I woke in the middle of the night, my ADHD battle reflexes picking up on some shuffling going on outside. I tensed, uncapped Riptide, and slid over tovthe door. There was no way the invasion could be here already, or gotten through this quietly. I rounded the corner, threw open the door and…I lowered Riptide, shocked. In front of me stood not a gruesome monster, but something perhaps just as shocking.

It was Annabeth.

Except she was pale, tears lined her face, her forehead was knotted up like she was holding back a sob, and she looked somehow much smaller than I had ever seen her, despite being annoying close to being taller than me this summer.

"Percy," she mumbled. Her voice sounded high and strained, "I'm sorry if I woke you."

"Woke me? Um, no, no worries, I mean 4 am is practically my favorite, er, time to be woken." Except perhaps noon, or maybe sometime after the sun had come up, Percy thought.

"Can I come in?" she asked. Percy was a bit taken, even more than he was already. Annabeth was counselor for Athena cabin and she was asking to come in to my–a boy's–cabin alone in the middle of the night? I could imagine the look on Chiron's face, and the worst part is, Chiron would probably be pretty damn amused by it.

"Of course," I replied.

Annabeth stepped through the gray stone doorway and sat on my bed. I mean, just sat. Like, on my bed. I was starkly aware that I was still in my boxer shorts. Oh gods, I was not prepared for this kind of confrontation. I should mention: over the past year Annabeth had grown into quite a woman. Her quirky charm had evolved into grace and beauty and all sorts of horrible things. As embarrassed as I was by her sudden appearance, I was way more concerned with what could be making her so upset.

I thought about putting my arm around her to comfort her, but I couldn't muster the courage. Of course, she chose this moment to throw herself against my chest, sobbing. I said something really smooth, like, "Whoa, uh, s'okay, what's, um..?"

"Oh Percy it was horrible!" she choked. "I had this nightmare and I thought, I mean demigods usually only have these stupid visions and omens and stuff. B-But this couldn't…I saw Luke…Luke st-stabbing you. But it was Luke. With blue eyes. Not Kronos. Percy I know you hate him but you have to believe me that he would n-never do that to you."

I kinda thought Luke would do that, and it did nothing to ease my anxiety about my upcoming birthday, but something told me I shouldn't tell Annabeth that. Instead I settled for awkwardly stroking her blonde curls back. Her hair was a mess; my hands kept getting stuck. I imagined how she must have been tossing in her sleep. I knew what Luke meant to her; Annabeth would never believe that he was a killer. She was wearing fuzzy Hello Kitty pajamas, an image I stored away for later hilarity. "Shh, Annabeth, it was just a dream. An actual dream. I'm right here; I'm fine. Luke's not gonna get me, alright? And–and if anyone gets me, it's going to be Kronos. Luke's–I mean I didn't know him too well. He's probably a good guy deep down. Just confused. He kept you safe when you were with him and Thalia. I owe him big time for that. Don't worry about him."

"Don't worry about him?" she asked incredulously, though her voice was muffled by my shirt. Then she did what I expected least of anything else. She kissed me. And not like those few (awesome) times after a successful mission when she would peck my cheek, or even that time at Mt. St Helen's when she thought I was going to die. I mean she kissed me like it was all she'd ever wanted to do. She reached her hand up and rested it on my cheek and I think I blushed so hard it probably made her face hot. She pulled away and I realized I'd just sat through the whole thing like a useless mop. What was wrong with me?

"I thought," I stammered. "I thought…Luke."

"No. No, it was always you, Seaweed Brain." I thought about Luke's offers to Annabeth, to join him. She had always stayed loyal to the gods because it was the right thing to do. But maybe–maybe there was more to it. We'd been through so much. She'd saved my life Zeus knew how many times. And now we were frontlining a war together. But we were more than comrades. I'd never had a friend, not even Grover, who cared for me as much as I knew Annabeth did. And despite this rivalry with our parents, she'd gotten under my skin too. I listened to her talk about angles and buttresses for hours just to see that flame in her stormy eyes, and she was nice enough to pretend to believe that I was listening. I wanted her to be safe, and to be happy, and definitely not to be in this war. My eyes starled prickling. Oh no. She reached up to touch my cheek just as a tear spilled out, a look of concern spreading across her tear-stained face. I remembered vaguely that I still hadn't kissed her back. Aphrodite might impale me if I didn't say what was suddenly threatening to burst out of my mind.

"Di Immortales, Annabeth, I'm in love with you." I wish I could say I did something real sly, like tuck her hair behind her ear and sweep her into my arms. What really happened is I kinda threw my face against hers (hey, I was new at this), and she tried her hardest to keep some finess up while I kissed her, over and over. I felt like I was making up for all those times I could have, all the things I should have said but I was interrupted by monsters–and fear–instead. I wanted her to know how sorry I was for putting her off all these years. For hanging out with Rachel, and, I cringed, for the time I spent with Calypso. It was all just a warm up act compared to Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena. My wise girl.

When I pulled away she was wide eyed and flushed. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and lay there smiling. "I knew it," she said before drifting off to sleep.