Annabeth paced back and forth in the waiting room. Tapping her fingers against her legs, she waited for the door to open again. Tan walls, maroon furniture, the room was drab but far nicer than her tent outside town. She would have given anything to return to it.

Finally the door burst open, and in came Luke. Before Annabeth could say anything he swept her into a hug, crying softly into her shoulder.

"Hey it's ok," Annabeth whispered, "it's ok."

They both knew it wasn't. Luke pulled away and looked at her with such intensity Annabeth felt alarmed.

"You're smarter than they are. I've seen you. You're the smartest person I know."

Annabeth shook her head. "It doesn't matter Luke, those people can kill, they can use weapons!"

"So can you, remember that hammer? You don't have to kill. You just have to survive."

"I- I don't-"

"Shhhh. Just promise me you'll try, ok?" he pleaded, "You have to promise." She knew that look in his eyes.

"I promise. But Luke- if I don't make it back, you are my family and I- I never said thank you for saving my life. If it weren't for you I don't know where I'd be."

The peacekeepers opened the door. "Time's up!"

"Annabeth make it back!" Luke called as they escorted him out, "remember your promise-" and the doors slammed shut.

Annabeth swallowed, fighting tears. She remembered hiding from a shopkeeper behind a trash can in an ally, clutching a hunk of dried meat to her chest and holding a hammer in the other. Footsteps approached, then stopped. She breathed in, and leaped out, swung her hammer, and almost brained the kid standing next to the trash can.

"Whoa!" he called as he caught her wrist and pinned her to the ground. "I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Luke!" Annabeth looked at him. He couldn't have been more than 12. He was a kid like her. She stopped struggling and gazed into his blue eyes.

"My name is Annabeth."

"Well Annabeth," Luke said as he offered her a hand up, "I can see you're a fighter, I'm looking for someone to help me out, someone as smart and brave as you. What do you say?"

She grabbed his hand and smiled a little. "I'm in."

"You're going to need something a little better than a hammer, how about this?" Luke pulled a small blade out of his coat pocket. "Knife-fighters have to be the smartest and bravest of all of us. I think it suits you."

And for seven years Annabeth and Luke acted as a team, stealing from anyone, scraping by. They never had much, but Annabeth felt loved again. Luke was her family now.

But she didn't cry for him. Not because she didn't love him, but because she couldn't. To cry was to show weakness and Annabeth couldn't give anyone the satisfaction of seeing her tears. The door opened again.

"Time to go," the peacekeeper said gruffly. She let them escort her into the hallway, and then forward towards the train that would take her to the capitol. Percy joined her, escorted by two more peacekeepers. His eyes were red and puffy, but he looked forward with intensity. Those were the eyes of a competitor. Which meant those were the eyes of an enemy.