Hola, everybody! I'm back! :) Percabeth in this chapter as promised, as well as some action at the end. Yay! Shout outs:

Myusernameisoriginal- Yeah, I'm not too proud of the last chapter, but I'm glad you liked it! And trust me, you see more of Sally later on :) You'll know what I mean when the story gets to that point. ;)

PepsiCola541- Don't apologize for your cliffy- I certainly write them all the time! (as demonstrated in this chapter…) Besides, nothing keeps readers reading like cliffys. And yeah, my clues weren't very clear, I guess :(

MarMar5678- Don't worry about it :) I just kind of mentioned it in passing, anyway.

Wisdom's daughter- You speak Greek? Ok, I'm officially jealous…

8EternallyMortal8- Good question! I'll explain the best I can- for one thing, Percy and Thalia knew each other before they went to the MIST Academy. Also, Sally would have told them they were related. Hope that clears that up, I never really clarified that in School of Secrets. :( Sorry 'bout that!

Disclaimer: Um, yeah, no. RR owns all.

Percy's POV

A week flew by, and Annabeth and I spent it healing. Mom bought us some medicine called "Ambrosia & Nectar" from who-knows-where (she wouldn't tell us, for some reason), but whatever that stuff was, it tasted amazing and speed up our healing incredibly fast. By the end of the week, Annabeth and I were good as new.

Mom loved Annabeth immediately, of course, and often they would do chores around the house, talking about how impossible I could be.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Asked Annabeth suddenly, jerking me from my thoughts. I looked over to my girlfriend, who was lounged on my bed holding the book she'd just finished in one hand.

"Just…stuff," I said, shrugging. Annabeth hesitated for a moment, like she was contemplating telling me something.

"Percy," she began carefully.

"Yeah?"

"Now that I'm better… well, I'm grateful to you and your mom for letting me stay here and all, but I should be getting home." Annabeth said, looking pained.

"Back to California?" I asked softly, not really surprised. I expected her to announce something like this for the last few days- not that it made it any easier.

"Back to California," she echoed, looking unhappy. It was weird, Annabeth never really looked happy when she mentioned home. She looked more… uncertain. Reluctant. Most of the time, she just didn't bring it up at all, which was fine by me. Whatever kept her here in New York longer. Now that I knew she planned on leaving soon, though, I found myself slightly curious.

"What's it like? Your home, I mean," I asked suddenly. Annabeth shifted uncomfortably at my question, but answered me anyway.

"Not like your home," she muttered. Something about her tone of voice told me that wasn't a good thing, but she continued before I could say anything.

"You know my mom left us," she said, and I nodded. "Well, my dad remarried this Asian woman. They had kids- Bobby and Matthew- and kind of forgot about me. I always made Dad and his new wife uncomfortable- I was just another reminder that my dad had been with another woman before. So, I took a hint and left. I haven't been home since… well, since I was seven years old."

"You ran away when you were seven years old?" I gasped, staring at her. "How on earth did you end up at the MIST Academy?"

"I ran into Luke," Annabeth said tightly. "He and Thalia were also runaways, and they took me with them. Luke said-" Annabeth broke off and took a deep breath before continuing. "Luke said they would be my new family. Grover joined us not much later, and we eventually ran into one of Kronos's buddies. He took us to the MIST Academy, and Luke… well, you know the story from there." I shifted uncomfortably- Luke was a touchy subject still, and I felt like I was walking on ice that might break at any moment.

"And you still want to go home?" I asked softly.

"Not really," Annabeth admitted. "But maybe things have changed." It sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than me, so I didn't say anything.

"If you're leaving soon, I'm taking you out on a real date first," I informed her. She raised an eyebrow, obviously happy to change the subject. "Think about it! We've been dating for what, a month? But we've never gone on a real date," I insisted.

"More like two weeks, but ok," Annabeth grinned. "Where are we going?" I thought about it for a moment.

"How about lunch and a movie?" I asked.

"Sounds great," She smiled. "Let me change into some nicer clothes, then we can go." I nodded as she left my room, determined to push Annabeth's news from my mind and enjoy our date.

-Line Break-

Annabeth and I decided to eat at 5 Guys, a burger place down the street. It was right next to a great ice cream place and relatively close to the movie theater, not to mention it was the perfect place for a casual date. We found a seat, waiting for our food and just enjoying each other's company. It felt nice to relax and not worry about anything for once.

"So, what movie?" Annabeth asked, grinning at me.

"I hear Monsters University is out…" I wheedled. Annabeth laughed at me, her eyes bright.

"That movie is for kids who are, like, eight years old," she teased me.

"So?" I begged. "C'mon, it'll be fun!"

"Watching a kids movie?"

"Why not?"

"Well…fine. But next time, I'm picking the movie," she caved, and I grinned triumphantly. Plus, that "next time" sounded pretty promising.

"Fair enough," I conceded.

"39, your order is ready!" Called out the guy behind the cash register. He was handsome, I guess, judging by how many girls were staring at him. Annabeth didn't seem interested, thank gods. Checking the receipt, I saw we were number 39.

"That's us," I told her.

"I'll get it," she said, getting up before I could protest that since I was the guy I should get the food. When she got to the counter, she grabbed the bag and cashier man handed her a slip of paper. She snapped something at him and he said something back, winking at her. I was about to go give him a piece of my mind when Annabeth turned around and walked back to me, dropping the paper he'd handed her into the trash can in the process. She returned to our table, looking furious.

"What was the paper for?" I asked.

"It was his number," she spat, looking disgusted. "As if I'd ever call a guy like him!" I was torn between being privately delighted by how repulsive she found him, and going and giving the guy a heart-felt punch in the face.

"Here," I said when I noticed cashier guy was still checking her out from across the room. I leaned over and kissed her quickly, enjoying the shocked look that spread across cashier man's face. She grinned.

"Was that to get the message across to him?" She asked slyly.

"Maybe," I said evasively. "And maybe it was just 'cuz I wanted to kiss you," I finished, grinning as I took a bite out of my double cheeseburger. Annabeth ducked her head, but I still caught a glimpse of the smile that spread across her face.

We finished out meal quickly and headed over to the ice cream place next door. Annabeth got a scoop of strawberry ice cream, while I got blue cotton candy ice cream with blue gummy bears and blue sprinkles. We decided to walk over to the movie theater, since it was so close, and eat our ice cream on the way. While we were walking, Annabeth mentioned something about a guy driving backwards, and when I turned to look, she swiped a spoonful of my ice cream.

"Hey!" I protested when I realized what she'd done. Annabeth just shot me a grin and popped the ice cream in her mouth. The joke was on her, though, when she tasted it.

"Oh, gods, that's way too sweet," she choked.

"I like it," I winked, swiping a spoonful of her ice cream.

"Mm, strawberry," I said around my mouthful, reaching for another spoonful.

"Oh no you don't!" She laughed, swatting my hand away. I pretended to pout as we got to the theater. Annabeth and I got in line as I pulled out my wallet to pay for the tickets. While Annabeth ran her eyes over the movie times, I snuck some more of her ice cream.

"'Scuse me," said a little kid, pushing past Annabeth to get to his mom, who was in line ahead of us. The woman turned to us, apologizing for her son's behavior.

"Sorry, he can't ever sit still," she said. Annabeth laughed, apparently not bothered at all.

"Well, my boyfriend is like that, so no worries," she assured the woman.

"Hey!" I objected indignantly. "I told you, it's the ADHD." Annabeth just laughed.

"Sure it is, Seaweed Brain," she said, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek before returning to her conversation with the woman. I focused on sneaking more ice cream from Annabeth, mostly because I'd finished mine.

"Mister?" Asked the little boy suddenly, looking at me curiously.

"Yeah?"

"Why are you eating the blonde girl's ice cream?" I froze, my spoon half in Annabeth's ice cream, and she turned at his question, catching me red handed.

Busted.

-Line Break-

When the movie was over, we walked back into the bright sun, laughing and talking. The movie had been cute, and even Annabeth had gotten into it, although she would never admit it. The boy who'd gotten me caught stealing Annabeth's ice cream- turns out his name was Daniel- had been there to see Monsters University, also, and had shouted out encouragement to the characters the entire movie. Instead of being annoying, it had been funny, and I was in better spirits than I'd been since…well, since I got shipped off to The MIST Academy.

We turned down a lesser-used road, ready to get back to the car and get home. The street was deserted, and our voices seemed to bounce of the tall buildings on either side.

"Hey, Percy?" Annabeth asked suddenly, more serious now.

"Yeah?"

"We're going to make this work, right?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"Us. When I go home, we'll make us work, right?" She asked hesitantly. I stopped and turned to her.

"Of course we will," I said confidently. "You know why?" I continued before she could answer. "Because if we can escape a boarding school run by people who specifically want to hurt us, we can handle a long distance relationship. And if California doesn't work out," I said, my voice softer now. "You can always come back here." She smiled slightly, but I knew she was stubborn enough to try to make it work anyways.

"Thanks, Percy," she said, kissing me softly. I kissed her back, and it felt like more than our other kisses- it felt like a promise. A promise that no matter what happened, no matter what changed, we would stay together. We would make this work.

Our kiss was interrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps. An iron like grip clamped down on my arm and jerked me back, shoving a cloth up to my face. I struggled to hold my breath, determined not to breath in the drug. Across from me, Annabeth was receiving a similar treatment from… was that an earth-bound? I kicked back, trying to jerk myself away from the earth-bound holding me, my lungs burning for air. My heel connected with what felt like a leg, but it was like kicking cement. I was forced to breath, my lungs feeling like they were on fire, and immediately felt light headed. The earth-bound dropped me and I crumpled to the ground, the world spinning into darkness. The last thing I remember was the sound of Annabeth screaming my name and a silver arrow clattered to the pavement in front of my face. Then my world went black.

Right, hope that satisfied all you Percabeth people! I'm not great at writing romance, so sorry if that seemed OOC or weird. :( Anyways, Reviewer's Question: Why do you think the earth-bounds came after Percy and Annabeth? I know I haven't given you much information to base your guesses off of, but it's just for fun. Until next time!