Chapter 4

Percy's POV

The other group of teens came down staring at us. That boy, Harry Potter kept observing me and the other girl, Hermione kept staring at me. We waited for Mr. Weasley to do a spell that would extend the table because it didn't fit all of us.

I headed towards the table holding Annabeth's hand and I saw Hermione looking at us. I may be a Seaweed Brain but I could tell she liked me. Too bad the only girl for me was Annabeth. She suddenly grasped my arm and tightened her grip for a moment before releasing. I immediately thought something was wrong. "Are you okay?" I asked worriedly. "Y-Yea I'm fine." I could tell she was lying because she was looking me in the eye. "You're lying to me. What happened?" "I'm fine Percy, really." She gave me a weak smile. "I'm going to head to the restroom really quick." She said before darting away before I could even stop her.

"What was that about?" I turned to see Thalia looking at me with concern. "I don't know. Something's up with Annabeth but she won't tell me." "Don't worry Kelp Head, I'm sure she's fine." "I hope so." We sat down. I left the chair next to me empty for when Annabeth came back. Thalia sat on the other side of me. We talked and then continued our usual argument about air disasters and water disasters.

"Everybody knows that sea disasters are worse than air disasters, Sparky." She growled at the sound of her nickname. "Air disasters are much worse, Kelp head." Outside, thunder boomed and it started raining. "I think your parents might be having the same argument as you guys" Jason added. We glared at him and then shifted the glares onto each other. We would've continued until that girl Hermione took the seat next to me. The one I was saving for Annabeth. All the demigods stared at her. "What?" She asked looking innocent. "Uhh I was kind of saving that seat for Annabeth, my girlfriend." I told her. I could see the look of disappointment in her eyes but she covered it up quickly. She said : "Oh sorry," before hurrying to sit between Harry and Ron.

"Speaking of Annabeth, where is she?" Asked Piper. "Not sure, she says she needed the restroom but she's been in there a while." I felt concerned, I think something was up with my Wise Girl. My suspicions were confirmed when we heard a scream. I recognized it immediately from hearing it so much. It was my Wise Girl. Just as I was about to get up, she came running down the stairs and out the door into the pouring rain. "Annabeth!" I shouted before running after her. The others got up behind me. I turned to them: "Give us a moment please?" They nodded and I dashed out the door.

I searched for her and found her crouched behind the house, her back to a tree. She was getting soaking wet and was sobbing. I felt my stomach drop. I sat down right next to her and pulled her into me. She sobbed into my chest. I held back tears. Seeing her so fragile broke my heart and I didn't even know what happened. "Annabeth? What happened?" I said in a soft tone while stroking her hair gently.

"Nothing happened. Don't worry." I shifted so that I was looking at her face. "Stop lying to me. Annabeth. I know you enough to know when you're keeping things from me. Now tell me the truth." I grabbed her hand but she pulled away. But not fast enough that I didn't notice a little red liquid on her hand. "Annabeth, are you bleeding?" I asked, full of worry. What happened? Why isn't she talking to me about it? My thoughts stopped when Annabeth started sobbing again.

I looked at my girlfriend and my heart broke. I hated this. I hate what that evil place did to us. I hated seeing Annabeth hurt. I couldn't think about that right now, I needed to focus on her hand. I pulled her so her head rested on my chest. I wrapped one arm around her and the other I used to hold her hand.

"Annabeth? Wise Girl? Do you trust me?" She turned facing me. "Yes of course I do." "Ok then tell me what's going on." She turned back burying her face in my chest before moving her position so that she sat facing me. She took a deep breath and started explaining. "The nightmares have gotten worse. Lately they have been happening more often. And I've had more flashbacks during the day now. The nightmares and flashbacks are okay because you help me get out of them. But sometimes the flashbacks happen suddenly and I collapse. They end after while."

"Why didn't you tell me? I could've been helping you." She looked down. I was mad that she didn't tell me because I'm sad that she's getting hurt mentally. I want to be there for her and help her through it. "What about your hand?" "Well..." "Annabeth." I said in a serious tone. "I felt a flashback coming so I ran to the restroom and I hurt my hand when I collapsed. I'm sorry Percy." I didn't know what to say so I pulled her in for a hug. I hugged her tightly and then kissed the top of her head.

"Remember what I said about apologizing. Don't ever keep things like this from me again okay?" "Okay." "Looks like I'm not letting you leave my side anymore." She giggled." What about the restroom. You going to follow me into the girls restroom?" "Well if it comes to it, I would." She smiled, a genuine happy smile. "I love you Seaweed Brain." "I love you too, Wise Girl." And we kissed for several minutes until I decided it was time to go back.

"Well let's fix your hand first." I held controlled the rain and healed Annabeth's hand. "Now I would make us dry but that would seem suspicious so you're going to have to live with wet clothes for the rest of the day.""Come on Seaweed Brain, let's go." She pulled me up and we strolled back to the house.