Chapter Thirty

This is the Unbeta-ed version, the edited version will probably be posted tomorrow, I had almost finished this chapter when my laptop decided to spontaneously power off leaving me with 900 hundred fewer words than I had. Thanks Technology love you too! I rewrote this in a hurry, but it's up, so I'll see you guys later.

Percy

Grey eyes, framed by tan skin and blonde ringlets. Dark lashes and a timid smile. A warm feeling in the pit of my stomach. Gentle fingers running along the back of my neck. Goosebumps on my skin. Strong hands gently tugging my hair. The soft smell of oranges all around me. Happy laughter in my ears. Warm breath on my face. The warm tingle as she leans in.

I wake up resentfully, with a bright light in my eyes and an ache in my back that belongs to a guy fifty years older than me. With a groan, I glare out towards the sun, as if I could intimidate it into going back down. It takes me a moment of looking out the windshield to register where I am. I glance around at the front seat I'm sprawled across. Flopping back down and I bury my eyes to hide from the painfully harsh light. The seat isn't quite as long as I am, so I ended up painfully hunched.

I definitely didn't want to wake up from that dream, even though it's kind of messing with my head. Annabeth and I are friends, good friends who are becoming closer and closer, yes. Is there anything romantic going on? No, probably not, maybe… who am I kidding I have no idea what's going on. I groan a little bit under my breath and shove my face back into my pillow.

Apparently my groan was just a bit too loud. When I look up, Grover is sleepily peering over the seat at me. He rubs his eyes and flops backwards, as we both come to face that its morning and we have to wake up, however reluctantly.

"Hey, where's the next stop?" He grumbles out, his voice still sleepy, but at least it's semi-coherent, which is a plus, I couldn't say I'm fully awake either. Feeling each and every muscle in my body protesting, I pull myself up and reach for the GPS sitting on the dash.

Annabeth was smart enough to create a route before we left Remington, so all I have to do is pull it up. Unfortunately, I'm not exactly fluent in Tech. The only computer I've ever had at my house is a white monstrosity that we only recently converted from dial-up. Finally, I get it the right screen up, and read off the details to Grover.

"Its house number 47 off the main turnpike, apparently it doubles as a gardening Shop." I explain to him, feeling a little rush of adrenaline spike through me. I can barely even think about meeting the toadstool covered spawn of Satan and the man who gave me life all bundled up into one frustrated package, called "Dad".

There are some many problems that come along with meeting him though. What if he's just as much of a jerk as he seems? What if he laughs in my face? What if he accuses me of lying? What if he doesn't even speak to me? What if he's perfectly happy living some flawless life? What if this is all a mistake? What if I end up wishing I never met him? Grover must sense my anxiety, because his next words are entirely serious.

"You know, you don't have to do this. If you want to, we can just turn around and pretend none of this ever happened. We won't think any less of you if you change your mind." His words are reassuring, and as much as I want to believe them, I can't.

"I know all that Grover, but I can't; I can't just allow him to continue living his life as if I don't exist. He needs to know that I'm still here, and he should know what he abandoned." The words fly off my tongue, and I feel myself getting angrier and angrier as I speak them. Grover just nods understandingly, without much of a reaction, and I force myself to calm down, irrationality won't get me anywhere now.

"I can understand that." I suppose he can, based on what little I know, Grover's family life isn't exactly roses and sunshine. Hell, none of ours are exactly classic sitcom material. I mean even Annabeth… I glance over to the side of Grover, expecting to see a comatose blond sprawled across the seat. Instead, all I see is an abandoned blanket.

"Grover, where's Annabeth?"He freezes, and looks down for the first time, before his eyes go wide and we both burst from the car.

…

Annabeth

A voicemail, somehow it seems incredibly anticlimactic, but thankfully I don't have to be confronted with Luke's furious voice, instead all I hear is his pleasant greeting and a request to "leave a message." It hurts a little to breathe before I start talking, feeling guilty, and stressed and frustrated all at once.

"Hey Luke, it's me… Annabeth. Ummm, I'm just calling to let you know I'm okay… I can't tell you where I am exactly. I wasn't really supposed to be using my phone, so I only got your texts this morning… Grover's with me, he's okay too, but please don't be mad at him. You know we both would've told you where we were going if we could've… I'm really sorry about that, by the way, it's just…. it wasn't my decision to make. We'll be home by the time everyone gets back from Greece, I'll see you then." In the split second before I'm about to hang-up my heart almost stops as I picture that dark look from a few weeks ago, when he seemed to close in on himself. "Please don't be too angry, and don't do anything irrational either... This is gonna sound really selfish, but when I get home, I'm really gonna need to see you. I miss you a lot. I'll be back to Remington soon."

I place the phone back in its cradle slowly and take a deep breath, feeling the weight slowly pull off of my shoulders. I know things won't be perfect between us, that will take time, and it will definitely involve some face to face groveling on my part, but I know we'll be repairable at least; I've done everything in my power to make this right, and now I can just file it away for later. I can't afford to be caught up in Luke or Thalia; all my attention needs to be focused on the here and now. With that thought in mind, I even smile a little.

Percy

I barge in through the double doors, frantically scanning the space as my mind whirls through all the horrific possibilities of things that can happen to a teenage girl wandering alone through a truck-stop.

I skid to a stop when I see her, standing in front of the cashier with a bag of chocolate covered pretzels sitting on the counter between them. As Grover screeches to a stop beside me, she smiles at as, handing a five to the bored employee.

"Hey guys, what's up?" She asks nonchalantly. If I'm wearing the same perplexed expression as Grover, we could easily pass for a couple of stooges.

A/N: I dropped a big clue, how many of you guys got it?