

"Thanks, Mom. Uh, coffee or tea?"

"Coffee, please. You know," she said, settling down in her chair at the table, "It's really nice having a daughter. I just wish…"

That I was your daughter, right? That I wasn't who I am. That I was gone. That's why-

"Me too. But you're still my mom. Do I make you happy?"

Her smile was fake. I could see her pained look in her eyes, even from here.

"Yes, Rachel. So, very much."

I didn't care about this woman, or anything she said. So why do her words leave me feeling like I've been slapped across the face?

.

"Annabeth….Annabeth! Annie! Oh come on. Banana!"

"Huh?" I looked up, meeting the eyes of Percy, and I snorted.

"Seriously? Banana? That's a new one."

He smiled, and that alone made my day worth living. It looked unique and funny, kind of like him, I guessed.

"Oh, I'm the boss of nicknames, Grey eyes."

I rolled my eyes. "That's so obvious, Moron."

"Nerd."

"Loblolly."

"Blondie"

"Cacafuego"

"...Whatever that means. Owl Head."

"Kelp Head."

My hand covered my mouth as soon as the words left my mouth, but I knew it was too late. For a second he freezed, confusion coloring his face, but his eyes soon flashed, changed from friendly and warm to cold and bitter.

"How do you know that name?"

My hands fidgeted, which surprised me, since I usually never got nervous. But I saw that his eyes were no longer the sea-green that I loved, and it sent a painful jab to my chest.

"I-I, uh…well…"

I stuttered, my hands subconsciously drawing my hair behind my ears, and he sighed in defeat. His hands rubbed his face in a tired manner.

"I'm sorry."

We spoke at the same time, and he managed to bring himself to laugh. I cracked a small smile in reply.

"That name's important to me."

"I know."

My hands, though with some hesitation, reached out to his.

I only smiled for real when his eyes regained a tinge of green.

Additional Author's Note: Um...Yeah. This chapter might have been confusing. But there's some background of Annabeth's everyday life, as well as the connection between her dreams and Percy... Well, I promise that I'll try to upload the next chapter as fast as I can. It will have more excitement; I already have some things in mind. Once again, thanks for reading!