A.N.: So I've been neglecting this story lately, and I'm so sorry. Really, I am. But I'm back with a new update. And I'm warning you, that it might not be completely canon… but I don't really care. So… yeah. Deal with it, because it's going to add some spice to the story! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I still don't own PJO. Sad face.

Six: Annabeth PoV

I was leaving a meeting with my architecture firm when my iPhone rang loudly, buzzing against my thigh. I sighed, tucked my folder full of blueprints under my arm and shouldered my purse before reaching into the pocket of my slacks and fishing it out.

Rachel's face blared across the screen, her red hair in braids. It was the day she'd announced her new yoga studio, and she'd been positively ecstatic.

I frowned, answering it without hesitation. Rachel didn't normally call me at work. She knew I was a busy person when working at the firm. So obviously, it had to be important.

"Hey, Rach," I answered, waving goodbye to the secretary. It was four o'clock, and I was done for the day, thank the gods. I was tired, and I hadn't missed the stares I was getting. After two months, my baby bump was finally starting to show. I'd never been an insecure person, but the way people were looking at me was weird. Like, because their boss was pregnant the world had stopped spinning or something.

I stepped into the elevator and pressed DOWN.

"You have to come to camp. Like, now. This is an emergency. Gods, I'm so screwed," she yelled into my ear, sounding exasperated.

"Wow, slow down. What?" I asked, confused.

"I can tell you when you get to camp. Not that I can promise I'll still be, you know, alive, when that happens, but still. Hurry up and get your ass in a car. This is an emergency!" She exclaimed.

"Okay, okay, calm down. Take a deep breath. I'll be there in twenty, okay? And in the meantime… try not to die from whatever it is that might kill you," I suggested.

"Yeah. I can try," she muttered sullenly. "See you in a few." And with that, the weirdest phone call of my life ended. And I was accustomed to Rachel being a little weird. I mean, she was the Oracle, did yoga, lived in a cave for a big part of the year, and painted her dreams out on canvases. Unconventional was practically her middle name. But she'd officially reached a new height of unexpected.

I sighed, waiting for the elevator doors to ding open at the ground floor. They did, after what seemed like an eternity, and I stepped out into the lobby, searching through my purse for my cell again. I had a dinner date with Percy tonight, and with how freaked Rachel sounded, I had a feeling it might get delayed.

I pressed my first option on speed-dial and held the phone to my ear while I flagged a cab, waiting for Percy to pick up.

"Annabeth?" he answered. I could hear his smile through the phone and it filled me with this warm feeling, like I was being tickled or something. Years of dating and marriage had changed nothing between us.

"Hey. Look, I'm sorry for interrupting your work, but Rachel just called. She has some emergency or something, and she needs me at camp," I explained quickly, scowling furiously as a taxi drove right by. "So I'm thinking our dinner might have to rescheduled, or spent playing pinochle with Chiron and Mr. D. I'm sorry Seaweed Brain."

He laughed. "No problem. I get out of work around five today, so I'll meet you at camp a little after that. And if Rachel sounds desperate, we all know she's either predicting the next potential dooms-day of the world, or having a personal crisis. So you'd better get going."

"Very funny," I said, laughing and rolling my eyes. A second taxi passed, and I resisted the urge to give the driver the finger. I was professional, sure, but still young. And I was done waiting for a normal cab. "Anyways, see you later then. I love you," I said.

"I love you more," he replied easily, before we both simultaneously hung up. I tucked my cell into my purse and silently cursed. I was having particularly bad luck today. I opened the secret pocket in my purse and retrieved a heavy, Girl Scout cookie sized coin. Drachmas.

I tossed it on to the pavement and recited a chant I had long since memorized. The asphalt boiled horrifically, and it smelled a lot like burning rubber. The stench filled my nose and I resisted the urge to gag. I needed a ride, even if it would potentially cost me my life.

A smoke gray cab materialized, with ominious looking Ancient Greek on the side, advertising Hephaestus TV. I tugged open the door and slid inside.

"Camp Half-Blood, Long Island," I said, clutching the side of the cab like a life line. Which, in a few seconds, it would be. Otherwise I'm sure I would be sent flying.

"Athena's daughter," one of the Gray Sisters mused, her voice a lazy hiss.

"Once again," another added.

"Can we get going?" I asked impatiently, tightening my grip on the door, while glancing at my silver watch. It was a wedding gift from Leo, and spiraled into a shield. It was a prototype, an attempt to replicate Thalia's shield Aegis, and if I had my say it worked pretty well. Plus, it told time.

"Impatient," one of them clucked from the front seat. "We know things, Annabeth Chase Jackson. And you would know them too if you could stop and listen every once in awhile."

I sighed. The Gray Sisters were definitely a weird bunch, and by weird I meant they shared one tooth and one eye between the three of them, but they also shared unimaginable amounts of knowledge that Apollo and Rachel could only guess at. I mean, considering they were siblings of the Fates, that sort of made sense. But at the moment, only a brief spark of interest caught in my brain. I was too busy worrying about Rachel.

"Yes I know, but I do really need to get going," I pressed.

"Well then," a snort of contempt came from one of them. "If she refuses to see the danger, we won't waste our time."

The car exploded forwards with a burst of speed, and I hit the seat behind me, hard, my purse whacking me in the face. Wait, what had she said? Danger?

"What danger?" I asked, suddenly interested. I mean, I'd only been at the center of saving the world twice. If there were imminent threats of world destruction, I wanted to know.

"Now she wants to know," one cackled. "You missed you chance."

"Tell me!" I demanded, brushing my hair from my face as the car performed a hairpin turn and I lurched sideways.

"The thread has been spun," one began.

"The thread of your child's life," another interrupted.

"Blood is the key. If the blood that runs in its veins can stop feuding, they may have a chance," the third finished. "Their destiny is great, but the challenges awaiting it are harder than most half bloods."

"Wait. What do you mean, blood is key?" I pressed, before reaching out to prevent myself from slamming into the seat in front of me. The cab screeched to a stop.

"Thanks for riding," they hissed in synch, and the door opened automatically to let me out.

"I don't understand," I continued, climbing out. "Wait a second—"

But they were gone. My ride in the Chariot of Damnation was over, and I had arrived at Camp Half-Blood.

The Gray Sisters knew something about Percy and I's baby. They knew. And I'd let them go without telling me. I kicked the ground angrily, dust rising in the air. The Fates couldn't give it a rest, could they? If Percy and I were done saving the world, they needed to move on to plaguing our unborn child with 'challenges'?

Think, Annabeth. Calm down. I stopped and closed my eyes, smoothing out my slacks. I was here because my friend needed me. And whatever problem would be posed on my kid, it would have to wait another seven months. Shouldering my purse, I trudged up the hill, passing a snoozing Peleus and Thalia's pine tree before taking a minute to gaze down into the valley I would always consider home.

I shook my head and hurried down towards the central green, bypassing the cabins and heading straight to Rachel's cave. Clearly, my presence wasn't going unnoticed, judging by the whispers. To new campers, I was still Annabeth Chase, girlfriend of Percy Jackson, and one of the saviors of Olympus.

The thick velvet purple curtain was drawn across Rachel's cave, and I shoved it aside to reveal my friend's part time home. The other home being a high class suite on Fifth Avenue.

It was, to put it plainly, a mess. Canvases were stacked in precarious piles in a corner, and others were half finished and abandoned on their stands. Too many candles were lit in the sconces, emitting an intense, heady scent. Rachel's plushy cranberry colored armchairs and settees were strewn with clothes and books, and she was curled up in her bed, which looked a lot like a nest.

It took me a second to realize she was crying.

I tossed my purse onto her couch and sat down on the bed. "Rach, what the hell is going on? You had me freaked with that phone call. And this—" I motioned to the rest of her room. It looked like a tornado had whipped through here before I'd arrived.

She sat up and hiccupped, reaching towards a bottle on her nightstand and taking a deep swallow before burping. "Annabeth, I'm screwed seven ways to Sunday. I'm so surprised I'm not dead right now, you know."

"Why in Hades would you be dead?" I inquired calmly, grabbing the bottle from her hand and sniffing it. Beer. I rolled my eyes and held it up. "Seriously? Isn't that a little too cliché for you?"

"Not right now. I might as well surrender myself to the life of a poor little rich girl who fucked up, big time. I don't understand how I could have been so stupid," she wailed, falling back against her pillows.

"Come on, Rachel. It can't be that bad," I said, tossing the bottle into the trash. "And stop drinking. I know you hate being drunk."

"Too late," she sniffed.

I rolled my eyes. "Stop moping and tell me what's wrong so I can help you fix it, please."

"Look, Annabeth, I know I called you here, but I'm starting to think I shouldn't have dragged you into this. This isn't something you can fix. Besides, I'm sure the gods will blast me to a pile of ash any minute anyways," she told me seriously, rubbing her eyes and hiccupping. "Shit, I need to pee." She dashed towards the bathroom and slammed the door behind her.

Ten minutes later, I heard splattering sounds. Oh god. She really was drunk.

And now she was sick.

I stood up, kicked off my shoes and discarded my blazer, pushing the sleeves of my blouse back towards my elbows. I was pretty sure that barf stains didn't wash out too easily.

Rachel's bathroom, like everything else in the cave, was luxurious and white and gold and sparkly, like something from a hotel. Of course, the figure crouched by the toilet heaving didn't fix the image. I walked over and held her hair back and waited until the retching subsided, ushering her to the sink. "Wash out your mouth," I recommended.

She gulped down the water and spit it out repeatedly until straightening up again and redoing her ponytail.

"Feel better?" I asked.

"Loads," she began, before she burst into tears.

Over dramatizing was not Rachel's style. Whatever was up, it was serious.

"Okay, cut to the chase. Tell me what's wrong. I'm sure a tub of Ben and Jerry's can fix it, right?" I prompted.

"Nope. Annabeth, I shouldn't have done it, and I knew it was wrong but I couldn't help myself. And it's never happened before, and it's disastrous," she began, pausing to flounce down on her sofa, cradling her head in her hands before looking up again. "I got knocked up, Annabeth. I got knocked up by freaking Apollo."

The words were drowned in a fresh round of sobs, but I heard them perfectly.

Holy Hades. Rachel was the Oracle, and the Oracle was supposed to be a beautiful young maiden. And now she was pregnant. She was right, I was a little surprised she wasn't dead right now.

Plus, the Oracle sleeping with Apollo of all gods? He was the god of the freaking Oracle, for crying out loud!

"How did you know?" I turned to her.

"I dreamed about it a little, like signs and Greek lettering and stuff. Of course, I didn't know it would relate to me, because you and Piper are both pregnant and stuff. But then I kept painting signs, over and over again, like I couldn't get them out of my head. I can't believe I did this. I can't run, and I can't hide from the gods. What's going to happen to me?"

I hugged her tightly. "I don't know, Rach. I don't know."

So it took awhile, I know, I know. But it's really long, so I hope that sort of makes up for it. And I foreshadowed a little where Percy and Annabeth's child is concerned, hahaha. Tomorrow is my birthday, btw! I'll be fifteen, FINALLY. Anyways, thank you so much for reading, and please review! Check out my other stories! Love you all!

Xoxo- NotsoSugarQueen