"It's better to feel pain, than nothing at all
The opposite of love is indifference
So pay attention now
I'm standing on your porch screamin' out
And I won't leave until you come downstairs"

---

Song: Stubborn Love, The Lumineers

---

IX - Tension

Later That Evening

---

Piper and Percy were walking the dorms when she felt a hand take her wrist.

She whirled, reaching for knives, to see Jason standing there smiling at her. She laughed, hugging him instead of cleaving his head off. When she pulled back, he gave her a chaste kiss.

"What was that for?"

"Goodnight."

Piper smiled, giving him one more kiss before parting. Their hands were the last thing to separate and they waved to one another as they left for their separate dormitories.

Piper had to jog to catch up to Percy, slowing down to meet his pace as she did. Percy gave her a grin, wiggling his eyebrows, causing Piper to turn away, blushing. Percy threw an arm around her, as they continued down to their dormitories. They did notice the stares on their backs but chose to ignore them.

They finally arrived and were told that they would find a room with their names on it, by a greasy-haired man, who was the head of the Slytherin house. He had a deep voice and almost spoke with a purr that sent shivers up Piper's spine. His name was Severus Snape.

Once he was done, Piper headed to the girl's side of the dormitories quickly finding her room. She stepped inside, closing the door behind her.

The room was medium-sized, with a large four-poster bed with green silk curtains and bedsheets. There was a dark wood desk in the corner, and the room was lit by four candelabras that hung from the walls. There was a green rug in the centre, tapestries with snakes on the walls, and a dresser for clothes, along with a closet.

Piper took in the room, noticing that her two trunks, along with the extra backpack she had brought were already in her room. Sparing a longing glance at the soft bed, she opened her first trunk. She took out the normal clothes she had brought, putting the shirts in one drawer and pants in the other. She did the same with her sleepwear.

She hung her spare uniform pieces, taking off her tie and putting it on her dresser. Her first trunk was empty of the things it needed to be empty of, so she put it in the closet. The next trunk had more of her personal things.

She found that there was a built-in bookshelf right above the desk, carved into the stone. She placed her textbooks, quills, inkwells, and parchment on a shelf, the bottom one. On the upper two, she put some books on Greek and Cherokee myths there, along with multiple framed photos.

There were photos of her sister Drew and her, her and Jason, Her and Annabeth, Her and Leo, among others. Her favourite was one of her dad and her, right after she returned from her first year at camp, and he had taken her to get some In N Out.

Smiling, she placed that photo on the shelf, before stepping back and looking at it. She heard a knock at the door. "Come in!" she said, assuming it was Percy.

She turned to see a fellow Slytherin, the Pansy girl looking at her. "Uh, hi," Piper said awkwardly.

"Hello," Pansy said, looking around.

"I noticed you kissed a Gryffindor," Pansy commented.

So that's what this is about, Piper thought.

She crossed her arms, "Yes, and?"

"Well you know, us Slytherins don't interact with Gryffindors. It's not how things are done around here." Pansy sniffed.

Piper eyed her, hissing out, "If you are going to tell me to break up with him, I'm going to ask you to leave Pansy."

"Fine," Pansy said, turning away, waving Piper off. Just before she left, she met her eyes, "But you'll come to your senses eventually." The door shut.

Piper rolled her eyes and continued to unpack. There was another knock at the door. "Who is it?" She groaned.

"Your favourite person ever," Came the familiar voice of Percy Jackson.

Piper rolled her eyes, "Come in."

She heard the door open and assumed from Percy silence he was taking in her room. "Nice pad," He said.

Piper turned to him, "Thanks. You know that girl Pansy?" Percy nodded, "The bitch tried to get me to break up with Jason because apparently, that's not how things are done around here. Do you think she knows that she sounds like she came straight out of some cliche high school movie?"

Percy rolled his eyes, "Probably not."

"Are you done unpacking your stuff?"

"Yeah, I didn't bring as much personal stuff." He glanced at the tapestries, "They really want you to know you're in Slytherin don't they?"

"Yep. What did you bring?"

"Some pictures, my minotaur horn, some records and my record player." Piper smiled, giving him a look.

"Your minotaur horn? Really, Jackson?"

Percy grinned, "Sentimental value."

Piper nodded as she dragged the now-empty second trunk into the closet, next to the other one. "How're your weapons?" He asked, tilting his head towards the trunks.

"Haven't checked," she told him, as she opened the fake bottom. Checking to make sure nothing was broken, she went to the other one, gave the stuff a once over, before replacing the false bottoms.

"Goodnight," He said.

"Night."

---

X - Fireside Talk

---

"That woman is legitimately the strongest reminder as to why I am a hunter," Thalia said, slinking into the plush red couch.

Jason groaned, thinking about the pink wearing woman, "Don't remind me."

Frank, who was sitting at the other chair around the fire the three were gathered at, sighed, "I don't like what this may mean. I'll have to check with Annabeth or Reyna but..." he trailed off for a moment, "This is concerning."

The three of them were some of the few left in the common room, aside from a handful of lingering seventh years. The fire they sat around was dwindling and the three of them, already in their pyjamas, would likely retire to bed soon.

But they were all plagued with the nagging thoughts surrounding the speech they had heard earlier. The cadence, the word choice, the message, it threw them off.

"She's like Octavian," Jason moaned, rubbing his temples.

Thalia looked at him, "Explain."

"Good with words, good at swaying you, good at getting a crowd talking," He moaned, "I thought I was done listening to people like him."

"Jason," Frank sighed, "Unfortunately you can never escape the Octavians."

"Don't remind me."

"You've said that like three times, Jason," Thalia commented.

"Shut up, Thalia," Jason leaned back again, rubbing his hands over his face.

---

XI - Blue Silk

---

Annabeth, Leo, and Reyna stayed a bit behind the rest of the Ravenclaws as they were led to the West Tower, talking in hushed tones about what had happened.

They eyed the entrance to the room warily, all not quite sure about the rather strange entrance. Their wariness died as they entered the common room.

The room had large windows, with blue silk curtains hanging from them. The beams of the moon shone through, casting long shadows. The ceiling showed the stars and both of Reyna and Leo heard Annabeth mutter the term they had long since grown used to;

Bob says hello.

The walls were lined with large white bookshelves, filled to the brim with books. On the empty spaces, blue and bronze silks hung. There was a gorgeous carpet on the floor, the colour of the midnight sky, and a beautiful statue of a woman, next to two staircases.

Portraits hung the walls as well, and the whole group spent a whole minute admiring the space. Finally, they parted, going up the staircases to their dorms.

At Reyna's dorm, the girl exchanged a tight hug, exchanging goodbyes in Greek and Latin, respectively. Then Reyna opened the door, entered her dorm, and Annabeth was left to climb to the seventh year dorm.

The dorm was at the top of the staircases, and there Annabeth found two doors. Each one had three name plaques on them, and Annabeth went into the one that had her name on it.

She quietly opened the doors, yet it still brought the attention of the girls inside. Once they saw her, their faces lit up, and Annabeth felt the anxiety she didn't know she had faded away.

"You're the American transfer, right?" One of them asked. She had long dark hair, plaited into long braids. Her skin was dark brown and her eyes darker, but they showed like planets in the night sky.

Annabeth nodded, and stuck her hand out, "Annabeth Chase."

The girl took her hand, shaking it, "Amabilia Ventrence."

"Nice to meet you," Annabeth said, smiling.

Amabilia grinned at her and pointed to the only open bed, a four-poster bed with silk sheets and curtains that was right below one of the many windows, "That's your bed. Your trunks are at the foot of it." They were indeed at the foot of her bed.

"What's even in that?" Her other roommate, a girl with long red-orange hair, shaved on both sides, asked, "I stubbed my toe on them and bloody hell, it hurt." She paused, "I'm Ciara, by the way. Ciara O'Broin." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Annabeth gave Ciara a wry grin. "That's a secret." She winked at the girl, who laughed.

Annabeth was left to unpack, and she got to know her roommates.

Ciara was from Ireland, born to muggles. The tense press of her shoulders and tight-lipped smiles when Annabeth asked of her parents was all too familiar, and Annabeth could picture the cold nights on the run they shared on opposite sides of the world.

"And you, Amabilia?" Annabeth asked her

Amabilia turned out to be a pureblood, coming from one of the still 'pure' families. "Not that we're obsessed with that," she told her, "We've always been very lenient, but we always end up marrying a pureblood or a half-blood."

"Well that may end soon," Ciara said, smiling at Amabilia who had Annabeth sure there was love between them.

"It's a wonder we're still dorm mates," Amabilia said, grinning.

Amabilia, Ama as she prefered, lived only with her father, her mother having died in the first wizarding war. Annabeth could tell, from the gleam in her eyes and the pride in her voice, how much she loved and cherished him.

They asked Annabeth about her, and her past school. She told them that she was a half-blood, but had lived with her muggle father until she was seven in Virginia. She told them she ran away, glossing over the exact details of her time on the run. Ciara and she exchanged understanding smiles.

All they needed to know was that she ended up at her school, which she did not give a name for, and she had been studying there since. The girls were polite, asking clarifying questions, and Annabeth found herself loosening up a bit.

Ciara was brilliant and sharp-tongued, adept and beautiful. Ama was more reserved, but when she spoke, it was soothing and commanding. Her voice was powerful, her sharp features and the kept look of her deceptively easy on the eyes. She had the makings of a leader.

Talking late into the hours of the night, something became clear. These girls wanted friendship and kinship. Annabeth, in truth, had no kin to them. They were cut from different cloths, different faces on different coins, women of two worlds. Annabeth wanted to know them, wanted to let them know her, but the walls were slowly building and building, shutting her away, back into the dark.

She hid her fear of the darkness behind too-tight smiles, hoping her mask wouldn't fall. The walls grew, the water rose. She sunk under, and then, Annabeth was nothing more than a girl of smoke and mirrors, hidden truths.

Undercover.

---

XII - Pain

Midnight

---

Annabeth had once told Percy that it wasn't easy to bite through either your lips or tongue, but judging by the metallic iron taste in his mouth, he would have to disagree.

He pressed down even harder as the desire to scream overcame him again, balling his shaking hands in the green sheets, slowly becoming soaked with his sweat. The old wounds on his back were roaring as he hunched over and bit even harder.

He was shaking, hot tears streaming down his face as he fought back the screams and the memories. The details of the dream were gone—his memory was bad anyway—but the sound of Annabeth's scream as she was killed and the overwhelming grief, guilt, and fear weren't. And the feeling of falling through the air, this time without her, all around him. Down to hell. Away from light and salvation.

He glanced around. The room was dark, the only colour being the faint rays of the moon breaking through the water outside of his window. Water, he told himself, focus on the water.

He reached out to the waves, and suddenly he could feel everything. The waves lapping at the shore, the kelp moving with the current. The pull of the moon overhead.

Water, water, water.

The urge to scream and the tears faded as his body settled and the water cradled him. Shakily, he brushed the hair back from his head, realising his hair had gotten longer than it already had been. An issue for another day.

Trying not to be too loud, he crept over to where his two trunks were sitting, the only sign of them being their outline in the moonlight. He was silent as he lifted the top of one of them. The only sound was the click of the latch as he opened the false bottom.

He was working by faint moonlight, so he struggled to find what he was looking for. But finally, he felt the cool glass brush his fingers. He grabbed the vial of nectar; uncorking it and letting the smell of home wash over him for a moment before taking a greedy sip, letting the godly liquid dribble over the broken skin of his lip and down his chin.

Greedy, greedy, greedy.

end of part one

Part Two Will Arrive within the week. Four Chapters. Two Missing Moments. See you there.