[The last thing he wanted to do was scare her. He's older, more responsible and Annabeth has always been his priority. It's always been his job to protect her even in the places he knows she can protect herself, but how can you do that when you're not sure how to protect yourself? It's a question that's kept him awake on nights like these.

He allows the gray strand to wind around his finger and his mind is scarily blank. Spiders following young girls, the scent of a bonfire on the wind that he associated with a summer camp he's never been to, things that follow him out of dreams.

Luke hates to lie to Annabeth, but he can bend the truth a little as to not worry her too much even as he grasps her fingers.]

I want to see about making a doctor's appointment to get a prescription for something to help me sleep. I don't want to do melatonin...heard it makes people dream up some pretty weird shit. [It's a start? It's kind of a start.] I bet we can get an exterminator out here tomorrow afternoon if they call first thing in the morning.