Sally studied the small girl sitting at her kitchen table before putting a bowl of soup down in front of her. Annabeth had blonde curly hair that dipped down passed her shoulders and grey eyes like storm clouds. She was a puzzling little girl to say the least. Sometimes she seemed much older than her tender age of six; she would look at everything around her with a cold and calculating stare. She seemed fearful and cautious, like she was waiting for someone to toss her back into the streets. But there were other times, barely a few seconds long at most, were Sally could see the little girl still inside of Annabeth. Her wide, childlike eyes would eagerly take in everything around her, like she was trying to drink in the fact that this was real.

And that was what made Sally's heart break the most.

The more she thought about Annabeth, the more Sally wanted to envelope her in a big hug. She remembered being a young girl growing up without parents, and she knew how hard it was. But here was this adorable child, not even seven years old, who was living in the streets of New York City. Annabeth was a little girl who had had her innocence taken away by whatever monsters she was forced to call her family. And it was painful for Sally to think about the fact that she could never be the carefree six year old that she deserved to be.

Percy followed his mother's gaze to the girl occupying the seat across from him. She was . . . well, she was different. Good different or bad different, Percy didn't really know. She was like nothing he had ever come across before. As a native New Yorker, he was always well aware of the fact that the world could be a dangerous place. People in this city rarely sugar-coated anything, but Percy had never felt the wrath of humanity before; not like this.

Annabeth . . . she was a brand new concept to him. Percy had seen people on the streets plenty of times. His mom loved to make cookies or sandwiches and give them to the people who lived on the streets near their apartment. Heck, Percy had even given up his entire ten dollar allowance once for a particularly kind man to buy himself dinner with! But . . . little girls were supposed to live with their mommies and daddies, weren't they? So why was she sitting on a bench in a snowstorm, begging not to be taken back to her family? Didn't she love her parents?

Didn't they love her?

What a silly question. Percy knew that parents had to love their kids! Didn't they have to fill out papers and apply for parenthood? His mommy had once told him that parents had to spend nine months working to have a baby. He was pretty sure that that meant parents spent the better part of a year signing papers and all that yucky stuff adults seem to enjoy.

Percy was just starting to learn cursive, and he figured that anyone who would willingly spend nine months writing their name in cursive on documents probably really wanted a baby.

So Annabeth's family obviously wanted to have her as a daughter. His logic seemed so flawless in his innocent mind.

But then Percy remembered his own father. He had been there in the beginning of his son's life; just barely enough that Percy could picture his face. He had walked out on Sally and Percy not long after the birth though, and that didn't seem to fit in with his logic at all. Hadn't his father wanted him?

His brain did a one-eighty in his head, as if everything that he thought to be true was suddenly backwards. Sally called his name, and he was glad that she pulled him out of the fog that was settling over his mind. Too much thinking was going to cause his head to explode, and Percy was almost positive that his mother would not be happy if she was forced to clean gooey brain-mush out of the carpet.

"Percy, the cookies are done. Eat your soup, and I'll let you have a few, okay?" She asked, pulling a tray of cookies out of the oven.

Annabeth was animatedly eating her portion. It was the first actual meal she had eaten in days, and it made her feel absolutely wonderful. Her face lit up with a true smile for the first time, and Sally noticed how delightfully carefree and happy Annabeth looked because of something as small as a bowl of soup. Sally put the blue cookies on a plate and set them down in the center of the table.

Sitting down in her seat at the head of the table, Sally said, "My, my, Annabeth. You sure seem to be enjoying yourself." She smiled at the very young—and suddenly very energetic—child.

"Oh, yes. Your food is very good!" She said as she bounced up and down slightly. "May I please have a second bowl?"

Annabeth hadn't realized what she had said until after the words had already escaped her mouth. But now it was too late to take them back, and she knew she wouldn't be let off easy for this. She ceased her bouncing; her smile vanished from her once again solemn face.

Sally's face morphed into a look of confusion as Annabeth pushed her seat away from the table and stood at Sally's side. She looked into Annabeth's wide, fearful eyes, but she still couldn't comprehend what was going on around her.

"Annabeth, why are you—?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am," Annabeth said, keeping her voice as level as possible. Crying was considered weak, and Annabeth had spent her entire life learning to be strong. To show weakness, to cry . . . that had been unthinkable in her old house. Only when she was alone did she allow herself to lose control.

"Honey, why on Earth are you sorry?" Sally asked with compassion in her voice. It was Annabeth's turn to be confused.

"Well . . . I spoke at the dinner table! And I asked for more food!" She exclaimed, as if trying to make sense of what was happening. Her voice quieted, and she added in a whisper, "Aren't you going to punish me?"

Percy silently took in what was happening in front of him. Annabeth was afraid because she wanted more food?

No—Percy reasoned—it had to be something more important than that.

Sally was shocked to say the least. Annabeth thought that she would get punished for this? Was this how her family treated her at home? She almost voiced her question until she remembered that she had only met Annabeth an hour ago. This had to be handled . . . tactfully.

"Annabeth," she started, "in this family, we don't ever punish anyone for talking at the dinner table or wanting more food. We all like each other here, okay? And we take care of each other, just like we'll take care of you."

Annabeth's eyes gleamed with innocence once more. "Do you promise?" She asked, looking between Sally and Percy.

"Of course," Sally replied with a smile. Percy nodded.

"Thank you, Mrs. Jackson," Annabeth said with a smile. The insides of her stomach filled with an unrecognizable emotion. She felt small waves of it at first, flowing deep within her, but now it felt more like a tsunami. It was big and strong and unavoidable, but for the first time in her short life, she wasn't afraid. These waters—these emotions—were like nothing she had ever experienced before; she wasn't drowning in anger and fear and sorrow, she was drowning in love.

Butterflies danced in her stomach and happiness coursed through her veins for what felt like the first time. She was nearly positive that she had never felt so cheerful in her entire life, to be frank.

She related this feeling to the many princess movies she had watched in her life (although she had been much more interested in Peter Pan and Hercules than Cinderella and Ariel). It was like . . . she had spent six years locked in a dungeon filled with monsters, but it was worth it, because she found a queen among women and her darling son, the prince, who took her into their castle and treated her as if she was their own.

Not that princess movies had ever been her favorite thing to watch or anything. But that didn't really matter; what mattered was the fact that she had been saved at all. She wasn't too keen on being the damsel in distress of the story, but she had the rest of her life to turn her fairy-tale into something that would make Mulan proud. Right now she needed all the help she could get.

"Annabeth, do you still want anything more to eat? We have plenty; it's really no trouble," Sally asked. Annabeth looked so petite; another bowl of soup couldn't hurt.

"No than—" she replied, but was cut off by a yawn. She hadn't thought about it much previously, but suddenly the aches went bone-deep, and all she could think about was lying down. Sleep sounded so blissfully peaceful at the moment. "I'm a little tired."

Sally gave Annabeth a knowing smile, as if she too could feel the sleepiness enter her body. "Sleep sounds like a great idea. Would you mind sharing a room with Percy for tonight? I mean, he could always take the couch if you aren't comfortable with that," she said, adding on the last part hastily. Percy nodded his head, even though he wasn't the biggest fan of spending nights on the lumpy pull-out bed.

Percy would sleep on the couch for her? That was . . . strangely, that was one of the nicest things anyone had ever offered to do for her. She was surprised at first—surprised that people this wonderful even existed—but she quickly exited her stupor before saying, "No, no, it's fine, Mrs. Jackson. I wouldn't want to kick Percy out of his room."

Percy smiled brightly at her before leading her into his bedroom once more. The small lamp in the corner emitted light that danced off of the cerulean colored walls.

Before she could take in her surroundings, she heard his voice. "Will you hand me those blankets please?" He asked, pointing to a stack of neatly folded quilts at the end of his bed. Without speaking, she picked up the heap and turned, handing it to him. He quickly spread them out across the floor, layering them to make it a little more comfortable. Once he deemed the makeshift bed satisfactory, he grabbed an extra pillow from his bed and plopped down.

Annabeth looked at him strangely. "Don't you want your bed? I can take the floor . . ."

He gave her a soft smile. "No, it's all right. I want you to have my bed." She gave him a disbelieving look. "Really, Annabeth. I pinky promise."

She adverted her eyes and mumbled a soft "thank you" before climbing into the bed. Once she was under the covers, she felt a weight lift off her shoulders. She snuggled further under the heavy comforter and let her body sink into the mattress.

She stared at the wave-like patterns on the blanket until everything went black. Percy had turned off the little lamp that had given the room a warm glow. Now, everything just felt empty and dark. She felt alone again.

There was a moment of silence before Annabeth mustered up the courage to voice her question. ". . . Percy? Do you, uh . . . Do you have a nightlight?" She whispered the words like the scared little girl that she was.

"Uh, yeah," he said. "Just a sec." She heard movement from the floor, and within a few seconds, a small light appeared from the corner of the room. The illuminations allowed her to see the strange look on his face.

"What?" She asked, confused by the bizarre look he was giving her.

He was silent for a moment, as if trying to find a tactful way to voice his question. "It's just that . . . Well, you lived on the streets. But you're afraid of the dark. And I guess it just seemed backwards in my mind."

Her young mind tried to process what he was saying. In an effort to explain herself, she said the only intelligent thing that came to mind. "I guess . . . Well, I lived on the streets because I wanted to run away from all of the darkness in my life. To me, running away was less scary than staying there and being surrounded by all the emptiness . . ." She trailed off, hoping that this would make sense to him. Upon seeing his mystified expression, she awkwardly added, "And so I don't really like the dark."

He locked eyes with her. His gaze was intense, but not in an intimidating way. "You are confusing, Annabeth," Percy mused. Then he smirked. "But believe me when I say that I'm going to figure you out."

Then, without so much as a warning, he slumped down on his pile of blankets; he was asleep almost instantly.

AN – Hello, my lovely readers! I'm sorry this update took so long. I hope the chapter turned out okay.

I would like to thank: AnimeRoxx, PJOBookWorm, Yiana, Chasingfireflies101, Demigod536, Moondapple18, and a special thank you to my fellow Grobanites: BeautyandtheBeast, Angel's Detective, and Grace. Thank you all for reading my unbearably long AN from last chapter!

Also, I had a reviewer mention that Annabeth is older than Percy in the series. I made her younger than Percy because it made more sense to me. Percy's birthday (August 18th) would probably make him the oldest kid in his grade, right? So if Annabeth was older than him (even by a month or two), wouldn't that mean that she would be the youngest kid in the grade above Percy? I wanted them to be in the same grade, so this just made more sense to me. Sorry for any confusion!

So . . . Percy and Annabeth will start to get closer after this. Yay!

This chapter is named after Fairytale by Ludovico Einaudi. It's a very beautiful piano song!

Finally, I would like to thank anyone who has reviewed my past two chapters or will review this one. You guys are all so unbelievably amazing. You all keep me writing!