Sorry I didn't get to warn you guys. I'm on a trip for about three months so I won't be writing as much as I'd like. What's worse is that I don't have much Internet time so I've actually got my good friend posting for me instead. Sorry!

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A cold hand rests on my shoulder like a shadow haunting the night. The man seems to eye the back of my head as if searching. Simply searching. For what, I don't know. He's been like this, silent and scary, haunting me for weeks now. His eyes never leave me yet they refuse to meet my own. Darkness seems to follow him and a certain hunger seems to grow in him. It's deep, as if having existed for years now, just settling itself at the bottom of his heart as if planted there. It's grown. And although the idea seems ridiculous, I know he seems to have formed the idea that what he does is for the best.

His cold hand reaches my neck and he rubs up and down. The motion would have been soothing had it not been for the way he had done it. The motion itself is cold, dangerous and almost deadly.

Fear fills me sending shivers of inexistent cold up my spine. His hand cups my cheek and my head turns instinctively away from the movement. His evil smile grows upon his face, the cold completely visible in it.

"You are strong for one of your age," he says simply. "And for one of your...kind."

The word forms on his lips as if in disgust, forcing itself out into the night as if he did not wish to speak it.

"Why me?" I ask. I am surprised by the words that come from me. Although I would have gladly stood against him in the past, this is the first time I have ever spoken in any of the haunting nightmares.

"The daughter of my enemy, child of the dark," he said, walking through the room. "Who else am I to kill? Who else am I to use to take for his debt?"

"He has a son, you know." I don't know why I said it. I would never make my Sstep brother take my place. If anything, I would take his in a situation of this sort.

The man turns to me, a slight look of annoyance on his usually calm and collected face. "Because I owe your brother a debt," he said simply. "He fought for our side in the war. His other sister died by my childs hand."

"So you take mine instead?"

He stops his pacing suddenly, facing me head on. "Because you are worthless in comparison," he said. "His life is valuable, yours is dispensable."

"You forget who my father is," I spit at him. "Worthlessness is not a genetic trait in his lineage."

"But I see danger and arrogance are," he said, voice cold and regulated. "As can be expected of a spontaneous, arrogant child of darkness."

I feel like hitting him but I know better. Hitting him would mean immediate death.

"Then why do you let me keep going?" I ask. "My friends and I are out in the world but you dont seem to feel the need to blow us into a million pieces?"

"Watch your words, daughter of death," he seethes. "Or I may just grant your wish. As for that, I want you to arrive. I want you to find your wretched father."

"And why is that?"

"Because although the world craves peace, there is nothing more compensating than a war to show others who their enemy truly is."

And then, with a wave of his hand, the dream fades and I wake up gasping for breath.

...:..:...

The cloth on my forehead is cold and wet, causing me to shiver in the already cool air conditioned room. A face grins down at me and Alisa ruffles my hair as if I were a child, earning her a weak glare.

"Hey look! The kiddo finally got up!" she calls out with a grin.

I groan at the noise, curling onto my side and pulling the blanket up over my head to block it out.

"Any news from Mister Holier-Than-Thou?" she asks, earning herself another glare but from Annabeth this time who is sitting beside her.

"Please try to keep him from getting mad," Annabeth sighed, resting back on her hand. From my point of view, it's just us three here in the room. "And please attempt not to antagonize the patient."

"A, I am not a glass doll," I sigh, turning back onto my back. "And B, yes, I spoke to him."

The words seem to catch Annabeth off guard. "You spoke to him?"

"Yeah, last night," I say with a shrug. "It wasn't bad. He's weird and intimidating though."

"No shit, Sherlock," Alisa chuckles. "Any real news?"

I bite my lip for a moment, wondering how much of the dream I should tell them. "Well, he really is out to finish me off. He admitted to it. But he didn't murder me this time so it wasn't too bad. Where are we, by the way?"

"We're in a hotel in Manhattan," Annabeth explained, handing me a credit card. "Although it seems like cheating, we needed a bit of money so we managed to do a bit of hacking into the banks central system by the help of the Stoll brothers. Go downstairs. There's a restaurant in the lobby. Grab something to eat and then meet me back up here once you're done."

"I see..." I say with a shrug as I slip the card into my sweater pocket and hobble to the door.

"Alisa, you go with her," Annabeth insists, getting up and pushing the two girls to the door. "I have business to go through but I should be done before you get back."

"'Business'," Alisa says with a small smirk, making quotation marks in the air with her fingers. "I'm assuming 'business' means Percy."

"Just shut up and go eat," she mutters as she closes the door behind us. But I catch the small smile on her lips right before it's hidden behind the wooden door.

"Good an answer as any," Alisa laughs as she leads me downstairs. "Come on, we've got a hell of a lot of money and some much needed coffee to be purchased."