I spent this night in the correct bed. Annabeth did not. At around 2 am, someone tugged my blanket. I opened my eyes and turned around. Annabeth was standing there, holding her teddy. Well, it was probably not Annabeth but a little, but you know what I mean. "I had a nightmare" A little's voice said. "Luisa?" I guessed. "Right" "So, what happened?" I asked. "I don't want to talk about it. Well, I want to, but I'm too scared" "Why don't you come here first?" I asked as I patted the spot next to me. Luisa sat down next to me and I did my best to comfort her, but was unable to find a good position for that "Why don't we lie back down?" I suggested. Luisa agreed and once we'd done so, I moved up in the bed. I figured if I appeared taller than Luisa, my attempts to comfort her would be more successful. "Whatever happened is over now. You're safe now" "But it was still scary?" "Can you talk about it now? No pressure though" "Yeah. So, I was just a few days out on the streets...

I was walking through a dark alley in search of something to eat. Those big dumpsters are often treasure troves, if you can find one that you can reach into, that is. Luckily, I found one that had a crate in front of it that I could climb onto. As I tried to open the lock (why would you look a dumpster, it's literally a place for things that have zero value to you?), the crate below me broke and I fell in.

I didn't get more than a few scratches, but I was in there up to my waste and the downward facing splinters of plastic trapped me inside. I figured if the material was already so old it had broken under my small weight, I'd probably be able to break it even more. Just as I'd started trying to break off one of the pieces, I heard a strange sound. It sounded like a horse walking, alternating with something metallic. I didn't know much about the Greek world I was now seemingly a part of, but one thing I did know was that strange things were often some freaky monster and that monsters usually had an interest in seeing me die. I pressed down on a piece of plastic as hard as I could. This pushed the tip deeper into my leg, but I ignored the pain. A pale girl turned around the corner. Her upper body looked just like a human, but she had a donkey leg and a bronze leg. I noticed the plastic getting weaker. "Ah, there you are" She said with a voice that made me like her. "I don't want to harm you, don't worry" "Okay" She came closer. "What's your name?" She asked. "A-Annabeth" I wasn't fully dissociated at that point, so I used that name. "Hello Annabeth. I want to help you" She stopped right in front of the box I was trapped in and raised her donkey foot. When she swung it forward, I snapped out of it. With a burst of strength, I ripped out the piece of plastic and jammed it into her leg. This didn't kill her, but it did stop her from killing me as her foot missed and only cracked the plastic more. Enough for me to break free. I grabbed a larger chunk of plastic and rammed it into the stomach of the monster, who went up in flames.

"And then I woke up" "That was an empousa. Not a big fan, they can use charm speak. Oh, and when they burn, it means they disappear. You made her give up with just a piece of plastic and if that's not cool, I don't know what is" "Oh. I always assumed she tried to attack me and something saved me. Trauma memories are often blocked for me, so I didn't know any better" "You do now. Want to go back?" "Can I stay here with you? Please?" "Fine. But just this night" I put an arm around her and together, we fell back asleep.

Percy

The next morning, I was as always woken up by my alarm going off barely on time. Annabeth always got up like ninety minutes before she had to go to school. I wondered how she was doing. Maybe she'd had a nightmare just like I'd just had. If you're wondering, broken glass bottles are a lot sharper than they look.

During breakfast, I sat with Julia once again (yesterday, we'd missed each other) "Hi Percy. Tell me, did you talk to Annabeth about being complicated" "I did. Fun fact about her: she loves to analyze things, so she really enjoyed that conversation. And what have you been up to?" "Not much. You know, the whole not-having-friends thing. Actually, there's one thing I've been doing. So, I found out this school used to have a garden before it became this landfill of troubled kids. No one took care of it and weeds took over the entire place. I've started to… I think it's best if I show you" We agreed that we'd meet after my last lesson, then I left to go to my first.

After forcing myself through ninety minutes of social studies, School was finally over and I met up with Julia at the agreed upon location. "So, what did you want to show me?" "Follow me" She led me to the corner of the school grounds. I'd noticed early on that the border was weirdly indented here and that instead of the fence, there was just a dense hedge of thorns and stinging nettles. I'd always assumed that there was simply a different property intersecting the perfect rectangle our school could have been, similar to, idk, Wyoming and Utah. Perhaps the owner of the property had refused to move. Now I realized that I'd been wrong about that. This wasn't another property, it was part of the school grounds. Julia picked up a stick and used it to push an opening into the hedge, revealing a path that was cut free. This path led to the actual corner of the school grounds, where a part of the vegetation, maybe thirty percent of the whole area, was cleared out. Around the perimeter, the plants were all dying. "After I found out that this used to be a garden, I thought why not restore it, though I didn't actually start until the beginning of the school year. It's also a great place to hide from bullies" "And you cleared out all of this? How?" She pointed to a sharp knife on the ground. "Usually I slice open the stems with that knife. The plants then just dry out and die, after which I can collect them. It's more effective than just cutting them normally because this way, the roots have to support the dead weight of the plant above, which kills them as well. In theory at least, but so far nothing has grown back. Maybe once I'm done I'll actually plant something here. I heard they used to grow vegetables here" While talking, she'd started slicing up some more plants. "Everything that dies goes to that pile over there, since it's too much to carry anywhere else" "Makes sense. Do you actually have permission to do this?" "This is AHS. No one cares about rules. But I did ask the principal if there was any reason why this place looked the way it looked and he told me that we just lacked funding, so there was seemingly no reason to keep it this way. My plan is to free everything up from the inside out until only the edge is standing, then get rid of that as well for the reveal, probably during the holidays when no one is here" "Sounds like a plan. Do you need any help with this?" "No, I'll try to do this alone. Given my current speed, it should only take a few more weeks, especially since I'm getting better with experience" "Great. Just one tip: there's a clogged drain right above the garden, if you unclog that the area will get less water during rainfalls and the plants will dry out quicker" "Thanks. I'll do that" I left her alone with her garden. I doubted she'd get it as beautiful as the willow pond at Annabeth's school, but she'd definitely improve it a lot.

As I walked the school grounds, I realized that apparently, my rules weren't being enforced harshly enough as I saw another group of three guys going after a girl that was a lot shorter than them. Why do bullies always do that? I approached them slowly. "Is following rules really that hard?" I asked. "What rules?" One of them asked. Seemingly they were of the strong-arms-weak-brains category. "My rules. Bullying is not allowed here" "Why do you make the rules?" "Aren't you guys paying attention to anything? I beat up the big guys. They were above you when I put myself above them, so now I am above you and therefore I can tell you to leave her alone"

"And what if we don't?" One of them asked. "Then you will regret it later. I've fought enemies much bigger than you. Suddenly, the mist flickered and I saw that the three guys were actually laistrogynians, seemingly the type of monster that was most likely to be a bully. I noticed their previous victim sneaking away, which was probably the best thing to do in this situation. I got out my pen and pretended to fidget with it for a moment, then extended the tip to right before the neck of one of them. "The next time I catch you bothering anyone, I won't hesitate so much. Did you take anything from her?" "Here" The tallest and dumbest-looking of the bunch gave me a purse. I took it and put riptide back into my pocket. I then went to find the girl it belonged to.

I found her sitting on a bench a few meters away. I sat down next to her. "Hey. I got your purse" I pushed it over to her. She looked up at me "Thanks. What did you do to the guys?" "Threatened them with a sword" Her eyes lit up "Cool" "I take it you're a sword fan" She showed me her left hand. It had a ring (well, quite a few rings, but only one stood out to me) that had a smaller ring attached to it. This served as a sheath for a tiny sword. "My girlfriend would love that, though she's more of a dagger girl. So, did the bullies find a new victim?" "Seems like it. One of them asked me out. I told him even if I liked guys, I still wouldn't do it. Apparently that was the wrong response" "Those guys always overestimate how attractive they are" "Exactly. That and homophobia. You're not homophobic, right?" "Ninety percent of my friend group is at least bi" "Good. I asked them why they are complaining about me liking girls when they do too, and they didn't seem to like that either. Seems like the only thing that works are swords" "Then I'd suggest bringing one next time they attack you" "That's probably against the school rules, but this is a lawless land. As long as I don't hurt them enough for it to be the subject of actual, outside-of-school jurisdiction, I should be fine. Maybe I should just carry it with me in case I see them again" "Good idea. By the way, what's your name?" "I'm Amy. You're Percy, right?" "Yeah" "You got a pretty massive reputation considering you've been here less than two weeks" "I mean, I've done a lot since then" "Oh, definitely" "Then maybe I'll see you some time again, hopefully with a sword" "Hope so too. Bye" "Bye"

I went to my room to start my everlasting quest of homework. Just as I'd finished, an Iris message appeared. "Hey there wise girl. How's it going?" "Oh, nothing special going on. I just felt like checking in with you. How are you doing?" "I'm good now. Had a nightmare, but I recovered from it quickly. Gabe" "I had one as well, at least that's what Piper tells me. Apparently I woke up as Luisa and went over to her. Considering I did wake up in her bed, it sounds believable" "She was very cute" Piper called from somewhere I couldn't see. "Hey Pipes. Did you manage to turn anyone gay yet?" "Not yet" "You probably won't believe this but I found someone gayer than you" "I actually do believe that. I'm just pan, I'm nowhere near the levels of actual homosexuals" "That would be the one I met. Well, she never said specifically that she was a lesbian, she just said 'if I liked boys' and mentioned homophobia" "I mean it's pretty obvious at that point" "And how did you meet her seaweed brain? rescued her from bullies?" "That's exactly what happened. This time they weren't mortals, so I just showed them riptide" "Did you kill them?" Piper asked. "I let them get away with a warning, then told Amy that swords were their biggest weakness. Turns out she's a big fan of swords. She even has a ring with a little sword on it" "That sounds amazing. I want that" Annabeth "Yeah, I predicted that answer" "You know me too well" "Yeah Annabeth, that tends to happen after four years" Piper commented. "Not if you have severe trust issues that prevent you from revealing any information about yourself" "That was only when we met, you kind of stopped hiding everything after the titan war" "That's still only one year" "Still, you shouldn't be surprised every time I know something about you" "I never claimed I was surprised" "Guys, stop arguing" "We're not arguing" Annabeth and I said in perfect sync. "Seriously" Annabeth started. "If Percy and I actually got into an argument, it wouldn't end well for anyone involved. I have a superiority complex, he has a main character complex, so neither of us would accept defeat. We'd probably have a proper fight and you know what happens when important Greeks have a fight? War happens. We'd probably fight until one of us gets triggered while the other one is watching and then we'd cuddle and make up" "I'll be honest, I'll probably join in. In the cuddling, not the battle" "I still find it fascinating that you never considered that need of yours before Monday" "Essential, I'd gotten so good at pretending that I was okay that I forgot I was pretending"