Percy POV

The worst thing about being in the Cullen's house was that they are so nice to me.

Okay, maybe that is not a valid reason, but I always felt that I didn't deserve it, and that sometimes, I just wanted to be left alone. The attention was making me sick; I wished that I had a little more time to collect my thoughts. It was worse -the grief- since the dream I had had last night.

"Coming, mom, you wouldn't believe…" a low sound escaped from in-between my clenched teeth. It was somewhere between a sob, and a moan; a wet sound that made my heart ache. "…the dream that I had last night…" I trailed myself off.

I could almost hear her saying, "Seaweed brain, talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity." Maybe it was. Maybe I was going insane; maybe it would be better that way. Suddenly, so suddenly that it caused my head to pang sharply, I missed Thalia, one of my cousins and best friends, one of the only people alive who shared the deepest of Annabeth's memories with me. I also missed Nico. He was much more friendlier and closer to me now than from pre-Titan war. But I didn't miss his nearly visible pity.

I missed everyone, everything, and all of a sudden I wanted to go outside.

The sky was still dark, the darkness of dawn lightening only slightly from the horizon, the clouds becoming visible. Cool breezes of wind brushed through my hair as I stepped out of the front door and into the forest directly around the massive house. I wasn't wearing any shoes. The soil was soft but some pebbles eagerly cut into my feet, which I didn't even care about…

…also making me wonder if I truly was going insane.

How had it come to this? From the moment I met Annabeth, staring down at me and saying that I drooled when I slept, and to the moment when she, died, what had caused my life to come to this?

And just like that, I was crying again. I leant against a tree, feeling the rough bark beneath my skin and what thin layer the shirt provided. A terrible, but sensible and wretched thought unveiled itself to me. I ran a hand over my face in sudden exhaustion.

"Maybe, An…nabeth," I coarsely whimpered. "I shouldn't have… I wish…"

I shook my head hollowly, chuckling an empty chuckle. So selfish, so idiotic, but I have no one to lean onto, so set your shoulders back, raise your chin, keep your eyes high. The last part I said to myself, feeling the terrible reality of a leader crashing down onto me. "I wish that I never met you, Annabeth, I wish that I never knew you so well, I wish that I never looked so deeply into your eyes, I wish that only knew you as just another Athena camper. I wish that it was someone else that woke me up that day… I wish that I never met you… so it wouldn't hurt so much."

The self-confession over, I slid down onto the ground, the sobbing now slowly sliding into a full-scale howl of grief. "It's too much, Annabeth," I rasped through the tears, no sanity no longer left in my mind, or so I felt. "It's too much, I can't handle it, I'm so sorry!"

I knew that it was necessary, that I had to let it all out someday, that it had been pressed down for too long, but I would never have done it if I knew that it would hurt so much. I was letting go. Of the memories, of Annabeth, of the times we spent together… I was allowing it to slip through my fingers. Just because I didn't want to hurt anymore.

It was way too precious to just… let go.

But I was letting it go.

And I still wished that I had never met her.

THIRD POV

Edward leapt softly through the window and landed on the balls of his feet, not making any noise. The forest was silent except for Percy's crying, but he didn't want to interrupt it. Even though practically the whole forest could hear him, Edward didn't want to stop Percy. It was needed; it was mandatory to live a life.

Percy had to learn how to deal with what he lost, what he would regain and what would stay lost. His mother wasn't coming back.

He padded even more softly and gingerly into the forest. He had gotten the call just hours ago, about 2:00 AM, and despite the fact that he didn't need sleep, he didn't particularly like the call that he had received. Or, to be more precise, the person who had made the call.

It was the man who Edward preferred to refer to as 'the bastard', or on some occasions, with worse names. The smiling, 'kind hearted' bastard who always kept a knife behind his back. The bastard who Edward just couldn't figure out, literally. "I have to talk to you." The caller had told Edward, the slimy bastard, Mason Agar. Mason, who was who-knows-how old, who wasn't a vampire or human, who always smelled strange. Who seemed way too kind for his own good.

No, Edward hated Mason Agar and didn't know why he was going off into the forest just because the bastard had said so.

When about a mile deep into the forest, Edward encountered the man as he stepped out from behind a bush, smiling widely. Edward scowled, not returning the welcome, and watched warily as Mason advanced toward him, his too vividly green eyes -too bright to be natural- glinting with recognition and amusement.

"Edward." Mason said. Edward kept the scowl, and firmly told the man to stay where he was. Mason shrugged. "Anyway. I just came to tell you something." So strangely respectful as ever… Edward hated it.

"Mason, tell me what you know or leave without a head." Edward snarled. Mason blinked. "Well, too much for a greeting. I wanted to tell you that things are rising."

It seemed that the green-eyed man was eager to get to the point, and Edward silently agreed. He wanted the bastard out. "Things?" He inquired, slightly curious now. Mason leant forward, his hands in his jean's pockets. "Yes, my friend, things. Things that I… us… don't like to get involved with, and vice versa. But with vampires, it's a different story."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Mason shook his head. "You should. They want vampires for their army. They want old vampires, not the newborn ones. The Cullens fall right into the category. It includes you, Edward."

"I am not leaving." Edward protested. Whatever things were rising, he wasn't going to abandon what life he had. But, a tiny voice told him, Bella is going to be in danger. And Renesmee. There's too much to risk.

While he was deep in thought, Mason smiled again. "You still have a lot to learn, child." Child? What in the hell's name- "Tell your halfblooded friend. Tell him to return home."

When Edward became a blur as he jumped to tackle Mason, to possibly decapitate him if he could, his fingers grasped air. His feet dug into the ground.

The sneaky bastard was gone.

Unknown POV

"…told him, it will be fine…"

The creature watched Mason Agar whisper into his cell phone. The green-eyed man hadn't noticed its presence, which was good. It proved that they were not so sharp as the stories told. The creature flicked its ears, blinked the yellow, bird-like eyes quickly, and raised its wings, ready to take flight. Its tail swished in anticipation. Its master would be so proud.

"Not so fast, gryphon." A voice whispered into its ears, and shrieking like an eagle, the gryphon turned to encounter Mason Agar. The man grinned, showing fangs where his teeth had been. His eyes glowed like molten gold, not green, and they were unnervingly different from those vegetarian vampires' eyes.

"You came here, you die here." The man continued, and before the ancient monster could see him, grabbed the gryphon's wings. "It was your choice." Mason told the monster again, before he leaned down. At the same time, he tugged on the wings, ripping them off the body with a gruesome sound, and sank his teeth into the gryphon's neck and tore it open.

Even as the gryphon dropped onto the ground, dying, it could still see the monster grin. "Oh," Mason Agar, the biggest monster in the gryphon's eyes, sighed, brushing feathers off of his hands. "This always feels so good. Gryphon, perhaps I should send you as a gift to your master, hmm? You know, your master is not so smart. Well, anyway. If you were alive, I would send a message to your master. To tell him that the vampires are now being aided by the f-"

The gryphon's heart thumped once then stopped entirely.

Okay, guys.

1) This is the 'rising action'. The real stuff will begin very soon.

2) If you are uncomfortable with the OC and the violence, please tell me.

3) Sorry for the amount, guys. Really. I mean it. I'll try to make it more longer. I promise, I swear, I pledge...

4) And...

Wow. I'm such a jerk. I'm such a... words can't even describe it. Thank you so much for waiting. Thank you so much. I had an accident, and I broke my hand (like, crushed it) and I couldn't type with it until a little before. Then I had to do school works. Then...well, I had to rest a little because of writers' block. Then... I'm here. My hand's fine now, and I'm going to start on the story again. This is not on hiatus.

But I still feel so bad about what I did. I didn't even explain what happened. I'm so sorry. I'M SO SORRY.

Maybe I should go and like, just hang myself.

Well, next chapter, folks, ciao!