Chapter 1: A New School Year Awaits!

5 years has passed. I sighed. I couldn't believe it. Search parties were sent, all came back empty handed. Chiron was getting restless about his situation with Kronos. I was too I admit. Everybody who was close to Drake was. I was sitting on Half-Blood hill of that year, it was the last day of camp.

Everyone was getting packed up and leaving. I was waiting for someone to pick me up. I saw new campers talking to their mortal parent, about how camp was and what not. I saw George walk down to the parking lot and got in his car and driving off. Veronica, and Percy were car pooling, Annabeth left a week ago, due to everyone's disappointment, but work was starting this week and she needed to prepare. I sighed, rubbing my blonde hair. I did a mental checklist to see if I missed anything.

Pillow. Check.

Cloths and suitcase. Check.

Bead Necklace. Check.

Photo Album. Check.

Guitar. Check.

Speaking of the guitar.. The guitar was very important to me. It was given to me by my fatherly figure for when I was younger, he handed it to me when he… Left. No one knew where he went, besides the fact that he's missing.

"Oy! Ajax!" I herd a call from behind, I turned to look to see my…

…What can I call her?

Up walked Ashley Crane. A fellow friend of mine, this washer 5th year here. She had the same features as years ago, her hair was longer and now had a small tie near the bottom so it didn't flow around as easily, she grew taller, she was now only 3 inches shorter than I am. I smiled. I myself hadn't changed much. Besides the fact I grew taller, everything was the same. Short blonde hair. Light tan, dark blue eyes, and the list goes on. The only thing different about me was my muscles, which were maturing really well, and my height, now being 5 foot 9.

"You ready?" She asked. I stood up and smiled. Ashley and I, were close as like Percy and Annabeth when they were our age. Best friends, we poke fun at each other, and the list goes on.

"Yeah, I'm ready." I said as we herd a honk, and a red Ferrai, I saw a blonde female standing, waving at us.

"Race you." She challenged, she grabbed her stuff and ran down the hill, me following close behind.

I'm Ajax Tredmer. Son of Apollo.

Welcome to My Life.

Ashley and I were neighbors in the apartment complex, so we always did a car pool every other summer, and when one couldn't come, the other would come, or we'd carpool with Percy. At the car, the women opened the trunk. It was my half-sister. Lizzie Tredmer. Why do we have the same last name then? Well, my last name isn't Tredmer, but Lizzie insisted she adopted her name and so I did. I keep telling my last name to myself everyday though. No one except Chiron, Drake, and Lizzie knew my last name

Lizzie, in the past 5 years, looked the same. Blonde hair tied up in a pony tail, California tan, and ruby red eyes. She was wearing a white t-shirt and gym shorts. It was too hot today, so I couldn't really blame her. After Drake departure, she was broken for months on end, doing what she was told, almost robotic. But then she started medical school. She loved it, absolutely loved it. She became herself, but on some nights, I stayed up and comforted her. She would cry at least twice a week, sometimes staying home on their anniversary, and what not. No one objected, she dated no one since then.

"So, how was camp this year?" She asked when we got in the car. Due to medical school and part time nurse, she had to stop coming to camp. Chiron understood that perfectly. George was the new training instructer. Classire and other Ares kids still came to camp, but a few became pro wrestlers, fencers, army soldiers, or opened up a gym. Hepheatus kids opened electronically stores made for demigods, Demeter kids were now farmers, most of the Hermes kids became mail men or world wide shippers. Apollo kids became excellent hunters, doctors and nurses, and also, artist. Percy was a Marine Biologist, most of the Athena kids became teachers, war generals, architects, and builders. Nemesis kids became judges and or lawyers, Hypnos kids…became at home parents.

"It was good, like every year." Ashley said as I chuckled, looking out the window, seeing the trees roll by. Lizzie smiled at us and giggled a bit.

"What's so funny?" I asked as Lizzie shrugged.

"Well, its funny because you two are clueless~" She teased us. We both blushed, we knew what she meant but.. We never really discussed it much. We weren't confused about it,we were just…friends. I loved Ashley Crane, but its way to early to start dating, I've seen Max try and date a girl, it ended a week later, Max knew it, but kids are still learning about love. Except me. I knew what most of it was.

"Well. I guess it's gonna be like that for a while, huh Ash?" I asked, looking at her as she nodded, fumbling around with her necklace.

"Yeah. For a while.." She was wearing a CBH t-shirt and shorts. She was also wearing flip-flops as well. We continued into town, Lizzie and I were catching up. Ashley and Lizzie started talking about girlstuff and I tuned out. That's the downside of living with a sister and having a girl neighbor, they often talked about the latest cute artist, girl products, and the list goes on. I fell asleep then, I knew the girls knew it.

~Hour later~

We were ontheelevator ride up, there was a comfortable silence as Lizzie took my things.

"You go over to Ashley's, Sam wants to see both of you." Lizzie told me as she brought my stuff to the house, I blinked looking at Ashley as she shrugged. So, Ashley and I entered her place, seeing it was dark.

"Is Sam home?" I asked as Ashley shrugged, suddenly, the lights flicked up.

"SURPRISE!" The once hidden Max, Elena, Al, and Sam went. Ashley screamed, and jumped into my arms. I caught her, I looked dumfounded, after Ashley collected herself, she too look dumbfounded, ignoring the complete fact that I've caught her, princess style. Everyone was laughing and there was banner saying 'Welcome Home Ajax and Ashley'. We blinked twice, then we looked at each other, blush, as I set her down on her feet quickly, we looked away, embarrassed. I scratched my cheek as Ashley shifted uncomfortably.

"Welcome home you two. How was camp?" Max asked, he came inbetwene us, put us in a headlock as he laughed. He mad everything better. Max and I were the same height now, his hair was a bit longer then few years ago as his purple eyes were still.. well.. purple. Al, his hair was more curlier then ever, his stunning grey eyes never failed to amaze me. He was shorter then Max and I as we were like bros. Elena, who is now the girlfriend of Al, was still the same. We all laughed as there were food and drinks. We started talking, Sam went to visit Lizzie. Sam was still a 2nd grade teacher, but he helped with our homework whenever we asked. We still have our study groups, we also have occasional get together's during holidays. We were standing around, laughing like we've always had.

"Hey, Ajax, how's Lizzie doing?" Max asked. They knew of Drake disappearance, but not the cause behind it. We told them that Drake took up a world wide mail job. They bought it, surprisingly.

"She's well, she's still thinking of Drake." I answered.

"How is that Messenger Boy doing?" Al asked, I chuckled and took a sip.

"Don't know. I hope alright." I said, Al and the others notice it was a touchy subject, so they dropped it and continued on.

After a few hours of the welcome back party, Max ,Elena, and Al all went home. I decided to head home too. I thanked Sam for having me and hugged Ashley goodbye.

"Ah, Welcome home, child." I herd an elderly voice from the living room. I looked and saw an old women, probably in her mid 50's, in a t-shirt and jeans. She was reading a book, her eyes were ruby red but her hair was brown.

"Hey Grandma." I greeted her. Grandma Tredmer, is actually Lizzie's mother. After she found out about Drake leaving, Grandma moved in with us, thankfully taking the guest room, Drakes room, as Lizzie and I said, was off limits, so nothing was touched. When she moved in, I liked her, she acted like a grandmother was towards me. Making me and my friends cookies, told me stories of Lizzies when she was child, and having Lizzie saying it wasn't true. It worked out well, but she couldn't replace Drake, which was her intentions. She knew she couldn't. Lizzie, who was a nurse and a student, usually came home late now a days, so she came part of my daily life.

I grabbed my stuff and went to my room, I started to unpack and took out the photo album, underneath it was a framed photo. It was Lizzie, Drake and I on a beach, Drake was laughing pointed at me, who had a not amused face as there was a fish on my head, Lizzie had a hand on her mouth, but I clearly saw the smile behind it. Then another one of Drake, Lizzie and I in a family photo like. I put those on my bed side table and sighed. I jumped on my bed and looked at the ceiling. Sighing.

I'm home.

But where are you Drake?