Percy took hold of her hand and brought her closer to his side. "Don't move." He ordered, eyes fixed on the door leading inside from the balcony.

With his free arm, he pulled out his long sword. Annabeth scowled. "I can take care of my self." She mumbled, trying to untangle her arm from his. Percy only let go to hold her by the waist protectively.

Annabeth glared at him. This time though, he didn't give her his goofy grin. For once, his face reflected absolute seriousness. This wasn't a game.

He stepped trough the threshold. The ballroom music was floating up the stairs. He hurried her past the stairwell which surprised Annabeth since she had though hey were heading towards the ball again.

Instead, Percy led her towards a large chamber at the end of the corridor. The door frame was made of gold and wood was a polished oak, gleaming in the dim light.

He opened the door and went inside, closing it shut behind him. The room was pitch black. So dark, she couldn't even see Percy's outline.

Then all of a sudden, a flood load of memories leaked back into her mind. A dark and treacherous place. She was running but her eyes were closed so she didn't know where. All she knew was that it was a dangerous, traumatising place. Beaches full of tiny glass shards, the air poisonous and the rivers made of misery and lava. The home court of the monsters. Millions of giants and Titans...where had that word come from? A ginormous man and wickedly cruel woman.

She snapped back to reality and unconsciously wound her arm around Percy frightfully.

"Where- a-are-" She stammered.

"Shhh," Percy whispered soothingly. "It's okay. Just one of my friend's room."

"Can you light the torches please?" Annabeth inquired.

"Yeah." Percy kissed the top of her head reassuringly - almost as if it was a natural movement - before moving away from her. In a few seconds, light was flooding in to reveal a beautiful room. A lovely bed gilded with golden posts and lovely green curtains was pushed to the centre of the far wall. The sheets were a dark green and the huge dresser standing beside the bed was adorned with a mirror.

The chamber was relatively big, so much so it could fit one person comfortably within its walls. There was a full length wardrobe attached to the wall on the left and an art aisle paint supplies at to the right.

The back wall portrait end a beautiful obviously painted picture of a green, forestry landscape with a flowing waterfall.

"What...why are we here?" Annabeth questioned hesitantly.

Percy walked over and sat down on the bed, facing the wall with the painting. "A place to think. And we need to make sure you stay safe."

"Whoever that was is probably downstairs terrorising all the royals now."

"No. Whoever that was is after you." Percy said pointedly.

Annabeth sighed in frustration. "But why here?"

"Rachel always ends up back here when there's a ball. So I figured she'd be back in maybe a few minutes. I need to talk to her."

"Who's Rachel?" Annabeth asked. She hated not knowing things.

"She's-"

As if on cue, the door opened and a girl walked in. She was just in the process of tying her frizzy red hair back with a piece of ribbon when she saw Annabeth and Percy inside her room. Her hands fell limply to her side. She came inside and closed the door, turning to Percy with a raised eyebrow.

Percy shot to his feet and ran over to give her a hug.

Annabeth felt a sudden surge of jealousy pass through her but then again, there was that sense of comforting familiarity lingering behind at the sight of he red head.

"Uh...Rachel. This is Annabeth. Annabeth, Rachel. She's a friend, I guess."

Rachel smiled at her politely and curtsied at Annabeth. Annabeth did so too, stumbling over her high heels a bit without the needed practise.

"I'm more like his sister that ussually ends up saving his princely butt." She added cassually. "A pleasure to meet you, your majesty." She shot a sly look over to Percy who in turn looked away, suddenly interested by he wall.

Annabeth blushed a little for no one had ever addressed her as a royal. "Oh I'm just a servan-"

"She's the princess of our neighbouring kingdom." Percy cut off. "But Rachel, I really need your help."

Rachel took one look at him and shook her head. "No. No. No. You saw what happened the last time I did it!"

"Come on Raych! This is important!" Percy pleaded.

Rachel sighed. "What is important?"

"Annabeth." Percy answered simply. "Someone is trying to kill her and I need to figure out who. He hastily retrieved the silver knife from his pocket. "On the balcony. The person threw this at her and she barely escaped."

Rachel took the knife and rolled it around in between her fingers. "What were you guys doing in the balcony?" She asked casually. Annabeth could tell that she was trying to hide her smile.

"Looking at maps." Percy said quickly then cringed when he realised just how stupid that sounded. "I mean, admiring the view? Look. This is not the time. Just do your thing."

"Her thing?" Annabeth asked.

Percy didn't answer and Annabeth had the sudden impulse to kick him right where it hurt.

Rachel closed her eyes intently. Immediate silence settled over them.

Annabeth waited. Then her surroundings changed.

She felt as if she was in a dream even though she felt the cold wind howling through her hair and the soft carpet beneath her toes.

She was standing in the middle of a lonely corridor flooded with a dark and treacherous aura. She heard he distant echo of a voice much like her own.

A figure of a shadow appeared out of nowhere. A girl with flowing black hair tumbling past her shoulders in currents.

Her clothing was only vaguely visible in the dim light but Annabeth could tell she was wearing what appeared to be a ball gown.

She dissapeared as soon as she had appeared but her facial features stayed imprinted in Annabeth's memory.

But at the last minute, another face popped into her mind. Queen Helena.

* * *

"Annabeth!" Someone was shaking her awake. "Annabeth, come on. Wake up!"

"Percy calm down. She's fine."

"Annabeth!"

She opened her eyes groggily. Percy's face was only an inch away.

In the rush of the moment, Percy wrapped her up in a fierce hug and kissed the side of her head.

"Queen Helena." Annabeth mumbled. "She-she did it."

Percy helped her upto her feet. Rachel was staring at her intently, as of she had just realised the same thing.

Annabeth wanted to kick herself for not realising it sooner. She stumbled her way to the door and pulled it open. She ran down the corridor and leapt down the stairs quickly, only vaguely awarr of Percy calling her name and running after her.

She reached the last step and halted. Percy caught upto her finally and took hold of her arm.

"Where the Hades are you going?" He demanded.

"Queen Helena." Annabeth managed. "She-"

Percy caught her drift but he frowned. "She's your stepmother. She wouldn't do that."

She's done worse. Annabeth thought but she didn't voice it out loud.

"I'm getting you home." Percy said firmly. "You'll be safe there."

"Percy-"

But he was already leading her towards the side door. Off to the side, she caught sight of Piper and Jason laughing over something, sitting so close together that their shoulders were touching.

Jason was telling a story and Piper was listening intentky. Once, his glasses started to droop down his nose and Piper had to push them back up.

Then Annabeth saw someone else.

She had long beautiful black hair, set loose past her shoulders. Her dress was long and purple. The bodice was decorated by a delicate silver pattern running from one shoulder to the waist. The skirt was pinched together in a curved arc.

A string of white pearls rested against her throat and her features were brought out by the smile on her face.

She was the same girl she had seen in the dark tunnel from those visions Rachel had shown her.

********

A/N

Mocha48 you know who that is ;D