I stare over the horizon as dawn breaks. There is early stirrings of the roughly eighty warriors that would risk their lives today. I've felt everything from dread to worry to excitement about this day. Today, the Titan army will finally open the door to New York they've been knocking on for the past two years. My only resolve is that maybe we can hold Manhattan. It's a daunting task, but everytime I think about their army marching down Broadway, or 5th Avenue, one of my streets, my body is filled with energy. That same energy has prolonged this day. But now it will be put to the true test. Can I will myself and my friends around me to hold strong, or will we... No. Let them come. They will not take this city.

As much as my defiance does me credit, the odds are grim. Using a magical map, I've placed our scarce warriors at the entrances to the island. Artemis' thirty something huntresses, who reported last night in the name of their patron, gave me renewed hope. I spent all night figuring out numbers and personal for the bridges and tunnels around downtown Manhattan. The hunters, of course, would guard the most direct route to the Empire State Building- The Lincoln tunnel. But after that, I had to think. I believe the Athena and Hephaestus cabins are our next strongest fighters (available, don't get me started on the Ares cabin) so I placed them at the 59th Street bridge and Queens-Midtown tunnel, respectively. Half the Hermes cabin would take the Manhattan bridge while the other half guarded the Brooklyn bridge. I would entrust the Holland tunnel to the Demeter kids and Dionysius' children. Grover would protect northern Manhattan from a more indirect invasion with his nature spirits. Finally, Apollo's cabin would hold Williamsburg bridge while the Aphrodite kids fought for the Brooklyn Battery bridge. I wasn't too glad about keeping our strongest ranged fighters without any melee and not giving the Aphrodite cabin any support but it was the best I could muster. It would have to do.

In fact, I was about to call a counselor meeting to inform the cabin leaders of my plan when I saw Annabeth walking, right down the middle of camp, making a beeline for me. I choked on the call I had been about make. The sight took my breath away. I could tell she'd been up awhile, actually I doubt she even slept last night, because her hair wasn't pulled back into a ponytail. She lets it down only for an attempt at relaxation or sleep. And judging by the bags under her eyes, I doubt the latter. Still, she was the cutest girl here. She has the looks, sure; the slender body, the blonde, wavy hair. But maybe it was that she didn't try is what completes the picture. Annabeth didn't care if she was beautiful, she just was. With her hair gliding carelessly in the wind, the sun rising behind her, it seemed to take eternity for her to reach me.

But then I realized it was actually taking a long time for her to reach me. Her near jogging had turned into a slow shuffle of feet in my direction. This gave me the time I needed to recover.

"Annabeth." I greeted with a smile as I waved to her. She wears a frown on her face as she approached. My smile slowly started to fade. "Annabeth?" I say in a hushed tone.

Now that she is in front of me, I can see the puffy eyes, the bags under her eyes much more clearly defined than I had seen from a distance. She trains her eyes on her shoes. A lump forms in the back of my throat. Why had I not gone to see her last night? I hadn't even thought about my best friend on maybe the last night we'd both be alive. I had to prepare, a voice says in the back of my head. Yeah, but still...I should have at least considered seeing her. I do the thing that comes naturally. I hold out my arms to her. Without looking up, she walks into them. She grips my back so fiercely, even my invincible body feels crushed. I spread my arms protectively across her back. She mutters my name.

"Seaweed brain..."

Ok. My nickname.

"Shhh." I whisper back.

"So many...people won't make it..." she whispers, her voice shaky at best.

"Think about the ones who will. We will fight to our strengths. I've made a plan. We will hold." I say in the most confident voice I can muster. I nearly convince myself. She looks up and her grip loosens a degree.

"A plan?" The curiosity in her eyes bring a smile to my face.

"Here, I'll show you." I say, guiding her into my tent.

It's an utter mess. My makeshift bed has clean clothes yet to be folded strewn about, my unofficial blankets. There's a tree worth of folded up paper cluttering the floor, all possible approaches to playing this dangerous game of cat and mouse Kronos will force me to 's a mini fridge, whose contents seem straight out of the Smurfs, placed over a bedside dresser.

"Oh Jeez," She chuckles, clasping her nose close. "We've only been set up a few hours"

"What?" I say defensively, letting go of her shoulder.

"Nothing," she says dismissively, "show me this plan." Her eyes spark as she scans the table, lit by candlelight, in the middle of the room.

"Abra," I pull on an old tan paper pinned under a map of the city, "Kadabra!" I pull the magical item out and place it over the crowded piles of paper. She frowns as it's blank, but I touch the middle and slowly, a map of Manhattan crawls onto the paper. Symbols of our forces placed throughout the city glow as they appear on the sheet.

Annabeth almost gasps. "This is so cool!" I smile as she turns the map toward her. Annabeth almost drools over dorky things like this. I explain to her the different cabins and how you can move them about the city simply by dragging your finger along the map. I study her face as she deciphers my plan. Annabeth would be my number one strategist and her opinion of any of my battle plans will be important.

Her smile fades and my heart sinks. It won't work. I've missed some key factor, that will make or break the Titan siege.

"It's the best we can do." She mutters. Her melancholy tone isn't reassuring in the least, but I'm still taken aback.

"You think it'll...I mean, you think it could work?" I ask with a tone of such pure hope, I sound almost four years old.

She flashes me a quick smile and continues to study my plan. "It has to. Although..." She breaks the Apollo and Hephaestus cabins in half. "After the Hephaestus kids set up their traps, I want all the warriors they can spare to head across the island and support Apollo at Williamsburg bridge." She drags half of the Hephaestus cabin across Manhattan. "Also, the Aphrodite kids need support. If they attack the Brooklyn Battery bridge with anything more than a sizable attack force, they will be overwhelmed. If five or six archers could..." She drags a slice of the Apollo cabin to southern Manhattan. "They should be solid."

Wait, she wants to do what? "Um, Annabeth, do you think it's a good idea to, er, separate the cabins?"

She offers a confused look. "Why would that be a bad thing?"

"Wouldn't you think the campers will feel more comfortable in battle with the people they know the most?"

"Percy, the size of our army is not that big. The possibility of the forty-eight campers not making acquaintances by now is slim." She waves off my question. "Besides, it makes more strategic sense."

I don't know why but this rubs me the wrong way. I am the leader. I'm the one who makes decisions, not her. I'm considering calling her strategic sense a pile of minitaur dung when I catch myself.

Annabeth is smarter than me. She's the strategist. I don't have to be every part of this defense, I have people like her around to help, not to insult.

So I nod. She studies the map as I move to fetch some breakfast. I don't ask because I know she'll decline the offer, but I still grab a second bowl as I grab the Honey Nut Cheerios. I fill the bowls and grab two pillows off my bed to set them on the floor.

"bonappetit." I tell her, showing her the two bowls.

Rolling her eyes, she sighs, "I didn't ask for food." I place the bowls next to the pillows set across from each other.

"And I'm making sure my number one strategist doesn't do her thinking on an empty stomach." I say, nudging her away from the map. "Plus, breakfast is the most important meal of the day." I hime.

She sighs, "Since it's the last meal I'll ever see, I might as well eat it w-" she coughs and finishes weakly, "I might as well."

I take my seat and watch uneasily as she take hers. "You okay? Didn't sound too good there, you aren't feeling under the weather are you?"

She blushes, "Nah, I'm fine."

I raise an eyebrow, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes, now dig in Seaweed Brain."

I pick up my bowl with a frown, but it doesn't last long. Neither does the cereal. I have it down in less than a minute and Annabeth scowles, "Where did it go!"

Stretching my hands behind me, I laugh, "I was hungry!"

Rolling her eyes, she mutters, "Males. Their stomachs are like miniature landfills."

I smile and watch as she finishes her bowl. She sits criss-cross, her posture non-existent. The full battle armor she wears is lighter than it looked at first. It dawns minimal plate as the real defense is found in the thick leather between the shining metal and her smooth skin.

Wait. Did I just think of her skin as smooth? I study her arms and in this proximity, I can tell she's shaved. Her golden skin gleams under her gauntlets. I look to her legs, where her shin guards are less occulting. Even in the dark contrast of candlelight, I'm speechless. If I ran my fingers across them, I doubt I would find one imperfection. My gaze travels up her legs as they dance over her petite midsection, which is covered in a tight undershirt. As they continue to roam, my eyes settle above her ribs.

Annabeth has grown. I cannot see behind her breastplate, but I can tell. She wears a new breastplate, as bland as her previous one but the imprints in this metal are larger. I gulp as the sight works it's way throughout my body and finds my other head. I look up, too late, and meet Annabeth's eyes. I can see her smiling shyly with a hint of color to her cheeks.

Oh gods. Caught, I try and implement damage control, but it comes out as something like, "Uhhhh.."

She continues to smile playfully and shakes her head. Then, arching her back, she brings the remaining milk to her lips and tilts the bowl, giving me a very clear view of her. I cough and my cheeks turn a deeper shade of red, but I drink in the sight. Abruptly, she snaps down the bowl and I flinch in recoil.

Setting down her bowl, she laughs, "Not very subtle, are you?", her face bright as a Christmas tree. Confused and still surprised, I ask indignantly, "What?" She just rolls her eyes and points as she gets up. Following her finger, I look to my lap.

"Oh." I cough, seeing my shorts have done little to hide the bulge from underneath.

"Oh!? Percy Jackson-" She sighs. "Boys." I do catch a glimpse of a smile as she turns and makes her way to the exit. "Get dressed- compose yourself- and call a counselor meeting. We have a war to fight." She waves the tent door over her head and she's gone.