GUYS I AM BACK CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? Probably not. I haven't updated in a year, and yet, here I am, ready to run with this sequel. I think it's going to be pretty good, with a lot of focus on Ari's character development. Secrets will be revealed, battles will be fought, and smiles will be shared.

Please give me some feedback! I love criticism/comments/reviews.

Ariana I

"One day." I huffed, flopping down on the giant blue couch in the big house, splaying my limbs out dramatically to show my frustration. I let my legs hang limply over the side, with my one arm dangling. My other arm was laying on top of my face, covering my eyes. "One day I am going to wake up, and there will be no monsters. There will be no hellhounds. There will be no gorgons. There will be no gods-damn golden bulls running around lighting everything on fire. One day I will wake up, and I am going to be able to eat my waffles in PEACE!"

"You're a demigod Ari." Travis said from his place next to the window. "It kind of comes with the territory."

"A girl can dream, can't she?" I retorted, removing my hand from my eyes.

All of the head counselors were once again crammed in the main room of the big house. Today was the second day of the summer session, and campers, new and old, were still pouring in. With an increase in monster attacks, new half-bloods were being found all over the country. Even some of the previously more empty cabins were now getting full, and the previously full cabins were now even more crowded. The older campers were already stretched thin, trying to settle in new campers and reorganize cabins, and now, with monsters attacking camp, it was becoming even harder to get all the counselors together. Today was the first day since the end of last summer that every single counselor was present.

And the only reason we were all together was because of the fight this morning, the one that involved our campers, two golden, fire-breathing bulls, and a baby cyclops that is apparently Percy's half-brother.

What kind of a world are we living in?

Katie and Castor were talking casually in the corner about the summer's garden, and all the things they were going to plant in it this year. Pollux was slowly filling and emptying a water glass with his hands, his body slumped lazily at the table. Beckendorf and Silena were chatting at the table, their hands occasionally touching. (And they thought they were being subtle!) The Stolls were sitting on the arm rests of the couch, tossing a ball back and forth over my head. Ever since Luke's…departure, the Head Counselor position in the Hermes cabin had opened up. Usually, when a counselor retires, the person with the most years after them takes charge. But, in the case of Cabin 11, that person was me. And, no matter how much respect I got, we decided it would be a good idea to let someone older be in charge, at least for a while. So, for now, Travis, Connor, and I were triple-counselors.

Clarisse was sitting at the table, hands clenched tightly together, her face locked in what could only be described as a glower. She sported a couple decent bruises and a large burn on her arm. She had taken the brunt of the bull attack, and even though she refused to show it, I could tell she was exhausted. She had been working around the clock to try and keep the camp as safe as possible, but even children of Ares couldn't keep going forever.

The last two people entered the room, completing the group of counselors. The boy scanned the group, obviously looking for something. His face settled into a smile when his green eyes finally landed on my blue and brown ones. His black hair had gotten shaggier and he was a little bit taller than last summer, but he was still the same doofus I had had dinner with a few months ago.

"Ari." He grinned, rushing up to me. He opened his arms and pulled me into a bear hug.

"Hey there Waterboy." I chuckled, returning the hug. I pulled away, looking up at his face. He had gotten taller, and I had stayed just as short as before. Great. "Glad to see you."

"You too Ari." He said. "Um… what is everyone doing here?" He asked, looking around the room in confusion. I felt a little bad. He had just gotten here, not half an hour ago, and he was already in the thick of it. Ah Hades, I LIVE in the thick of it.

"We're here to have a meeting." Annabeth announced, appearing beside him. She gave me a quick grin and turned on her heels, taking her place at the head of the table. That got everyone else's attention, as they all immediately began to squeeze in around the ping pong table. I took the seat beside her, and Percy sat on the other side of her.

"About what?" Katie asked.

"The monster attacks have been becoming more and more frequent." Annabeth said slowly. "We need to increase border patrols." There were a few groans from some of the counselors, but a few of them murmured in agreement,

"Wait… where's Chiron?" Percy spoke up, leaning forward, looking around the room as if expecting to see the centaur. "Shouldn't he be here to help us plan?"

The room got awkwardly silent, and I looked over to Annabeth, my eyes asking a silent question. Did you tell him? She shook her head back at me, her eyes slightly sad. I cringed, a little saddened by this as Percy didn't know, yet. I know that Percy really like and looked up to the centaur.

"Uh…" Travis said awkwardly. He looked around the room, as if waiting for someone to make the next move.

"What is it?" Percy voice was now dripping with concern, his green eyes wide.

"Percy." Annabeth said quietly. "Chiron was fired."

His entire face fell at that sentence, his eyes disbelieving. "Fired?" He asked. "Why?"

"Thalia's tree." Annabeth answered. I could see the wheels turning in Percy's head as he tried to comprehend what she was saying.

"Chiron….?" He trailed off, not daring to voice his fears.

"The gods blamed him for it." Beckendorf spoke up, his gravelly voice tight with anger. I had to stifle my look of surprise as I listened to him. In all the years I had known him, Charlie rarely spoke in the counselor meetings, and when he did, it was because he knew it had to be said. That was what made his words so powerful in my eyes. "Since his father is Kronos. They are saying that he is working for him."

"What?" Percy leapt out of his chair, his eyes flaring. "How could they say that? How could they? Chiron would never betray us, not like that, not like Lu-" He cut himself off abruptly as the words got stuck in his throat. He looked like someone had just struck him, and I couldn't blame him. I felt like that every time someone mentioned Luke to me.

His betrayal had hurt, not just me, not just Percy. His betrayal had hurt everyone at camp. Most campers had looked to him as a leader, a friend, a brother. He was someone who had brought the camp together. And now, it was like a hole had been left in the camp, a hole with no way to fill it. The betrayal had stung like a scorpion sting, burned like fire, hurt like the aftermath of a battle with Furies. His betrayal was what had started the whole chain of events, the Tree dying, the need for patrols, the monster attacks. His betrayal had wounded this camp, and we were still recovering.

"We know Percy." Beckendorf said cautiously, his demeanor calm. "We all feel the same way, but there is nothing we can do about that right now."

"Charlie's right." Silena said, her silky voice a stark contrast to Beckendorf's gravelly one. "Right now we need to focus on keeping camp safe. I mean, we've been getting more and more new people every day. We can't be expected to keep all of them safe."

"That's why we need to focus on training them up." Clarisse butted in. "All new campers need to know at least basic levels of self-defense and battle strategy."

"Clarisse is right." Annabeth agreed, and boy, I bet she never thought those words would leave her mouth. "It's up to us to make sure that our siblings can fight for themselves. Make sure everyone is learning how to defend themselves. I don't care who their parent is." She shot a look to Silena, who shrugged and rolled her eyes, not denying the fact that her siblings wouldn't be able to fight for themselves.

"Alright." Lee nodded. "So we train more and increase patrols. Agreed?" He looked around the group, getting nods from all of the counselors. "Okay, if that is all, I need to get out of here. No offense to you guys, but I have three new campers that need to get settled in."

"Me too." Silena stood up, straightening her denim shorts as she did so. "I need to get to the stables before a newbie kills a pegasus." That caused an eruption of giggles from the people at the table.

"Alright." Annabeth nodded. "This meeting is adjourned. See everyone tonight for dinner and the campfire. Lee, you guys have sing-along tonight, and Ares has skit. Everyone good?" Clarisse looked like she wanted to protest to having skit, but a sharp look from Annabeth cut her off.

"Yeah." The daughter of Ares mumbled, looking away.

With that, everyone got up and began to disperse. Lee and Silena took off together, hoping to get to their campers before all Hades broke loose. Travis and Connor stood up simultaneously, further proving my theory that they are the same person.

"Hey Ari?" Travis said.

"Yeah?" I turned towards the duo.

"We're gonna take the crew to the climbing wall." Connor answered.

"Okay." I shrugged. "Keep a sharp eye out. Some of them aren't the most coordinated." That was the understatement of the century. Hermes campers were quick, but their hand eye coordination was absolutely atrocious. "Especially Lyla and Elliot. Okay?" Those were our two newest campers, and, even though they were older than me, they were immature and naive.

"Aye aye Captain!" They said in unison, both of them giving me sharp, military salutes, something they had been doing to me ever since they first came to camp. I rolled my eyes and waved them away, chuckling as they tripped over each other on their way out the door.

I looked out of the corner of my eye towards Percy, who was sitting, still slumped in his seat at the ping pong table. His eyes were glazed and sad, staring straight ahead. All of the others had left the table, leaving the Son of Poseidon to sit by himself. I frowned a little and walked over to him. I placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, squeezing it slightly.

"I can't believe he's gone." He murmured, not looking at me. His voice sounded detached and sad, like he was saying his words on autopilot.

"A lot has changed." I sighed. "But it'll be okay." Even to my own ears, it didn't sound convincing, but it was the best I could do for now. "I'm gonna take a walk. Come and find me when you are ready to talk." With one final squeeze, I released his shoulder and followed the others out of the room.

As I reached the porch, I practically collapsed against the railing. I gasped slightly as I felt hot tears pool in the corners of my eyes. I had just told Percy that everything would be okay, but how could it? How could it be okay? None of this was okay! I couldn't tell Percy about how I was afraid to be alone, because of what Luke had done to me in the woods. I couldn't tell him that I had nightmares about Kronos every night. I couldn't tell him about how I would black out throughout the day and wake up in a completely different place. I couldn't tell him any of that, because if he knew that, he would never believe that anything would be okay.

I didn't believe that anything would be okay.

But I couldn't tell anyone that. I couldn't. Not when so much had changed over the past few months. Right now, nobody needed my drama. They just needed me to be sarcastic, sassy, and smart Ariana.

They needed me to be Ari, and I couldn't disappoint them by being anything less.

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