Dreams (A PERCABETH AU)

Chapter 6- Into The Light

(A/N): ~ Hey Angels ~

So I know some of you are mad at me for the last chapter but I was being a realist. Life doesn't always got to plan. You can't always have happy chapters and Annabeth needed something to knock her out of her shell. I'm not throwing her character away, I'm not changing her for good, it was just a small stage she had to go through so please don't think she's gonna be like that from now on.

You'll see what I mean when you read this chapter.

Annabeth POV

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.

— Albert Camus

I slammed the front door behind me and just stood there for a moment. This house no longer felt like home. I'm not sure it had ever felt like home, to be honest.

Helen was busy thrashing around in the kitchen but I went straight upstairs to pack. I couldn't stay here anymore. On top of how she treats me and getting arrested for an addiction to Adderall, what Percy did for me – it was too much. I couldn't handle it. I just had to get out of here.

Why I had stayed for this long was already blowing my mind. But now I was done. Well and truly done.

I burst into my room, grabbing my suitcase and dumping it on the bed. I grabbed everything I could and stuffed it inside. It was small so I couldn't take much with me, only a few clothes, books and toiletries. Savings was the most important thing, I pulled out my secret jar from underneath my bed where I kept all my money from the Beach Café. There were a couple hundred in there and it was all I had to support myself out in the big city. It was going to have to do. The last thing to find was in my closet but when I opened it, I found that my memory box...was gone. I gasped, digging around inside desperately but there was no question about it, someone had taken it.

With an exasperated sigh, I gave up, shutting my suitcase and wheeling it downstairs. As I was reaching the front door, something made me stop. I set the case down and looked at the person standing in front of the lit fireplace in the living room. Helen stood with her back to me in her usual smart stylish clothes.

"Looking for this?" She called.

My heart skipped a beat.

Slowly, she turned to me and I saw that she was holding my wooden memory box in her hands and it was open. She picked up a photo, looking at it with a smirk. "There must be quite a story as to how you found this. Won't you tell me?" She smiled brightly but I knew she was toying with me.

"Helen..." I murmured. "Please understand...I can't stay here anymore. I've done all you have said all my life. I need to go my own way now."

"You always were an ungrateful little wretch." She snarled, making me flinch. "Where did you get this?" She scraped a sharp nail along the box. "Did you steal it?" She said in a low, harsh voice.

"No." I whispered, fidgeting nervously as I gasped for air. "It was given to me...by my mother." I said softly. That much I knew.

"Given to you." Helen scoffed. "Nothing is ever given to you. Nothing is free in this world."

"No but that's not true." I whispered, smiling a little now. "Kindness is free. Love is free."

"Love is not free." She said in a low voice as if she knew all too well, standing up now. "Now, here is how you will pay me; you will end your romantic interests with Percy and any future plans you have together."