Annabeth stared at the ceiling above her. It was so dark she could barely make out the edges of her room. It was well into the night but Annabeth was far from sleep. Heart racing, palms sweating, she couldn't quiet her mind.

"I could die tomorrow," she whispered to the walls.

Finally she couldn't stand it anymore and slipped out of her room. Annabeth walked soundlessly down the stairs to the common room, as if not to wake the ghosts. Halfway down she saw a silhouette against the capitol sky lights. Percy. She pressed her hips into the railing for a moment, then sighed.

"Couldn't sleep?" she asked. Percy jumped and whirled around.

"Geez! A little warning next time?" Annabeth smirked. "Sorry! And you didn't answer my question."

"Of course not," Percy said, "only a psycho could."

Annabeth joined him at the window. If she squinted hard enough the bright lights almost looked like the stars back home.

"How the hell did we end up here," she whispered. The city lights flickered in Percy's eyes.

"Bad luck I guess. Deep down I always knew it could happen, but I never thought it actually would."

He turned his head to face her, pausing with such intensity it made her a little nervous.

"Are we allies, Annabeth?" It was a simple question, but a loaded one.

"Look, Percy, I work best alone. I always have. And I don't want things to be complicated." She gently kicked the window frame. "But if I run across you in that arena I'm not going to kill you." Percy's expression was unreadable.

"Fair enough."

"Time to get in your pod, Annabeth," Chiron said softly. A wave a fear electrified her heart.

"I- Chiron I don't know-" she choked out as she struggled to breathe.

"It's ok. It's going to be ok. But it's time to say goodbye," Chiron said.

Annabeth desperately wrapped her arms around him, clinging to him like her lifeline. She steadied her breathing as she rested her cheek on his shoulder. "Thank you," she said softly.

Annabeth's pod moved upward with a soft whir. Each heartbeat pounded in her throat. She clenched and unclenched the hem of her jacket between her fingers, obsessively tracing the seams. An eternity later, she broke the surface. A breeze pushed strands of hair across her face, cutting her vision in strips. Annabeth whirled around, trying to make sense of her surroundings, but nothing seemed to compute. This was the weirdest arena she'd ever seen.

The cornucopia sat in the middle of a four-way intersection, her fellow tributes on podiums equidistant from her. A quick glance confirmed Percy was nowhere close. Massive buildings towered over the street on her right and left, as far she could see in either direction. I'm trapped in an abandoned city, she thought, this is not going to be good. Then the countdown began.