I'm baaaacckkkk! Hope that wasn't too long of a hiatus. This story is a lot better than it was originally, thanks to LiveLaughLove728! Things have changed, so I suggest you re-read it if you have read it before, and if you haven't, read on!

I remember when I was a little girl. I used to read fairy tales about the prince and the princess always lived "happily ever after". How they got married and lived in huge stone castles. How they had families that they loved and cared for, and who loved and cared for them. How their lives were normal, with no monsters attacking them at every corner. Well, I figured something out a long time ago: Fairy tales don't exist. There is no happily ever after, a final "the end". You don't always end up with the person you thought you loved. You may not end up with anyone at all. Heck, if you're like me, you'll end up fighting for the rest of your life.

I know, I know, you came here for the story; not to hear a 23 year old woman crush your childhood dreams, but I just needed to get that off my chest.

Here's the story:

Once upon a time... No, that's too cliché. It was a dark, stormy night… That's really overdone. Just the other day...Better, but I'm going to start this my own way.

"Annabeth, get your butt down here before we leave and you have to walk to the mall!" Thalia called impatiently from downstairs. "You have 5 seconds to get down before we're leaving, with or without you!"

I chased my dog, Bailey, across my room, my stolen sock hanging from his mouth. He stopped on one side of the bed, while I stopped on the other.

"One!" Thalia began counting.

Bailey and I stared at each other intensely, his brown eyes meeting my gray ones.

"Two!"

I reached over the bed and snatched the white sock from his mouth. Thank the gods it wasn't covered in too much slobber.

"Three!"

I pulled on the slightly wet sock, followed by my other gray converse.

"Four!"

I grabbed my purse and ran down the stairs.

"Five!"

I jumped off of the last step, landing lightly in front of my friends and smiled.

"Let's go," I said calmly. Calypso gave me a confused look, but Hazel just laughed it off, her cinnamon curls bouncing. We-Hazel, Calypso, Piper, Thalia and I, were heading to the mall for a "girls day out," since we all happened to be off of work today. I was the CEO of a famous architectural firm and since I had no one to come home to except for Bailey, I worked all the time and rarely took day off. I hadn't spent time with the girls in... well, a very long time.

A minute later, we all piled into Piper's silver SUV. "I call shotgun!" shouted Thalia. I swear, even though she a 28 year old in a 16 year old body, she still acted she was 3. Piper drove, with Hazel, Calypso and I in the back, and Thalia, of course, in the passenger seat.

"So, Annabeth..." started Piper, but I already knew what she was going to say and interrupted before she could say it.

"No, I have not and I don't plan to," I answered quickly. I'd been off the dating game ever since… he'd broken my heart years ago. His name was not to ever be mentioned and my friends knew that. Don't get me wrong, I'd been asked out since and had even accepted a few times, but it was never serious.

"Come on Annabeth, it's been five years! Forget about him and move on!" exclaimed Calypso. I shook my head, but deep down, I knew she was right, as much as I hated to admit it. Calypso had always been a romantic, especially considering that she fell in love with anyone that had landed on her island, and she was always trying to set me up. Everyone stayed silent after that until we reached the mall.

As we walked towards the main entrance, we argued over which store to go to first. Everyone immediately quieted though when Thalia threatened hurt us if we didn't go to Rue 21 first. You do not want to mess with Thalia. The last person who'd tried to stand up to her... Well, let's just say, his nose won't ever be straight again.

As we headed toward Rue 21, I couldn't help but take pride in how well I designed this building. The mall was very spacious; thousands of footprints clicking on the red tile echoed through the building. The large shards of light, let in by the windows lining the ceiling, cast onto the three floors, illuminating the mall in natural light. Thousands of stores were spaced along each floor, ranging from clothing stores to book stores, and everything in between.

"Annabeth, move!" yelled Piper, pulling me out of the way of the column I'd been about to walk into. "Annabeth, get out of La La Land and join us in reality, please!

"Sorry," I muttered. We stopped in front of the central elevator and waited for a couple of minutes as it made its way sluggishly to the bottom floor. We clambered in, laughing at some stupid joke Calypso had made about Leo. I hadn't seen the son of Hephaestus, or any of the guys from the quest to Greece for a while.

There was only one other person on the elevator; his head was down and he had sunglasses on, which prevented me from getting a good look at him. My first thought, of course, was Monster, but his posture and stance was not that of any monster I'd ever encountered, not matter how well disguised. Still, there was something familiar about him, about the sweatshirt he was wearing, or maybe the way he wore it. I shook it off. I needed a break more than I knew, apparently. Still...

"Excuse me, sir, um; are you going to the second floor?" I asked rather awkwardly. He looked up and stared into my eyes, or at least I thought he did; his sunglasses made it hard to tell. A strange rush of familiarity flooded through me and it seemed to hit him too. Before I could ask though, he nodded his head quickly and looked back down. I eyed him for a second, and then, meeting the eyes of my friends, shrugged and pressed the button for the second floor. We all stood in an awkward silence until the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

We all got off; the girls and I going one way, the stranger going the other. I glanced behind me, watching him walk away. I didn't know why or how, but somehow, I had some relation to him. I knew him from somewhere; I was sure of it. As we walked towards Rue 21, my thoughts drifted back to the man in the green sweatshirt. I absolutely knew I had seen him before, that we had met. Something about his lean figure, the shape of his nose and jaw line, his messy black hair, the way he stood and walked were all so familiar…

I snapped back to reality and saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was the most beautiful dress. I normally just went for the simple jeans and a tee shirt, but this was absolutely stunning. It was a gray chevron jersey maxi dress and it was beautiful. As I reached for it, another hand reached out a split second before I did. "Hey!" I looked up at the freckle covered face the hand belonged to, into the brilliant emerald eyes that immediately drew my attention. I immediately recognized her. "Rachel? Hey! It's been forever!"

Realization spread across Rachel's face. "Annabeth! How are you? It's been too long!" She pulled me into a bear hug, nearly cracking my ribs. Smiling, I squeezed back just as hard. Rachel and I, though we had started off nearly enemies due to reasons I didn't like thinking about now, had become good friends as teenagers, and all our previous quarrels, which had seemed like such a big deal at the time, immediately became water under the bridge. I saw her at camp occasionally when I stopped by, though my visits had become less and less frequent as of late, due to my life being crazy busy.

I studied her after pulling out of our embrace. Her bright crimson hair had grown longer since I'd last seen her, and it was as curly and wild as it had ever been in its ponytail. Camp had tanned her skin previously pale skin over the years, though her freckles only increased in number. As usual, her jeans were splattered in a variety of paint colors. Even now that she was an adult, Rachel never really changed.

"So, how's Camp going? Any new prophecies I should know about?" I asked. My tone and question we lighthearted, but part of me, ever wary after everything we'd all been through over the years, was very relieved when Rachel shook her head.

"No, not really. I've been having this weird dream lately though, of the Coliseum in Rome. There are always these voices inside, speaking Ancient Greek. I can't see inside or anything, but whatever is speaking, it's powerful. Gods. Or maybe even Titans. But there are at least two of them, one man and one woman. The words become clearer each time I have the dream, but no dice on deciphering much yet. Revenge seems to be a popular topic though, from the bits and pieces I have caught. Hopefully, I'll be able to hear more soon. Tonight, maybe." She looked like she was trying to convince herself.

I listened, taking in the new information, a sense of dread settling over me. If Rachel's dreams were anything to go by, and in my experience, they always were, something was stirring and I wouldn't be surprised to hear of a new prophecy. I just hoped a new set of demigods would be up for the task. I was retired. Still...

"Wow, okay. Guess I should maybe meet with Chiron soon."

Rachel nodded her agreement before glancing down at the watch on her wrist. She sighed. "As great as this has been, I actually have somewhere to be..."

I nodded understandingly. I sort of did too. "No problem. It was good to see you. Keep me updated, okay?"

"I sure will," she said, pulling out an old receipt, jotting her number on the back of it, and handing it to me. "Here's my number. And," she added, a grin appearing on her face, "Be careful of those columns out there. I hear broken noses aren't the greatest." She laughed as she walked away. I felt a blush creep across my face. Guess she saw that.

With the dress in hand, I went to look for the girls, who had disappeared. I found Thalia eyeing some ripped black jeans a few aisles down and made my way over to her. "Guess who I just saw?" I said.

"Who?" she asked absentmindedly.

I rolled my eyes. "Rachel. She may have a new prophecy," Her blue eyes widened to the size of saucers

"What? Another one so soon! It was basically yesterday when we defeated old Dirt Face" Hazel joined us then, carrying what looked like an orange sundress on her arm.

"What is going on? And why are we talking about dirt?" I explained to her.

"Really? I just hope it isn't about any of us!" she exclaimed.

"What's going on?" Calypso asked as she sauntered over. I repeated myself once more.

"At least I'm not a demigod. I don't know how y'all do it!"

Piper walked over. "How we do it, you ask? Well, I have this little thing called charmspeak..."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not explaining this again," I replied, smiling. Hazel did for me.

After the supposed new prophecy's current status was known to everyone, we headed to the checkout. I paid for everything and we headed to the food court. I was absolutely starving, since, thanks to a certain impatient daughter of Zeus, I hadn't had time to eat breakfast that morning. , I decided to get Chinese food while the others headed to McDonald's (Cue the eye roll).

After I got my Kung pao chicken, I turned and walked towards the table we'd found earlier. My shoe, apparently, was untied-some daughter of Athena I was, and I tripped, bumping into someone in the process. We both toppled over and fell onto the hard floor. The poor stranger took the brunt of the impact as I landed on top of him. Blinking, I suddenly found myself face to face with the most beautiful sea green orbs, which were staring right back into mine.

A sudden, electric, and not necessarily good, jolt shot through me. For the first time in a very long time-maybe ever, I was too shocked to move. The stranger's (who was much too familiar to actually be a stranger) eyes widened and I knew he recognized me too. A memory surfaced to the forefront of my mind: me, running away as tears spilled from my eyes and sobs threatened to overtake me, running away from the one good thing I'd ever had in the world, running from the first permanent thing I thought I'd ever had. This man, whom I had just fallen into and landed on top of, with the same sea green eyes I had relied on for so many years, was no stranger. Not even close.

Above me, I heard someone clear their throat and looked up to see Calypso, standing above us and clearly trying hard not to laugh. The food court had grown remarkably quiet. Everyone was staring at us. I got a hold of myself immediately and got to my feet.

I didn't wait for anyone to speak. I didn't wait to make sure the green-eyed man was okay. I didn't wait for anything.

Dropping everything, I ran away as fast as I could.

1) What is Annabeth's dog's name?

2)Who was the man on the elevator?

Make sure to review to tell me what you think about the...change! I really hope y'all like it! Don't forgot to review to answer the questions!