*carefully walks in* Hi guys…It's been a while… *ducks to avoid objects being thrown at me from all corners of the website*

But seriously, I feel really terrible about not updating. These last couple of years have been one crazy rollercoaster, and I have the attention span of a peanut, so I never actually sat myself down to write the next chapter. I am really, REALLY sorry, and all of you who have stuck by this story despite my idiocy deserve a round of applause *clapclapclapclapclap*

To all of you who found the time to review, I thank you immensely. I read every single one, and you guys are wonderful. I know that one person did seem shy about criticizing my story in his/her review…Don't be! I love criticism. If you're just being mean, then I won't like it very much, but it's the people who have the guts to tell you, "This could have been better" that will help you grow as a writer.

Here are all the wonderful reviewers: UndiscoveredDemigod, ElmoTheProcrastinator, stellarations, ADayWithNoLaughterIsADayWasted, sapphireshadow97, Demigod Spartan, KatieElizabethGrace, panda-l0ver728, MyLifeofWriting, jbird2003, iBayfully, Guest (x11), oOAngelwithaBrokenHaloOo, Wisegirl23, YourPersonalWiseGirl, Anonymous (x2), ConverseAthena, Italian Otaku, slime, random reader3, Swimmer1617, I heart sweets, priyanka desai, percabethluva639, alexis, Annabeth579, Turquoise Crystal, .Jackson, leayonia, Gothazon, , and Sara De Angelo.

As requested…
Belle's Book~ Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. The land of Westeros is ruled by Robert Baratheon, who overthrew the Mad King Aerys Targaryen several years prior. Robert's Hand, his second-in-command and chief advisor, has died, and he asks his childhood friend Ned Stark to replace the dead man as the new Hand. What ensues is love, secrecy, hatred, and betrayal. Not to mention dragons. And snow zombies. And a sassy little dwarf known as Tyrion-fucking-Lannister. Read it and you will not regret it. Then watch the show to make your feels come to life.

Now, for what you really want. As you guys are all acutely aware, it's been a while since I last updated. In fact, it's been one and a half years. I've grown away from the Percy Jackson fandom, and though I still love it, it's not my favorite anymore. Still, I love this story. So I will update, and I will try my best to update again soon, but, as always, I make no promises. You should all also be aware that I'm completely scrapping the original ending and trying something new. Personally, I think it's a lot better and much more appropriate to keep this story going and interesting.

Without further ado, I present to you Chapter 12 of Street Rat.

Chapter 12- Annabeth

Luke held me against the wall, his breath making me cringe. The smell of alcohol was overpowering. "Luke," I said firmly, trying to snap him out of his drunken state, "you're hurting me."

He seemed to think that was funny. He smiled, a sick, twisted smile, as he pushed me harder against the wall. My stab wound stung painfully, but I tried to hide it. "Oh, I'm hurting you? Isn't that a damn shame?" He dug his nails into my arm and I tried not to cry out in pain. "Tell me, Annabeth." He squeezed my arm harder, and I knew it would leave bruises. "What the hell were you doing with Percy. Fucking. Jackson?"

I was at a loss for words. I couldn't tell him the truth, but I didn't want to risk lying either since I didn't know how long he had been there or how much he had heard. "I was…I just…"

He squeezed my arm again and this time I couldn't help but let out a whimper of pain. "Don't. Lie. To me." The look he gave me sent a cold shiver through my spine. "I heard what you said to him, Annabeth. What did you do? Did you fuck him?" He grabbed the front of my dress and pulled me against him while wrapping his other arm around me so that I couldn't move. "Did you let him have you? Did that son of a bitch take my prize from me?"

I was too scared to speak. This was not the same Luke I had danced with at my party, nor was it the flirtatious, seductive Luke who had cheated with the maid that same night. No, this was the Luke that Thalia had warned me about, the one who took her against her will. This was the Luke that Percy had fought and scarred. I was terrified of him.

Luckily, I didn't have to worry for too long. Just then, I heard Malcolm shout, "Annabeth!" Luke let go of me and sobered up immediately as my brother ran over. He hugged me tight and said, "I was so scared when they told us you were missing. And then Jackson escaped…" He pulled back and looked at me. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Before I could speak, Luke said, "Jackson had her. It looked like she had just escaped and was trying to climb back through that hole we made in the wall a few years ago, and that asshole was trying to kidnap her again. I saw them fighting and shouted. He ran when he saw me coming."

Malcolm looked at me. "Is that true?"

I just stared at Luke. He stared back with icy blue eyes. I had a choice to make. Malcolm was my brother. I never lied to him. And I loved Percy. Claiming that he kidnapped me would be dishonoring that love and spitting on whatever there was between us. But Percy was long gone, and I'd been left behind to deal with the mess we'd created. Was it worth it to stay true to him if it meant possibly being hurt by my future husband?

If I told Malcolm the truth, he would believe me. But no matter how much my father loved me, I knew I would never be able to convince him. He'd never admit to himself that I was in love with someone he didn't approve of, that I was as wild and unreasonable as my mother. Even if I did manage to convince my father, Luke might spread the story of me and Percy and what he heard to all of the eligible men in Olympus and beyond. No nobleman in his right mind would ever marry a woman who laid in the gutter with a street rat.

There were two options. I could stay true to Percy and hope that one day he might come back for me. I could fight like my mother did and try to run away and find him. I could be brave and strong and wield that nerve that almost got me killed on the day I first met him like a steel sword to protect me from men like Luke and my father who wanted to keep me contained and quiet. Or I could admit the truth.

Percy wasn't going to come back. Why would he? He would die, and for what? A girl he knew for five days? We'd kissed, yes, but he'd kissed other girls. Yes, I loved him, and maybe he loved me, too, but I couldn't wait for him like I promised. I lived in a world of monsters and men. There was no room for romance and fanciful, childish dreams. If I wanted to survive, I had to let him go.

I was trapped, and Luke was my captor, my only option. In the end, there was no choice. I'm sorry, Percy. Without looking away from Luke, I said to Malcolm, "Yes. It's true." Malcolm let out a deep breath and a thin smile crossed over Luke's face.

Malcolm kissed my forehead. "Come on. Let's get you home." He touched my back just below the shoulder and I let out a cry. He drew his hand back quickly and looked at the back of my dress, swearing loudly. "Annabeth, what happened?!"

My forehead suddenly broke out into a cold sweat. I'm sorry, Percy. "I got st-stabbed…"

What happened next was a blur. I began to sway and Luke grabbed onto me to steady me. While Malcolm ran to call the Guard, Luke picked me up, careful of my back. He began to walk towards a nearby carriage that he and Malcolm must have come in. "You made the right decision, Annabeth," he told me. "What you said will save us a lot of trouble in the long run. And I promise you, you may love that street rat now, but once we're married, I'll make you forget he ever existed." He smiled down at me. My back hurt and my head felt heavy.

I'm sorry, Percy.

***Three Years Later***

"My Lady, we've arrived."

The sound of the driver's voice knocked me out of my daydream. "Oh! Thank you. I'll just be a moment."

"Take your time, My Lady." He stood waiting at the door to help me down as I gathered myself. When he helped me step down, he asked, "Do you have an idea of when you'd like the carriage to be ready, My Lady?"

"I was actually hoping to stay here overnight. I'll call for you in the morning when I'm ready."

The driver looked confused. "My Lady, your husband said—"

"I know what my husband said. Forgive me, but Princess Rachel and I haven't seen each other in months. He will understand." Before he could protest, I spun away in a flurry of skirts and called over my shoulder, "I'll send for you in the morning."

I knew that Luke would be angry, and he probably would keep me locked away for at least a month for this defiance, but it was worth it. I hadn't seen Rachel since the ceremony for Jason Grace's appointment as Captain of the King's Guard, and his subsequent betrothal to our friend Lady Piper. Lieutenant apparently was not good enough for Piper's family, but Captain was an entirely different matter. That had been over five months ago, and it was due time for me to spend the day with my best friend.

Rachel greeted me on the steps of the palace. She smiled widely and hugged me tight, right there in public. I smiled as I hugged her back and said, "You know you're going to hear about our 'inappropriate display' later."

"I really, really don't care." She pulled back and looked at me, trying to see what changes she could find. "How are you?"

I forced a smile. "Better than last time."

She smiled sadly. "Come inside. I've had some food prepared, you must be famished." I followed her up the steps as she continued talking. "Mother is doing well, but Father's taken ill. The doctors claim that he's doing fine, but anyone who looks at him can tell he has the Sickness. Which means Mother is looking harder than ever for suitable men to rule the country for me." The bitterness in her voice was tangible.

"Did you ever talk to them about the idea of ruling on your own before finding someone?"

"Of course I did. But they cut me off before I could barely say a word. 'A woman's place is standing silently beside her husband' is what my father told me. Faithful as ever, Mother just nodded in agreement. They don't think I'm capable of ruling. It's really going to come down to my mother selecting a few finalists and my father pointing at one of them. I'm just hoping it's not Gleeson Hedge."

I couldn't help but laugh at that. Rachel glared at me, but then it softened. "I'd probably be mad if I wasn't so happy to hear you laughing again."

My smile died on my lips. I looked away.

Rachel took my hand in hers. "Annabeth, look at me. Please." I did. "Tell me what's going on. Is he hurting you?"

I kept my tears at bay and forced a small smile. "It's nothing I can't handle."

"That's not an answer."

I looked at her helplessly. "What do you want me to say? There's nothing either of us can do about it." She didn't say anything so I kept going. "He's my husband, Rachel. My father gave me to him and now I'm his. He has free reign to do anything but kill me." A tear managed to slip from the corner of my eye before I could stop it. "And the only reason he hasn't done that is because there's no way he could hide that from my father. Or Malcolm, more importantly."

Rachel had tears of her own pooling in the corners of her eyes. "Oh, Annabeth…" She hugged me tightly. By now we had reached her room and could talk in private and put down barriers without being seen or gossiped about later. The last thing I needed was for news to carry back to Luke that I was crying to Rachel about our less-than-satisfactory marriage.

Our marriage was not a happy one. We were married three months after my sixteenth birthday. The ceremony had been beautiful, and Luke had played the perfect gentleman to my father. We'd danced and laughed and smiled and kissed and fed each other freshly baked cake that tasted like clouds. I tried to pretend that it would last, that the handsome, charming Luke was the man I was marrying, but I knew it was a lie. The second we were alone he'd unleashed the monster inside of him.

Our wedding night wasn't the only time he forced himself on me. For the first year most nights were like that. He would get drunk and angry and come stumbling to my bed, usually waking me up with a kick to the stomach or a slap to the face. He got sick of me crying so he beat me until I stopped showing any emotion. Eventually he got bored and moved on to other women, maids and serving girls he could lure into his bed for a night. That was fine with me. Any peaceful night was a blessing.

Rachel was the only one I'd told about this. I'd come close to telling Malcolm once before, but I'd made something up at the last minute. Luke had made the mistake of leaving a bruise on my cheek the night before Malcolm came to visit us a little over two years into our marriage. Malcolm asked me point blank if Luke was hurting me. He even offered to take me with him to Ithaca. But I was scared and I didn't believe him. I thought he'd only make things worse and Luke would drag me back to my furnished prison. "I tripped down the stairs and hit my cheek on the bannister," I lied. I knew he didn't believe me, but I also knew that he desperately wanted to. He and Luke had been friends before, I found out later. They had chased after girls together and ran around Olympus together, and after a while they decided to go to Hades together. They had created that hole in the wall separating our two worlds in order to have more adventures, find more girls. That's how Luke had met Thalia.

I knew that Malcolm didn't want to believe that one of his former best friends was capable of hurting his little sister, so I lied. For the second time in my life, I lied to Malcolm. I lied to Malcolm, and I stayed with Luke. My life became a balancing act between how far I could push my freedom without getting hurt again. So far I was still trying to figure it out.

I'd been so lost in thought that I didn't realize I was crying until Rachel brushed my tears from my cheeks. "Is there anything I can do to help you, Annabeth?"

I shook my head. "No. I don't think so."

"What about making you more comfortable? Lord Blofis gave me some books—"

"Luke doesn't let me read." She fell silent. "He says it gives me too many ideas about running away from him," I said quietly.

Rachel perked up. "That's it, Annabeth! I can help you run away." She stood up and began to pace. "Oh, this is perfect! It wouldn't even be that hard. I'd just need to get some clothes from the laundry room, steal some food from the kitchens, the coffers are always open to me so money isn't a problem…"

"Rachel, no. Stop." I stood up and held her arms so that she couldn't pace. "I can't run away. Luke is my husband."

She stared at me. "Annabeth, he treats you like absolute garbage. You need to leave him."

"And go where? There's nowhere for me to run. Even if there was he would find me." I let go of her and walked to the window. Over rows of beautiful gardens and tall, stately mansions, I could just make out the wall separating me from a world I had once known. I put my hand to the window. My mother's bracelet clinked against the glass. "He would find me, Rachel. He'd never allow me to escape." My hand formed into a fist. "It would be another scar on his record."

She was silent for a while. Finally, she said, "You're really afraid of him, aren't you?"

I squeezed my eyes shut. My voice cracked. "Terrified."

She came and put her arm around me as she stood at the window with me. She saw where I was looking and knew what I was thinking. Quietly, she asked, "Have you heard from him?"

I shook my head. "Today's my nineteenth birthday."

"I know. Happy birthday."

"Octavian has been dead for six months."

"Maybe the news just didn't reach him?"

"They would have found a way."

"Annabeth…"

"No, Rachel. He would have come back by now. I know he would have." I moved away from the window and sat on her bed. "Do you remember the scandal that Lord Paul caused when he married that maid who worked for him?"

"Of course. It was the biggest gossip for three months."

"Imagine how much bigger it would have been if they'd known whose mother that woman was."

Rachel stared at me with wide eyes. "How do you…?"

"He told me. I visited before Luke forbade me from going there and she told me the same thing. She's his mother and he didn't come for the wedding. He never sent word to her, he never said anything. He just disappeared."

"That doesn't mean—"

I cut her off again. "Yes, it does. I'm on my own, Rachel. He's not coming back. He's gone." I fingered my mother's bracelet and stared into her green eyes, but it wasn't her eyes that I was picturing. "Percy Jackson is dead."

Annnndd that's a wrap on this chapter. I hope this is a good amount. Again, I'm really sorry and I will try to not be gone for another 18 months. If you leave a review I will be much appreciative but I will understand if you don't have my meager updating. I love you all for sticking by me. ~Belle