Rowan

I looked down at the scar on my hand, the wound already healed due to my Fae nature. I wished it would have scared, a permanent mark of the promise I made her.

"Hey," a voice spoke from beside me. I looked over at...Annabeth was it? The girl whose boyfriend went missing. Her tired eyes with black rings beneath them did not hide the fact she hadn't slept since he went missing.

"Hello Annabeth," I replied. She sat down next to me on the dock, staring longingly at the water.

"Percy had a fear of water once. Most of us couldn't believe it. A son of Poseidon afraid of water? But he was terrified because when he was in a difficult situation...he almost drowned. When I was doomed to fall into...basically hell, he fell with me when he didn't need to. Down there he showed a side of him I had never seen before, it scared me. I guess the point I am making is that sometimes what you fear can be the thing you never thought could scare you. And when it does...it's hard to recover. But Percy now loves to swim and I no longer have that slight fear of him. In the end, our fears can always be overcome," she told me. She then turned her eyes and looked at me instead of the ocean. "I know you are afraid, you fear for Aelin the same way I fear for Percy right now. But I am holding onto the hope that this fear is just my brain telling me something that isn't true, something that I can get over. I will get over and push past it all to hopefully make clear judgments and get him back. You will get her back, and I want to help you but I have my own task. I will not force you to come with us to save Percy, actually, I think you and Nico should go speak to Hades and help Aelin."

"That was a long speech," I told her eventually after a moment of silence.

"I know," she replied and looked back out at the sea.

"We will find them," I said. I would do anything to find the fire in my heart.

"When Percy first disappeared I searched endlessly, day and night. I didn't sleep I didn't eat," Annabeth confessed.

"And what about now?" I asked, noting her exhausted state.

"I now realize in tiring myself it became even harder to find him. I need a clear mind," she replied.

"When are you leaving?" I wondered.

"Tomorrow morning," she replied.

"Then I will leave then as well to visit this Hades."

"I hope you find her, she was an exceptional person," Annabeth told me.

"I never met Percy, but for you to love him so much I can only gather he was a good person. I hope you find him as well," I honestly replied.

She stood up from beside me on the dock. "Get some sleep. You will need it, trust me. "

I looked over at her, knowing that my dreams would be haunted by Ashryver eyes. "I'll do my best."

I watched her walk away as I stared toward the sea. This world had a slightly different feel to it. It was strange, however, I don't care what world I am in or where I have to go. I will find her. I will get her back, without her...there is something missing. I can feel a small string of the mate bond that linked me to her. But every now and again that string would flicker. I hoped it wouldn't break, it was all that kept me sane. It told me she was still here, wherever here was.

I thought about the girl's words and sighed. I will sleep for tonight, after that, I am on the hunt for my wife.