Percy's POV

I glanced back once, witnessing her disappearance into the tree that she protected. Then, not wasting any more time, I concentrated on my emotions of fear and desperation, turning back into the wolf and running off through the forest. California, here I come.

I had made it to Kansas when I had to stop running. I could've gone on, but after what happened the last time, I didn't want to practically pass out underneath some tree without making a camp. Last time, I had the protection of the tree nymph to guard me, but this time, gods knew what I would be able to find to protect myself.

Kansas was basically a whole bunch of nothing; just flat land and plains stretching as far as the eye could see. There were some trees popping up here and there, but none that would provide the same shelter as your typical forest. I wouldn't be able to safely sleep under one of those without risking my life at the hands of a monster, demigod, or mortal. Gods know who could stumble upon me in this state.

I didn't dare change back into a human. Anyone could wander by on these endless roads, and I didn't want them to see a random human man lying under a tree or in their field, asleep. Who knows what they would do! I could be kidnapped, killed, or fined for breaking some law that only people in Kansas would know about.

I couldn't risk being me.

I trotted along a road that was mostly free of cars. Yes, the random one or two would pass by, but I doubt any of them saw me. I remained on the side whenever another sign of intelligent life was clear, hiding in the tall grass lining the highway. Eventually, I had walked a great distance. Off to my right, there was a small, abandoned farmhouse.

I broke off of the road, hurrying over to the building. Night was beginning to fall, and even through I had better instincts at night, the wolf itself was also more powerful. It was better if I slept at night. I didn't want to lose control, especially here on my own with no one to influence my change back.

I was happy to be alone, though; if no one was here, no one could be hurt.

Crawling through a rotted hole on the side of the barn, I made my way inside. The barn was very small, able to only fit about three cows or horses, with hardly any room to spare. There was some forgotten hay on the ground, and a tiny loft above. While the loft might have been slightly rotted, as the wood outside was in places, it would also be the safest place to sleep the night. Turning back into a human quickly, I climbed up the ladder that was propped against the wall, ignoring its missing rungs. The loft itself was much too small for a human to comfortably sleep on, so I turned back into the wolf before curling up to sleep. Artemis wasn't going to visit me that night; she had warned me the last time she visited that she herself had duties to take care of that she couldn't keep pushing on Apollo.

It would be a dreamless sleep, one that I desperately needed.

Too bad life hardly ever works out the way you want it to.

I was just drifting off to sleep when the door of the barn creaked open. My ears perked up and I smelt a person walk in, along with the smell of a horse.

What are people doing here? I thought, startled out of my sleepy state. This barn looked completely abandoned!

There was light whispering from below, and I figured that the first person wasn't alone. Along with the smell of horse, I also smelt goat and... Was that lemon?

Crawling stealthily over to the side of the loft, I poked my muzzle out and sniffed the air. Yes, that had to be lemon. It was unmistakeable, especially since that was nearly the same smell of Annabeth's favorite shampoo. My heart tugged at the comparison, and I found myself growling lightly in frustration. She was so far... So unreachable to me, right now...

From below, there was a gasp. Immediately, I stopped growling. Oh crap. Had I given myself away?

Taking a deep breath to steady myself for whatever may happen, I lifted my head up and looked over the side of the loft. Thinking it was probably a farmer, I bared my teeth, hoping to look frightening to scare him away. After all, how many wolves are there in Kansas, anyways? Maybe he would be too scared to shoot me.

In the faint light from the moon that spilled into the barn through the widely opened door, I saw a strange sight.

Near the door, slightly outside, there was a white horse and a man with a beanie on his head. Inside the barn, near the middle where the moonlight barely touched, was a black horse and a girl.

The girl was what caught my attention. She was tall and blonde, controlling the horse that looked like it wanted to bolt. Since I was still a son of Poseidon, no matter my form, I heard the black horse as it tried to pull away from the blonde. Lady Boss, we need to get the heck out of here!

Lady Boss?

I looked at the girl with new eyes, the eyes of the hero of Olympus and not the wolf. She was beautiful, calm, and controlled, when if she was undeniably uneasy. Her eyes were flickering to the shadows on the ground level, as if expecting something to jump out of them. She stilled, as if an idea just occurred to her. Slowly, her head tilted until she was scanning the ceiling and upper level.

Her eyes met mine.

They were a steely gray, looking like she could see into my soul. Her eyes widened when she spied me in the shadows of the loft.

"Grover," she said in a hushed voice, not breaking eye contact with me. "There's a wolf."

The man, Grover, bleated. I knew he was the goat I had smelled. "I don't like wolves!" He exclaimed loudly, looking around wildly. "Where is it?"

"Second floor," she said, still not moving anything but her mouth as she directed him.

Grover bleated again, jumping slightly when he finally saw me leering down at them. The sudden movement made me snarl at him, unable to stop myself.

"Stop doing that, Grover!" She hissed. "It doesn't like that."

'It'? Did she just call me an 'it'?!

Blood pumping, overwhelming the small voice in the back of my head that tried to squeak out a protest, I growled and jumped off the loft. I landed in front of the black horse and the girl, my stance ready to pounce. The horse whinnied and tried to run, but the girl didn't even flinch. She kept her eyes locked on mine, staring boldly at me.

In a calm voice, she said, "Grover, get the pegasi out of here."

He bleated again, making me think that it was fear that caused that horrific noise. I snarled at the sound of it. "But Annabeth-!"

"Go," she commanded sternly, not taking her eyes off mine. Smoothly, she let go of the black horse, who backed up and hurried from the small barn. I snarled at the girl.

I was about to do something I would likely regret when their words finally filtered through my brain. Grover... Pegasi... Annabeth.

Letting out a sharp bark, I sat down on my haunches as I realized that this girl in front of me was my Annabeth. I had tried to hurt her! I-

My train of thought was stopped by my love herself. Looking at me with her head tilted sideways, she wondered aloud, "What are you doing?" Her eyes scanned me for a moment, probably trying to access whether or not I was trying to trick her, when she murmured, "I've never heard of wolves in Kansas."

Standing up on my four legs, causing Annabeth to tense up, I backed up from her and into the dark shadows of the barn. She didn't make a move towards me, but I could feel her eyes peering into the shadows after me.

I knew what I was about to do was stupid. It would jeopardize my entire quest. But I couldn't take this anymore. I had been gone too long already, especially without saying goodbye or even explaining. I had to do this, or it would kill me.

Closing my eyes and concentrating on how much I loved this demigod in front of me, I allowed myself to turn back into a human. My clothes were a little dusty, but nothing compared to what they were after I first transformed back.

I stepped out of the shadows on two human feet, my head down as I refused to fully look at Annabeth. I heard her gasp, followed by the soft padding of feet on hay as she approached.

Carefully reaching out a hand, as if to touch my face, Annabeth whispered, "Percy?"

I gave her a wobbly smile, feeling myself close to tears at having her so close yet again, only to lose her so soon. "Hey, Annabeth," I murmured.

She pulled her hand back before she could touch me, looking at me strangely. "You growled at me," she stated monotonously.

I flinched. "Yeah," I whispered, ashamed of myself.

"Why?"

I swallowed hard. "I-I can't control it, Annabeth. Please, I'm trying! But at night... It has a mind of its own." My eyes widened and I stared at her in horror. "Why are you here?"

She frowned. "I'm here to help you, Seaweed Brain! You don't have to go to Lycaon. Please, come back to camp with us."

Oh, how I wanted to say yes and wrap her up in my arms. I desperately wanted to go with her, but I couldn't. I couldn't endanger everyone at camp for my own selfish needs, nor could I just sit back and hope that when the curse finally truly claimed me, I'd be able to break out of it. That wasn't possible; I had to continue on.

I looked away from the pleading eyes of my gorgeous girlfriend. "Annabeth, I can't."

"You can't go to Lycaon!" She yelled, shoving my shoulder. I remained immobile. "You can't just mindlessly join his pack! We'll find another way, I promise! Please, Percy, don't go."

Refusing eye contact, I said stoically, "Annabeth, I have to do this, and you can't change my mind."

She made a noise that could've been a sob. "Please, Percy. I need you, I love you. I can't do this without you! Are you just going to throw that all away?"

I turned back to her, beginning to get frustrated. Why couldn't she see that this was for the best? "I'm not going to endanger everyone at camp just because I can't live without you!"

"So you'd rather have me suffer?"

"If it meant that you'd get to live, then yes!" I fired back. "I'm dangerous, Annabeth. I'm dangerous and I don't want to hurt you!"

"You could never hurt me," she murmured, about to touch my arm before I twisted away.
"I almost did! I couldn't stop myself, Annabeth. I almost hurt you."

"Percy..."

I squeezed my eyes shut to stop myself from giving into her soothing tone and soft touch. I had to stay strong, for myself and her, even if it killed me in the end. "No, Annabeth. You can't change my mind."

"Please, Percy, reconsider! We can find a solution to this together. You don't have to do this," she said, adding a whispered, "Please."

That one word killed me. It was filled with so much longing, love, and pain, the same that I felt inside myself. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't. Gods, it was hurting me not to be with her, but I had to get away. For her sake and the sake of everyone else.

"Stop, Annabeth," I said, steeling my nerves before looking into her eyes. We stared at each other for a moment, neither breaking contact. Annabeth's eyes searched mine, looking for something hidden there, before she spoke.

"Tell me you don't want me anymore."

I opened my mouth once before closing it. How could I say that to her? She was the reason my heart is still beating after those two wars we faced. She was the reason I woke up in the morning. She was the reason I fell into Tartarus and survived. She was the reason I had gotten this curse. She was the reason I was looking for a cure. She was the reason I never gave up. She was the reason I was still fighting.

I fought the battle within myself, clashing over what to say to her. In the end, it boiled down to whatever would keep her safe in the long run.

"Annabeth," I started, swallowing hard before continuing, "I don't love you."

I watched the emotions flicker through her eyes as she continuously stared into mine. First surprise, then disbelief, followed by a brief spark of anger. As soon as it appeared, though, the anger was replaced by sadness.

"Percy," she said, her voice choked with tears, "I guess you're changed."

I looked away, unable to face her knowing that I was the one that did this to her. I promised her that I would always be the one she could go running to whenever she was sad, but here I am, pushing myself out of her life. I didn't deserve her.

"I guess I am." I tried to stop my voice from giving me away, knowing that if Annabeth caught the faintest glimpse of my regret, she wouldn't let me leave her again. It was a difficult thing to do, considering how my heart felt like it was withering up and dying as we stood there.

Hearing her sniffle caused my heart to crumple up faster, like a flower on the edge of its life that suddenly found itself in the unforgiving sunshine. "You won't come back with us? Not for me, not for Grover, not for any of your other friends?"

I wanted to yell at her, tell her I can't, explain all my reasons, and then kiss her senselessly.

Instead, I simply said, "No."

I thought that would be the end. She would see what a cold, heartless bastard I really was, and then she would run from the cabin, tearing spilling down her face like the typical lead female in teen movies. I would return to the loft where I had been dozing earlier, my heart thoroughly shredded, then continue on my quest. If I didn't survive, it didn't matter. She couldn't love me anymore. I had to push myself out of her life. I couldn't let her get hurt. Not on my account.

In the heat of the moment, I forgot that Annabeth isn't a typical teenage girl. She's smart, beautiful, clever, and she can read me like an open book. She's calculating, crafty, and most of all, stubborn.

I jumped when she put a hand on my arm. Her fingers were cold, but the palm of her hand was warm. "Percy, don't do this to me. Don't do this to yourself."

In that moment, I knew that she had seen right through the facade that I had tried to put up. Cursing myself internally, I backed away from her quickly. Allowing myself a second to drink in her beauty in the faint light of the moon, I shook my head at her. "I can't. Please, don't follow me, Annabeth. Go back to camp." Without letting her get another word in, I put some more distance between us before turning into the wolf and disappearing into the shadows.

As I ran from the barn and past a startled satyr with two pegasi, I heard Annabeth call,

"Percy!"

Annabeth's POV

I stared out the barn door long after Percy fled through it. A few seconds after he was gone, Grover poked his head in. "What was that?"

I blinked at him, wondering what he was talking about until I remembered that he had been outside the entire time and hadn't heard the conversation between Percy and myself. He probably still thought that the wolf was just a simple wolf. In reality, it was anything but.

"Percy ran away from me again," I whispered. Grover frowned.

"Percy? Annabeth, that was just a black wolf. I know that you miss him; we all do. But you have to get a grip!"

Scowling, I glared at the Lord of the Wild. "Grover, that was a werewolf. The wolf transformed into Percy a little after you left."

His eyes widened. "No way. Annabeth, don't mess around with me!"

"That was Percy, Grover!" I shouted, tears welling up in my eyes. I wasn't sure if they were from frustration, anger, or sadness. I couldn't believe that I lost him again. "He ran away from me again."

Grover stepped into the barn, letting the spot where his head previously occupied be filled by the heads of two pegasi. "Tell me everything."

I relayed my story to the satyr, who listened in silence. I got the feeling that Blackjack and Diamond were also listening from the doorway. Once I was done, Grover looked at the ground in defeat.

"I guess we should start heading back to camp now," he murmured sadly.

Frowning, I said, "Why?"

Grover looked up at me in confusion. "He doesn't want to be saved, Annabeth. You're the one that heard him say that in person! We don't have anything else to do here then."

Still frowning, I shook my head. "Oh, no, Grover. We can't give up on him."

"What?" Grover asked, his face lighting up with horror.

"We're going after him. You didn't see him, Grover; he doesn't want this. We have to keep going."

Grover looked at me with uncontrolled horror and fear. "You can't be serious."

"Serious as a heart attack," I said, giving him a small smirk. "We'll head out as soon as we can, but we can't travel now. Our only hope is to catch up with him before he gets to California."

I turned around, preventing any further argument. As I began to move the hay to create a make-shift bed for myself, I heard Grover mutter, "Why did I agree to go on this quest anyways?"

Still heartbroken by the words that Percy said, the only words I couldn't read his meaning for, the words that he said while maintaining straight eye contact with me, I crawled onto my pile of hay and tried to sleep. It took all my effort to ignore the Percy-sounding voice in my head that repeated his words. "I don't love you..."

Notes