Annabeth goes to Goode

Nightmares

Annabeth's P.o.V

I woke up shaking and sweating, gasping to try and catch my breath. It was hot and dark. I knew that I had gotten out of Tartarus months ago but it was still so fresh in my mind. The terrors that place held still boiling to the surface every night in the form of nightmares. I needed Percy.

It was four a.m. but I knew I couldn't sleep again after that so I turned on my light and read the book I was about half way through. By six a.m. I had finished it and was sobbing unashamedly, curled into a ball, in the middle of my bed.

My dad called me down for breakfast and so I wiped off my cheeks, slipped on some slippers and one of Percy's jumpers and went slowly down the stairs.

I reached the table and decided that I knew what I had to do.

"Mum, dad, I need to tell you something." I told them slowly.

"What is it dear?" My mum (step-mum actually, but we got on so much better recently that I decided she earned it.

"I can't tell you in front of the boys, but I need to explain what happened over the summer." I whispered, blinking back tears.

"Why can't you say it in front of the boys?" My dad asked innocently.

"I still have nightmares about it and I don't want them to be affected by it."

"Okay, I'll ask next door to watch them while we talk for a bit." Mum told me gently. After half an hour we were finally ready for my 'story time'.

I explained everything that had happened, going into as little detail as possible. After I finished, both of them were crying and I was almost hysterical. We spoke calmly about what we could do to help stop them. After two hours the only thing we had thought of was moving out there to New York and living with Percy. So I I.M.ed Sally and Paul and sorted out the idea with them. We would ask the gods for a small amount of help in getting a house for all of us to live in where Percy and I would be trusted to share a room and we'd go to school together. I thought that this may well work.