(A/N: Sorry for the delay. This is a longer chapter, hopefully it will make up for it. WARNING!!! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS MATURE TOPICS! Such as physical abuse. Viewer discretion is advised. Dedicated to HJaneCooper AllegraAnonymous Tomgirl467 natalikabra OwlHead_21 Queenisme123 AkaDragneel_FT  KatieHarris350 aneska420 _toomanyotps Matdog6000 

Apologies if I missed, or misspelled anyone who voted, commented, or added my story. Enjoy this next chapter.

The next day...

Luke

I can't believe Rachel wouldn't remind me to get the daily refresh of the tattoo. Now, Annabeth will hate me forever, and there is nothing I can do about it. She knows we aren't soulmates anymore, and I think I know who is hers.

Annabeth

I had to go home. I just had to. I was supposed to be smart. I should have stayed with Sally. Now I have to confront my step "mom" about why I haven't been there for two days (she was at work yesterday when I came home). "AnNaBeTh ChAsE!" She slurred. "Where were you THE LAST FEw DaYS?"

"Umm..." I stammered, "I-I was..."

"WeREyou wiTH a boy?!" My stepmom yelled.

"Y-yes..." I said. I mean I don't like lying!

She stumbles up to me with her beer bottle and looks me in the face. She says coldly and surprisingly clearly, "You don't deserve the family you have, you have always been a horrible child, and now you are going around with boys? Pathetic."

She then spits in my face. As I go to wipe it off, I barely glimpse the bottle smashing down on the top of my head before I feel a searing pain, and crumple on the ground.

A few minutes later... I think... I open my eyes and see my step mom digging around my backpack. She grabs my favorite book, Peter Johnson, the Thunder Taker, and looks up to see my eyes open.

"Geez, you lazy child!" suddenly, she opens the book to a random page, and starts reading it. "You drool in your sleep. YOU DROOL IN YOUR SLEEP?! Is this some stupid stalking book? Is this what you do in your spare time?! READ STUPID STALKING ROMANCE NOVELS?!"

She grabs the page and tears it out of the book. I stare in horror as she laughs maniacally and rips out the next, then she rips all the pages from the binding, proceeding to rip my perfect collector's edition foil cover. I hold back a wail of pain. After that horror, she shuffles through my backpack some more, immediately, she finds another book. It reads, the Life of Peter and Alissabeth Johnson. The final book in the Peter Johnson/Heroes and Heroines of Olympus series'. I scrambled, half feeling the bump on my head, half trying to stand up, and half trying to stop her from tearing apart my life and soul, fully failing miserably at all of the above. With a smile deserving of an asylum, she rips out a page. Then ten, twenty, finally tearing out the rest of the book. This time, I do let out a scream, deserving of Tartarus. She jumps at me, covering my mouth.

"Shut up. SHHUTT UUOOOPPPP!! The neighbors will hear you." She grabs her hardcover cookbook, and smacks me over the head. My world tilts, black spots jumping from the edges of my vision. I feel hard punches flying at me from a seemingly impossible amount of directions at once. My vision tunnels, and I can feel myself starting to pass out. Suddenly, both my step mom and I hear the garage door open, and I jerk alert.

My father, Frederick Chase, is home.

"Go outside. Come in two minutes later, and tell your father that you got beat up by a girl at school." My step mom hisses.

"No!" I refuse.

"Remember, girl... you refuse me, you lay a finger on me," she snaps her fingers, "Poof! There goes your FULL RIDE scholarship to the best college in the state from my millionaire boss. Now, get."

I slump in defeat, and stumble outside.

Two minutes later, I come in and lie to my father about my beating for the 7th time this month. It is only the 15th.

Percy

I was walking down the hall, subconsciously looking for Annabeth, when I feel someone's fingers walk up my shoulder.

"Hey, Percy," Rachel whispers flirtatiously. She grabs my chin, and forces me to look at her. "Is your next class chemistry? Because I feel something between us."

"No," I snap, "I have geography. Now, get out of my face."

"Oh, geography, you say?" Rachel continues, grabbing my arm. "Good, because you're out of this world."

"Back. Off." I growl.

"Ooh, feisty, I like it," She prods.

"I said, BACK OFF!" I say, and run for the door, but Rachel is piggybacking. "Rachel, I think of you as a friend. This is crossing a line. There is no us. There will never be any us. You are a great person, I am sure, but you need to learn humility. AKA how to back off. Now, back off."

Rachel shrinks under my tone after yanking at my arm on more time, finally, retreating towards the art room. I look down to see my sleeve pulled up, with a grey owl on full display.

Rachel

Uh, oh. This is not good. The guy I have been flirting with for the last... oh, I don't know, while, is my soulmate. Tattoos. Gods, they can be every girl's (or guy's) dream. But, when you do finally get one, and you just made the mistake to infuriate him in your jealousy rampage, you fear what he will do, and what this tattoo will mean.

The next day, a Saturday.

Annabeth

Piper called, remember that blowout she was talking about? You know, the one I refused to go to? Well, she is coming in one hour, enough time for me to get ready, and picking me up, if I like it or not. Her exact words were...

"I'll be there in an hour, dress nicely, this is a formal event. You are going if you want to or not."

My bruises are still covering me, and I wince almost every time I move, but who cares. I just have to put on my brave face, right? Conceal, don't feel. Literally in every way. I reach for the concealer, and start my hour of applying makeup and dressing. Finally, I am ready to go. (Imagine the jacket over the dress.)

(I do not own these images at all.)

I hear a horn honk outside. Luckily, my step mother is at work for the weekend. I walk into my dad's office, and tell him I am going to Piper's. He nods absentmindedly, and soon, I am jumping into Piper's limo. Inside, are Thalia, Reyna, Piper (obviously), and Hazel. I sit down, making sure to cover the spots on my legs showing through the makeup. My Yankees cap, the only casual thing, covering the ever throbbing bump on my head.

We go to Piper's house, or should I say mansion, and within 10 minutes, the house is filled to the brim with high schoolers.

I head outside for a breath of fresh air, when I see someone sitting by the pool. He is wearing a suit and just staring at the water.

I walk closer, and see his gorgeous, sea green eyes.

"Percy," I say, his head jerking up in surprise.

"Hey, Annabeth, I guess you decided to come." Percy says.

"More like Piper forced me to," I fake laugh.

He looks deeply into my eyes. "What's wrong?" He asks.

"What do you mean?" I ask innocently.

"I mean, it is 80 degrees, and you are still wearing a jacket, you are constantly slightly leaning your head to the right, as if trying to hide something on your neck, and your legs are crossed in an awkward position. To add to that, you are being very stiff, and are barely moving." Percy blushes. "I'm not supposed to tell people that I can analyze them, but," his eyes grow serious. "Who hurt you?"

Those three words ring in my ears. My mom hurt me many years ago, by leaving, my Dad hurts me every day by ignoring me, my step mom hurts me all the time, in her drunken state, and Luke, he hurt me with his lie.

"M-my step mom." I decide on.

"WHAT?!" Percy yells.

"Please," I say. "Don't tell anyone."

"Why?" He asks

"I-I can't pay for college, I don't have enough money. My dad—— he is busy, and isn't really doing great financially. So, that leaves my step mom. She works for the owner of practically all of the bars and clubs in town. He is a millionaire, and she got him to agree that if I 'earn it,' he will pay for all of my college. Basically a full ride scholarship to the best college in the state. But, with her job, she goes around to all the bars, and 'taste tests' the alcohol. It is her 'job'. She gets drunk every day, and never leaves room for a hangover. Soon, when I am older, she will probably take me to her work, and have me work to earn it, I can't do anything about it, because college is the most important thing in the world to me. I have to go." I explain.

"Does she," Percy starts, "hit you?"

I take of my coat and hat, showing him all my visible bruises.

He sighs, "I will be right back."

He comes back a few minutes later with a bottle. He dips it in the pool and walks over towards me. "Here. My mom taught me how to do this, when Gabe— hit her." He says, hesitating, obviously not wanting to elaborate.

He starts to rub the mixture on my bruises, and they instantly fade. He takes some more, and gently rubs the bump on my head with his middle and index fingers. He repeats this process two more times, relaxing me. Too soon, it's over.

"Is your step mom going to be home tonight?" He asks me.

"No, she'll be gone all weekend." I reply.

"Good. I...guess I'll see you Monday?" He says awkwardly.

"Yeah...and................ thanks... A lot... For understanding."

"No prob," he says, winking, "now go enjoy the rest of this party, your beautiful dress is just waiting to be danced in."

I run off, before this situation can get any more awkward, smiling under my blush.

(A/N: This may be a dark chapter, but this is also very important. Being beaten, being physically or mentally hurt in any way is not okay. What Annabeth did was somewhat right. She consulted a trusted friend. What was wrong was telling him to not tell anyone. What Percy did was not the best thing to do. He should have told an adult. As you can see, the excuse Annabeth used for this can be considered valid from her perspective, but this is not okay. There is no excuse. Get help immediately if this is happening to you, or someone you know. We will wait and see how Percy deals with this. Now, this story took a drastic turn, and I apologize profusely for the delay. Until next time,

Hugs and blue cookies 🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵,

Leah