Just a heads up so you don't let a little WTF when you read this… this chapter is centered on Annabeth, so don't wig out. And you may have noticed this chapter has no name, I can't think of one, so I'm going to leave it blank, so please, remove all frown faces. This is right after her phone call, and her dad and step family were at the airport to see her off. So, that's how Bobby and Matthew had gotten a hold of her cell.

Chapter Three

Annabeth shut her phone, and she let out a dreamy sigh as she sat down on a bench. She couldn't wait until her plane landed in New York, her boyfriend was going to pick her up, and he'd drive them to camp. She couldn't wait to see him, in person, not an Iris message, so she could be in his arms again. They had been happily dating since the end of the second Titan War, but the long distance thing, she could tell, wasn't benefiting their relationship. And it wasn't going to get any better unless she moved to New York.

That wouldn't be a problem with her at all; she could stay at camp during the next school year, then when college came around…oh, college. The thought of it scared her, all the crazy stories she had heard about it, shootings, parties gone bad, teen pregnancies, oh Gods. She pushed the thought aside, and waited for the announcement for her plane to come on over the intercom.

Gods, I'm starving, she thought as her stomach grumbled when she looked over to the food court. She finally let herself walk over and order some chicken Lo Mein from a Chinese restaurant, and she hung onto it so she could eat it on the plane. Annabeth assumed she was going to die of boredom on the plane, from the ADHD and all, so she stood up again and walked over to a magazine stand. The occupant behind the desk was sleeping on the job, "Hello? Can I have that Time magazine, please?" When she didn't get an answer, she rapidly shook the owner, and he snapped awake,

"What?" He said, his head swaying in the air, while he looked up at the ceiling.

Annabeth simply put a five dollar bill under his nose, and grabbed the magazine she wanted. Just then, the beep of the intercom came on,

"Plane for New York now boarding at gate A3, now boarding for New York, gate A3." A feminine voice echoed through the airport.

She grabbed her luggage and stepped through the gate, and onto the plane. Her father had offered to buy her a business class seat, and she accepted it gratefully. After she had stored her luggage up, she settled in with her food and magazine. She tried reading it as best as she could, but gave up and snapped it down into her laptop bag. Annabeth unfolded the table and set her food down, it was a little cold, but she gobbled it down as if she hadn't eaten in days.

"Last call for New York plane, last call." She could hear the bored drone of the announcer in the distance. The plane was quiet, there was little conversation going around. Annabeth clicked her seatbelt as the pilot's voice came on,

"Good evening, thank you for selecting American Airlines as your transporter." Blah, blah…blah, blah, blah. Was all she could hear after a while, but she gripped her armrests so much her knuckles turned a pale white color, when the plane disembarked. When it was safe to unbuckle and move about, she reclined her seat, and drifted off into sleep.

Annabeth snapped awake when she felt someone shaking her, "Miss, miss?" She opened her eyes to find that an older young man in his twenties, shaking her shoulder, "Would you like a beverage from the cart?"

She rubbed her tired eyes, "Sure, I'll take a bottle of water." He nodded and was about to walk off but she stopped him.

"Anything else you need?" He asked eagerly.

"No thank you, but. Where are we now?" Annabeth asked, still rubbing her eyes.

"We're just above Ohio. We'll be landing in another two hours or so, miss." He responded.

She nodded in thanks, and looked out into the dark. She looked down at her watch, ten thirty. It'd be awfully late when she Percy was going to pick her up, maybe she could just spend the remainder of the night at his house, then they could go to camp from there. Annabeth dug around through her laptop bag and took out Daedelus's laptop; she hadn't even scratched the surface of all the phenomenal ideas on the computer. She had tried to show Percy something on the laptop, but he lost interest in about five seconds…if that. As a result, he got the laptop in the, let's just be blunt, he got them in the balls.

The steward came back with the water, "There you are, miss."

She smiled up at him, "Thank you." He nodded and wandered off to assist other passengers.

Fifteen minutes after landing…

"Hey, this is Percy. Leave a message and I'll get back to you." The answering machine on his phone had picked up for the third time now, but no actual Percy. After the sound of the beep she spoke, "Hey, Percy. You're probably already here or something…but, if you're not that's fine, too. But please come pick me up soon." She ended the message and sat on the edge of the fountain in the front of the airport.

Back at Percy's apartment…

Percy's mom had been keeping a watchful eye on her son for the last few hours; she had no idea what to do, or how to clean his wound. She had found some sort of spike lodged in the calf of his leg, but she didn't know where that had come from. Percy had been slipping in and out of consciousness, breaking out into a fever and cold sweats. She could tell he was delirious from the pain, so she could tell this was no ordinary wound, it had to be from some creature he had stumbled across. "I need to call Annabeth." She pressed a cold cloth onto his forehead, "I'll be right back, honey. Just-just stay awake, okay?"

Percy's teeth were gritted and his eyes clamped shut, he was gripping onto his blanket by the fistful, "Yeah, call-Annabeth." He gasped and passed out again.

She rushed over to his cluttered desk and found his phone overtime. She scrolled through his options of the phone until she found the contacts button, and selected it, and Annabeth's name was the very first name on the list. She put the phone up to her ear with one hand, while tapping her other hand on her knee anxiously, "Percy? There you a-"

"Annabeth? Sorry, but I need your advice." Sally said, cutting her off.

"My advice? Well…okay what's going on?" Annabeth asked, uncertain.

"Well…Perce-Percy's hurt. Like, really, really bad and-"This time she got cut off.

"WHAT? PERCY'S IN TROUBLE? I'll be there, in like, five minutes!" Annabeth said, choking up.

"Five minutes?" Sally asked while shifting the phone around, "Okay, then. Please hurry."

"I will." Annabeth said, while stifling back a sob.

Annabeth sprinted as best as she could towards a taxi that was idle in front of the airport and hopped into the back seat, and told the taxi driver the address.

Once they finally got in front of the apartment, she paid the driver, and he sped off. Annabeth ran up the stairs to her boyfriend's apartment, and before she could even knock the door swung open, "Come on in." Paul said stepping out of the way as she ran into Percy's room. His stepdad looked oblivious to what was truly going on with Percy, so Paul shuffled back to bed. She dropped her bags at the doorway, and ran to be by his side.

Yes, a cliffhanger…sort of. Since I'm feeling in a writing mood tonight, I'll write another chapter after this one. Please write a review, telling me how much you like it…or hate it. And I'll take any relevant advice, or grammar things you caught. But I'll tell you, I use a program that has spelling and grammar check. The only grammar mistakes you'll find are fragments, but the way people talk now a days; you probably won't even know that they're fragments. Anyway, everyone pumped for the New Years? I sure know I am. 2011 has been fun, but I'm ready to take on 2012. I'm a little anxious, though. I know the end of the world thing isn't really real, but it makes you think. Hey! That gives me an idea, I'll have little polls once in a while, and you can PM me, and tell me your answer. I'll pick the best one and…I don't know what the prize is yet. I might post it on an author's note; and I might send you a sneak peek of the next chapter.

So, on with the question…

What is your new year's resolution?

I know what mine is…nothing. (Yeah, that's REAL inspirational, right?)

-iGwyn12