A/N: Time for an update! I'll write this as much as I can. I'm working SO much during this x-mas break, so I won't have a bunch of time for the writing. I also started a new story, 'Well, crap.' =] Lovely huh? It's Annabeth's POV. Check it out!

Quick Grammatical Correction! Last chapter, I said 'the shadowing side of the building.' I meant 'shadowy'. Sorry!

Thanks for the 276 reviews, guys! How exciting! =] I LOVE YOU ALL AND WISH YOU ALL HAPPY HOLIDAYS! MERRY CHRISTMAS/HAPPY HANNUKAH/KWANZAA/ANYTHING ELSE I MISSED! (I hope I spelt those right...)

Okay, guys, a quick warning: THIS CHAPTER IS FREAKY. AND GRAPHIC-ISH. AND NOT FOR YOUNG EYES. ISH. IT'S NOT THAT BAD BUT IT'S BAD ENOUGH.

IF YOU ARE 13 OR UNDER, PLEASE SKIP TO THE SECOND PAIR OF "..:..:.." AND I WILL BE HAPPY. =] Okay, it's seriously not that bad but I don't want to taint your young eyes. =[

YOU

HAVE

BEEN

WARNED.

ON WITH THE SHOW!

SLTF =]

..:..:..

Annabeth's POV

..:..:..

I managed to make it to the end of the alley before a rough pair of hands grabbed my arms non-too-gently and yanked me back into the shadows. I let out a strangled scream before the hand clapped down over my mouth. I clawed at the fingers that were tightly clamped down on my face.

"ANNABETH!" I heard Percy bellow from behind me. I then heard a shout of pain and laughter echoing in the alley. Thalia cried something and I heard Grover yelp. Callie shrieked Luke's name and there was more scuffling.

"Still playing hard to get, huh?" the familiar voice whispered in my ear. I squeezed my eyes shut, struggling to control the whimper of fear that was threatening to burst from me. "It's funny, you know." He said as he put his other hand on my stomach. I started squirming as hard as I could. This is not happening, this is not happening, THIS IS NOT HAPPENING. My mind chanted to me. "You were with that blonde guy, and yet you walk out arm-in-arm with the one with dark hair. Do you even have a boyfriend? Or are you just a whore?" His hand slid lower. I reached down and grabbed it, digging into his flesh with my nails as I tried to force it back up. I was thankful that I hadn't trimmed them yet.

"Ow!" he spat, wrenching his arm away. "You bitch!" I bit down on his other hand and he yelled in pain.

You know what? In this moment of fear, I didn't think clearly. I scrambled, not towards the street where safety and help could be reached, but back into the shadows to get to Percy and my friends. In the dim light, I could barely make out what was happening. I saw forms moving and cries of pain and laughter and shouts of triumph. There were a couple bodies on the ground. Not dead. Please say they're not dead. Then I saw a flash of pale skin that drew my eye. It was Thalia. A limp Thalia that was being dragged further back into the dark by two of Tall Evil Soon-To-Be-Dead Guy's friends.

"Let her go!" My voice hurt as it left my throat. I ran towards them and reached out for her when someone grabbed my ankle. I fell to the pavement with an "Ouff!". I felt my palms and knees grind painfully against the cement and tears pricked in my eyes. The hand on my ankle pulled me backwards and I let out a scream that would have impressed a banshee.

"Shut up!" an unfamiliar male voice hissed at me. I continued to draw out my scream until he hit me on the back of the head. Hard. My cheek slammed into the ground and I was paralyzed for a minute. "Stupid bitch. Can't believe you kicked me there. Fuck."

"Grover!" Juniper's high pitched voice shrieked into the night. No. No. Please let them be okay. Don't hurt them. Don't hurt anyone. I thought groggily.

"Callie? Are you okay? Where are you?" I saw Luke's blonde hair glinting in the dim lighting. A shadow moved up behind him and knocked him to the ground.

"Luke? LUKE!" I heard Callie screech.

"No!" I cried. I then felt a heavy weight on my back and I groaned. I was then lifted up by my arms into a standing position. I felt the tiny rocks in the scratches on my knees and cried out in pain.

"Yeah, I hope you hurt, you bitch." The guy snarled just before his fist connected with my bad cheek. My head snapped back. I tasted blood. My face felt broken. I coughed and started sobbing.

"Get the fuck off me –" I heard Percy yell before someone hit the ground. "Annabeth? Annabeth!" he called out.

"Percy – " I croaked out before my attacker shut me up with a hand on my mouth again.

"Hello again." Tall Evil Guy's voice floated right beside my ear. I panicked and skittered away – right into the guy who punched me. His arm locked mine behind me and his hand stayed over my mouth. "You know that both of your 'boyfriends' are out cold. So I won't have any competition. Isn't that fun? And after I'm done with you, we can make sure that our friend Tom here can still use his own parts. You know. Make sure you didn't damage him too bad." He laughed softly as his hand slid up my leg. The other started on my stomach and moved up too.

I tried to scream. It was muffled. I thrashed. It was pointless. I cried. It didn't help.

I was about to give up when a beam of light washed over me.

"What's going on here?" a gruff voice barked. "Hey. Hey!" The beam of light grew larger and I could only focus on the large, blinding circle of yellowish-white that was moving towards me. If that's the tunnel of light that I'm supposed to see before I die, why is it bouncing up and down? Is heaven having a seizure? Tall Evil Guy's hand stopped pulling up my skirt. "Get the fuck off of her!" Wow. I didn't know that God swore. Isn't that a sin? Tall Evil Guy got yanked away from me and the other guy dropped me. I fell like a sack of potatoes to the ground. Huh. How odd. I saw feet moving in front of me and heard the gruff voice say, "Damn it. There's more," before yelling, "Hey! Call security! There's a situation here!" There's security in heaven? I mumbled in my head before I blacked out.

..:..:..

I woke up to blue and red lights washing over me. I shivered on the ground. I want to go home. I want to go home. I repeated over and over in my head.

"Hey, miss. Can you sit up?" someone crouched in front of me. I closed my eyes and whimpered. "Okay. It's okay. You're safe now. C'mon." The person helped me sit up. "Here." A blanket fell around my shoulders. I looked down and shimmied down my skirt before pulling my shirt back into position. My hands were shaking. Tears ran down my face and stung where the guy had hit me and where I'd scraped it on the ground. "What's your name? Can you tell me your name?"

"Annabeth." My voice was hoarse and cracked.

"Okay, Annabeth. That's a pretty name. Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere else?" I recognized the voice as female. I looked up. A woman police officer was staring at me intently. I trembled and shook my head no. "Okay. Come on. Let's get you to the hospital to get cleaned up." She started to stand when I reached forward and grasped her arm.

"Where are my friends?" I croaked.

"They're at the hospital too. We'll go see them now. Come on, I'll help you up." She leaned down and aided me in standing. She patiently led me past her squad car and to an ambulance that was idling nearby. I lay down on the stretcher they provided and they lifted me into the van. A paramedic hopped in with me and started cleaning my wounds as we drove off. Sirens wailed.

"You can turn those off. I'm not dying." I told him.

He just smiled at me and worked on my knees.

"I'm serious. Turn them off." I demanded. My head felt fuzzy.

"Just calm down, honey. We'll be there in a second anyway."

He lied. It took another five to ten minutes to arrive. I was angry that he didn't listen to me. But as they were unloading my stretcher back onto the ground, it jostled against something. My vision went black as I fainted again.

..:..:..

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Where had I heard this noise before?

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

And why is it bringing back good feelings that I can't even remember?

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

I opened my eyes. The smell of sterilization and bleached sheets filled my nostrils. My face felt like hell. My palms and knees hurt. And I felt completely disgusting.

I ignored the pain and sat up. I pushed my blonde hair back from my sight, cringing when my fingers brushed my sore cheek.

"Oh!" I breathed.

Luke was asleep on my right, with a black eye, bloody lip and a bandage across his forehead.

I looked left. Grover had a bandage across his forehead too, and a bruised cheek. His forearm was in a cast. I craned my neck to see past him. Some old guy lay there. I turned and looked past Luke.

Percy.

I threw my sheets off me, kicking at them angrily when they wouldn't untangle from my legs. As I slid off the bed, my hospital dress scrunched up. I felt sick and yanked it down as hard as I could. Shaking, I made my way over to Percy's bedside.

"Oh, Percy." I whispered.

One of his eyes was swollen shut, the other one bruised. He had a white pad taped to his cheek and a stitched up chin. His "good" hand was now wrapped in bandages.

I brushed his hair back from his forehead and ran my fingers through the black strands.

"Oh! Miss? You should be laying down." A nurse bustled over to me and tried to lead me back to my bed.

"No. I'm barely hurt." My voice shook. I grasped the bars on the side of Percy's bed and ignored the sharp pain that lanced through my palms. "I want to be here."

"Well you're not going to be here any longer. Come back to bed and rest. Now." The nurse demanded, her puffy white hair peeking out from her cap.

The moment she said 'rest', I felt a wave of exhaustion, even though I was just sleeping. My grip loosened and she pried my hands away from Percy's bed. I reluctantly followed her back to my bed.

"Come on, now." She helped me up.

I brought the wrinkled sheets up to my chin and turned on my side. The nurse said something else, softly, but I had already closed my eyes.

..:..:..

The final time that I awoke, it was chaos.

All of our families were darting around the room, moms crying, dads angry or concerned, siblings freaking out.

"Annabeth!" my father and stepmom were suddenly right there, peering down at me. "Annabeth are you alright?" my dad grasped my hand. I cried out in pain and pulled away.

"Sorry." I looked down at my palms before showing him. "I, um, scraped them."

"Annabeth, what in the name of the Gods happened to you? To all of these kids?" my dad looked completely frazzled, scared and concerned. My stepmom simply stood by, not breaking her continuing stare at me.

Voices grew louder around me and doctors in white coats glided by here and there, talking to our relatives. Conversations were jumbled and I saw Callie and Juniper hugging each other by the opposite wall.

"I need to go check on my friends." I told him as I tossed back the sheets.

"No." He said firmly, stepping in front of me.

"Dad." I replied just as sternly. "I. Need. To. Go. See. My. Friends."

"They are not my concern, Annabeth. You are my daughter. And my daughter is going to tell me what happened." He pointed at me with his finger. I almost went cross-eyed watching it jab at me. I focused on my dad.

"Your daughter will speak to you in a minute." I said. I pushed off the bed, past my dad and stepmom and towards Callie and Juniper. Callie looked panicked as she saw me approach with my face flushed and Juniper was crying.

"What?" I snapped at Callie. Her expression was weird and I didn't have time to coddle her.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, her eyes filling with tears too.

"What for?" I asked, surprised. My anger melted away.

She cleared her throat and looked away as she said, "For this. I can't believe this happened."

I swallowed hard and closed my eyes. "It's my fault."

"No it's not, Annabeth." Juniper soothed, her hands resting on my shoulder. "You can't blame yourself for this."

"Yes I can!" I exclaimed, hot tears burning behind my closed lids. I opened them and they spilled down my cheeks. "Yes I can." I repeated softer. "I knew the main guy. Kind of. He wanted to dance with me and I turned him down, saying-saying that I had a boyfriend." I choked out.

"Oh. Oh, Annabeth." Juniper hugged me, but I felt sick. I pulled away and shook my head.

"I'm so sorry."

"This isn't your fault." Callie whispered.

"What?"

"This isn't your fault. You told the guy that you didn't want to dance with him. That doesn't make it your fault that all our boyfriends and Thalia got hurt. It was that guy's decision to basically jump us." Callie argued.

"Whatever." I said. You're wrong. Blame me. "Either way, we need to all tell our parents something. Have you told them anything yet?"

"No." The girls jinxed.

"Then we'll keep it that way." I told them. I thought swiftly. "We were walking around downtown and were passing the nightclub when they jumped us. Okay?"

"Annabeth. You know the police are involved right?" Callie hissed.

"Obviously." I retorted.

"They're getting statements from those guys. It'll be their word against ours. But even so, Thalia and Nico and Percy, Grover and Luke don't know about this plan, Annabeth."

"Annabeth, we can't lie." Juniper whimpered.

"Yes we can."