(A/N) Sorry for the long absence, guys, but I won't even bother with excuses. I was just too lazy to write! (Also, I DO have school work, ya know) So anyways, I am only gonna update once I hit some 5-10 reviews, please lemme know what you think of this chapter! I don't want to be one of those writers, but I don't want to write for nothing. All of you fellow writers know how much reviews mean to you, right? Could you help out a fellow author in return? Thanks! (A/N)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything 'cept the plot. The book 'Many Lives, Many Masters' belongs to the author of the book. Who is not me, in case you were wondering.

Annabeth slowly walked to school, her sneakers crunching on the autumn leaves. She hiked up her jacket and stuffed her hands in her jeans to keep out the biting wind. Sleepy pedestrians walked past her on their way to their offices. They looked like ghosts walking the earth, wafting through the morning mist.

She let her mind wander back to her dreams. Should she tell Percy about her series of dreams or keep them to herself? She was afraid of what he would say, she was scared that she would be laughed at and abandoned by one of her only friends. But it was getting harder to ignore the dreams. For the past few months she had been tortured in her sleep. It was almost as if the dreams were real, as if they were from her past lives, from ages long lost. Haunting her sleep. Or were they nightmares? Or were they some kind of cryptic warning of things yet to happen? A. . . prophecy of sorts.

Ever since they had started, she had tried researching them online. She was resourceful that way, or weird, as Thalia often remarked. The results had certainly been interesting. She had come across a book called 'Many lives, Many Masters' by a certain . Apparently, the author used hypnosis to unearth his patients' past lives to cure their fears and help them understand themselves better. One patient had had a fear of swallowing pills and a fear of water, both of which turned out to have roots in her past lives. Annabeth's first impulse had been to laugh off the description of the book and turn her search elsewhere, but the events described in the book so curiously mirrored her own experiences that she ordered the book off of Amazon and read it cover to cover at night when her parents were asleep.

She had been simultaneously thrilled, amazed, excited and horrified at what she read. Annabeth witnessed people's past lives, their secret fears and hopes and dreams. Their experiences were startlingly similar and yet so different to what she had gone through. On one hand, the patients had varied and dissimilar lives across the ages. They had met different people, visited different eras and generally had diverse experiences. Occasionally, they had come across the same person throughout the ages, but those people were rare. On the other hand, Annabeth had the exact same experience every single time. The only thing separating the dreams were the settings. Victorian London? Colonial America? She had been to them all.

Suddenly, she felt herself collide with someone and fell down, sprawling on the rough gravel. She looked up to see a sheepish Luke offering his hand to her. Roused from her reverie, she regarded him coldly, painfully aware of the role he played in her dreams. She accepted the fact that her dreams had been real at some point of time, and chose to take them seriously.

She waved aside his hand and stood up. Luke withdrew his hand, noticeably embarrassed. He said, 'Um, I'm sorry, Annie. Are you hurt? Should I get you a band aid or something? I can take you to the nurse's office at school if you want.' Annabeth replied civilly, 'No thanks, Luke, I can take care of myself. I'll see you at school.' She brushed the dust off her jeans and jogged the rest of the way to school.

Luke watched her run to school, his sheepish smile now replaced by a cold sneer. 'You will be mine, Annie. You can bet on it.' He slowly started walking to school, whistling cheerfully.

~oOo~

Percy walked as quickly as he could to his class. He was five minutes late, and Miss Kerr did not take kindly to latecomers. Groups of people stared as he walked past, casually waving and saying helloes. A few girls leaned against the blue lockers and smiled flirtatiously, hoping to catch his gaze. A couple of silent juniors skulked in the shadows by the lockers, their gazes piercing through the gloom and the dim lighting.

He carefully avoided their gazes and stepped into his home room. What's up with them? They've been quitter than usual after I beat 'em up.I wonder what they are planning now, especially that first-class creep, Vaas.

Vaas was an exchange student from some school in the Caribbean Isles. Even the teachers sensed that something was definitely wrong with the kid ever since he had arrived. It was partly due to his odd appearance. Every day since school had started he had worn the same look and outfit: his black hair was cut in a flat Mohawk, he wore a red vest and light brown trousers along with brown combat boots. Several beaded string necklaces dangled from his neck and he sported a leather wrist wrap.

He had this unhinged look in his brown eyes, as though he knew he was insane and thoroughly enjoyed it. Creepy was the least offensive term that could be used to describe him. He was simply menacing.

Oddly enough he had hit it off with Luke on his first day itself. Everyone gossiped excitedly as they saw the school's weirdest weirdo hang out with the biggest bully out there. Percy suspected that they had a lot more in common with each other than it would seem. In just a week they had managed to assemble a gang that terrorized people for the heck of it. Even the teachers pretended not to notice the kids being strong armed for their lunch money and all the newbies who's heads were being dunked in the toilets despite frequent complaints. Percy observed that the kids who squealed to the authorities were often absent from school for weeks due to "critical injuries". It was certainly no coincidence that only these kids suffered from mysterious injuries. All of them had been bullied, and all of them had ratted out the gang. Nobody else suffered anything of the sort.

Of course the parents had approached the principal, but even he had been powerless to do anything. The school's gossip vine circulated rumours that Vaas had some kind of pull with the principal. Rumours abounded that his parents used blackmail to ensure that the principal did not punish the perpetrators. Percy was not inclined to believe these theories, but nothing else could plausibly explain why the principal practically ignored Vaas's existence. The only time he had acknowledged him was when he introduced Vass to the school during a general assembly. Ever since then he had turned a blind eye to all of his activities.

Percy had helped out whenever he spotted someone being bullied. Nobody else seemed inclined to help, but then again they were not black belts in several martial arts. He had been practising Karate, Judo, and Taekwondo simultaneously since the age of six. Sally Jackson had learned the hard way that New York could be a tough place to fend for oneself and did not intend for Percy to go through what she had experienced. As a result Percy was now pretty much an expert in the arts at the age of sixteen and a half. Rather conspicuously none of the gang had tried picking on him after four of them had to be hospitalized for broken bones and critical injuries. The principal had actually quietly congratulated Percy after putting on a show of scolding him and calling his parents.

Percy had always been popular, but thrashing the gang had sent his popularity sky-rocketing . He had studied Newton's Laws, and one of them applied perfectly to his situation. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. While the school generally treated him like a hero, the gang had become increasingly vicious against Percy. They knew that physically they stood no chance and had resorted to verbal put downs and taunts. Percy calmly took it all in stride and humiliated them badly whenever they tried taunting him. He had the whole school on his side, and the whole building echoed with laughter at his jokes at the gangs' expense.

After repeated humiliations they had retreated into the shadows. Percy knew they were planning something big and had requested his friends to try and spy on them and see what was up with them. Today after school he had planned to meet his friends at his place. They would try and infiltrate the gang and observe their plans. Then they would then try and sabotage their plans and try and bring down the gang once and for all.

Percy chuckled as he thought of how it sounded like the lame plot of some generic Hollywood spy movie. It may have sounded stupid but the general well-being of the pupils of Goode depended on the success of their plans. They would do whatever it took, no matter how clichéd or melodramatic it seemed. All they needed was a workable plan of action.

Percy tiptoed into class and managed to sit on his seat while Miss Kerr's back was turned. She raised an eyebrow when she saw him seated but did not question him further. Percy sighed in relief, dismissing the nagging suspicion in the back of his mind that something was wrong.

(A/N) Sooo, how did you all like the update? Is it good? Fun? Maybe I need to improve something? Please let me know and I shall try and incorporate your suggestions! And hey Kerowyn, thanks for pointing out my flaws, I shall certainly try and improve more! And now I'll probably update by Saturday (Indian Time) or Sunday, I have a lot of work to catch up on and won't be able to write tomorrow. Cheers! (A/N)