It wasn't wise to call Laura weird. She was a daughter of Aphrodite, and could easily arrange a week of bad hair days for someone who called her weird. But even she admitted it was strange to bring a camera into battle, and she was the one bringing the camera.

~oOo~

Laura didn't like her camera very much, but it wasn't the camera's fault. Her father, a professional photographer, had given it to her for her birthday. It was a beautiful purple and white waterproof solar powered digital camera with optical zoom and four megapixels, and it was the best present she had ever gotten. She carried it everywhere, took pictures of everything, and showed her pictures to everyone. Her excitement had only vanished after the Battle of the Labyrinth.

Silena Beauregard, counselor of the Aphrodite cabin, was completely to blame. Laura had been sitting on her bed the morning after the battle, carefully peeling some of her photographs off the wall. Silena had noticed.

"What are those?" she asked quietly, leaning against the bunk bed and picking up a picture

"Well," Laura said sharply, "I put my favorite photos here, if you remember. I can't keep these anymore. They're dead." She pulled a thumbtack from the ceiling, and another picture dropped to the ground.

"The pictures are dead?"

"The people."

The rest of the cabin left for breakfast, leaving Silena to ruin photography for Laura in private.

"That's a good picture of Lee Fletcher," Silena said, holding up the picture she had taken so Laura could see.

"It's a good picture," Laura contradicted.

"You caught him when he was grinning and you can see a song in his eyes."

"I caught him when the lighting was right."

"Listen, Laura, you're a good photographer. We need to find pictures of the kids who died and we need to put them up where people can see. This is important. Your pictures are perfect. You're the best photographer in the ca –"

"I'm the only photographer in the camp," Laura snapped. "And I don't want you to use my pictures for something miserable and pointless like that."

It was no use. Silena was attached to the idea and Laura could do nothing except go along with it. Silena and everyone else called it a tribute to the fallen. Laura called it a great way to make people miserable. When the campers had died in the Battle of the Labyrinth, they had torn giant holes in the heart of Camp Half-Blood. It was best to forget the holes. It was best to fill them up with better things. It was best to avoid them and to look the other way. These idiots were wallowing around in the holes and they were using her pictures to do it.

She almost gave up photography. Pictures solidified bad memories.

Now, as she stood in the streets of Manhattan and listened to Percy Jackson giving orders, she wished she really had given up photography. This was simply embarrassing. When the demigods were told to strap on their armor and get ready to defend the city, she had, in her haste, grabbed her camera bag and forgotten to bring a sword.

She didn't mean to, of course. She didn't plan to shoot pictures in the middle of a battle. It was a habit. She brought her camera everywhere she went and the mental "bring your camera" reminder did not discern between a strawberry picking field trip and a life-threatening call to arms.

Percy was giving orders, and he looked just like a real general. The wind had blown his black hair out of his face and his expression was grim. Laura knew it would make a beautiful picture, but she looked at the camera in her hands and wondered if she should actually take it.

She slipped her camera into her smooth leather bag and buckled it tightly. No one wanted a picture of a brave leader and his defeated army. No one knew how many of those determined campers would return to Camp Half-blood.

She took her camera out again when she saw the Empire State Building. Lightning flashed around it and clouds swarmed above it. She couldn't resist taking a picture this time.

"Laura, come on!" Lacy tugged at her sleeve impatiently. Laura hastily shoved her camera back into her bag.

"Did you bring your camera?" Lacy asked in disbelief, "Laura, you're not going to need a camera here. Anyway, our cabin's leaving us. Didn't you pay attention to Percy?"

"I did, I did!" she said, irritably. She had been paying attention, but she'd paid more attention to his attitude and his expression than his actual words. It was her fault she didn't know what was going on. Her eyes were drawn to the sky again. The clouds and winds were mesmerizing, and she couldn't stop looking at them.

The ground slid from beneath her and she fell hard on her side. Fire shot through her foot and climbed up her leg.

"Laura! Laura, are you okay?" Lacy asked, running back in concern.

"I think I stepped on a cell phone," she breathed, trying not to cry as she sat up and moved her ankle.

"Stupid Stoll brothers," Lacy said, "Percy said they couldn't keep the cellphones they'd collected, but did they return them? Oh no. They dumped them in a pile right in the middle of the road. Can you get up? Is your ankle alright?"

"Don't touch it," Laura choked, pulling her foot away from Lacy's hand.

"Will you be ok?" Lacy asked.

"Of course," Laura said bravely. She scrambled to her feet. Unbearable pain rushed through her toes, coursing up to her knee and settling around her ankle.

"Catch up with the others," Laura said, pushing Lacy ahead. "I can get Michael to fix this."

Laura sat down again once Lacy was out of sight, and began crawling toward the Empire State Building. She was sure Michael or Will had set up a medical station near Olympus. She hoped it was Michael.

~oOo~

"Seriously? Sprained your ankle before you've even killed one monster?" Will shook his head sympathetically. Laura waited impatiently for him to finish wrapping it.

"Okay Laura, here's the deal," Will said. "I could fix your ankle like that" he snapped his fingers for a visual effect "but I'm not going to give you any more ambrosia."

"I barely had any," Laura complained, "My ankle still hurts when I point my foot."

"Then don't point your foot," Will said, rolling his eyes. "Listen. What if we stuffed you full of ambrosia for nothing but a sprained ankle, and then you went outside and immediately got crushed by a monster? We'd pull you back in here and try to save you but if you'd already eaten a ton of ambrosia you'd probably go up in flames before any of your bleeding stopped. Also, we do not have an unlimited supply of the stuff. I wrapped your ankle so you'll be fine to walk, but go easy on it."

Laura had gotten the message, and she understood the things Will hadn't even said. If she was a good swordfighter, or if she could hit the target during archery lessons, Will would've spared no expense to get her back on the battlefield. However, she was useless at fighting monsters. She wasn't sure she could've killed even one. Of all the losses the demigod army could've sustained, she was not a big one.

"I'll hang around then," Laura said sullenly. "Got any jobs for me?"

Will brightened. "Oh, I'm sure I'll need loads of help pretty soon. No telling how many people –"

"Jobs that don't involve lots of blood," Laura corrected. If Michael had asked her, she might've agreed, but not much else could convince her to interact with dying people.

"Fine, if you don't like saving people's lives, go work with the Demeter kids," Will said in irritation. "They're cooking or something useless like that."

Laura walked away, but Will kept mumbling bad things about people who hated healing.

~oOo~

Cooking was fun, and the other girls were very welcoming. There was a constant flow of campers. Some went straight to the gardens to check on the wounded, some made a beeline for the food, and some crashed on the various couches to try and catch a few hours of sleep.

"Having a green thumb's not very useful in a war," Coleen told her a bit regretfully, "But I'm glad we can do something to help, you know?"

The food bar slowly filled with food and everyone behind the counter slowly realized that Laura was horrible at cooking. The girls from Demeter did not mind, and tried to make Laura feel better by giving her the easiest jobs. When Laura was sent to stir a pot of water and wait for it to boil, she finally realized just exactly how little she was helping, and decided to get out of their way.

Campers slowly drained from the building as the battle started to pick up again. Almost every one of them was wounded in some way. Laura saw several people from her cabin and they seemed to be alright. She didn't want to check the medical station. Silence filled the rooms again, and Laura felt as out of place as ever.

The elevator doors opened and Laura looked away. She didn't want to watch another gory figure trying to make his way to the makeshift medical station; she had seen too many already.

"Silena Beauregard," the figure panted, and Laura looked up.

A girl who couldn't have been more than nine stood in the middle of the room, dripping blood onto the floor and gasping for breath.

"The drakon killed her. Silena. She's dead." The girl wobbled a little, her arms wrapped around the gash in her side. "They needed someone to tell you, and I didn't want to fight anymore, and I was scared of the draecnae so I came." She stopped, looking around the room for help.

Laura had frozen. "Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Callie," the girl said, her white face breaking into a half-hearted smile. She looked down at her sticky red hands, and the smile drained away. Before anyone knew what was happening, she collapsed.

Stacy, one of the girls from Demeter, rushed to Callie's side and leaned over to pick her up. "We've got to take her to Will," she told Laura, and then stopped, staring oddly at Callie's bloody hand.

"What is it?" Laura asked, worriedly hurrying over to join them.

"She, she works for Kronos," Stacy said, amazed. A silver bracelet was dangling from the girl's wrist, and as Laura watched, it caught fire and began to send a horrid looking burn down Callie's arm. Laura didn't have time to think, but she tore the bracelet off and managed to smash it against the far wall. Stacy and Laura picked Callie up and carried her between their shoulders.

"She's with the enemy," Laura said anxiously, looking over at Stacy as they carried the unconscious girl to the medical station.

Stacy sealed her lips in a determined line. "Not anymore," she said.

Laura felt strangely numb. They reached Will, who tossed Laura a wet cloth and set to work immediately. The blood no longer fazed her and she didn't think twice when she peeled back the girl's shirt and began cleaning her up.

"So little," Will was muttering, "She's so little." And when she sighed and didn't breathe again, he was crying.

Stacy combed Callie's hair, Laura finished cleaning her hands, and when they finally wrapped her in a blanket and pulled her against the wall, she looked quite peaceful.

~oOo~

Laura sat down on the floor in shock. Silena dead? She couldn't be! Silena was the one with the most training. She was the one that wouldn't die. She was their counselor. She made sure their cabin got out of bed on time. She cleaned up for inspection. She sewed the shroud when someone from their cabin was killed. What would they do without her?

Hot tears rolled down Laura's face. It wasn't fair! Why couldn't it have been someone she could forget?

Laura sat huddled on the floor for a few more minutes, as she cried herself clean. Stacy left. Will moved on to the other patients and let her cry by herself.

Finally, Laura wiped her tears and stood up.

It hurt to look at Callie's lifeless figure, but Laura never wanted to forget her face. She always wanted to remember the little messenger who had brought news of Silena's death.

She took a picture of the girl in the blanket because it was a good picture. It captured the sadness of the war that Laura wasn't afraid to capture anymore.

And since she had her camera in her hand, she kept taking pictures. One of Will, his sweaty blond hair falling into his eyes, his focus apparent through every line on his face. One of the demigod sitting on the cot farthest from her, chewing on a lump of ambrosia and cleaning his sword.

She left the room. She wasn't needed there. She walked through the kitchen without a second thought.

~oOo~

Laura felt the wind against her face and heard the low uneven rumble of thunder. She looked back up at the Empire State building, and at the sliver of Olympus that peeked through the swirling clouds, and she took another picture.

When she turned around, she bumped into a boy from Ares. He growled down at her and she wondered vaguely when the Ares cabin had arrived. She apologized quickly, and looked around.

A sword lay abandoned on the ground about twenty feet away, and it seemed like fate was calling her.

When Laura picked the sword up and gave it a few experimental swipes, she realized the sword might not actually be abandoned, and that she might be stealing someone's only method of defense. She pulled a Hermes and took it anyway.

It was a long time before Laura reached the demigod lines. She kept seeing pictures that needed to be taken, so she kept taking them. Every click of the camera gave her a little more determination.

When the sounds of battle filled her ears and she saw the hordes of monsters stretched out before her, she lost every ounce of courage she had.

The war seemed so different up close.

The surviving campers had united, and were fending off another wave of enemies. Laura held back, afraid of fighting, afraid of dying, and not entirely sure how to join the conflict.

She crouched behind a car, shaking with fear. Laura told herself she didn't need to be a master swordfighter to kill a monster. She told herself Olympus needed every soldier it could get. She told herself the underworld wasn't a horrid place to be.

If she died, she wouldn't be a big loss. If she fought, she wouldn't be a big help. In the eyes of the war, she was a drop in the bucket. She didn't want to fight- she didn't, but she knew she had to.

"Lou Ellen, please!"

The cry was singled out from the other noises and Laura turned to watch.

Connor was fighting an enemy demigod and wasn't trying to win. The first thing Laura noticed was his expression. Anguish, grief, desperation, and something deep in his eyes that only a child of Aphrodite would see.

The second thing Laura noticed was the girl he was fighting, because she recognized her. It was Lou Ellen, the cheerful girl who'd lived in the Hermes cabin much too long. She had disappeared two months ago. Everyone knew where she had gone. Everyone hoped they were wrong.

Laura took a picture.

"Lou Ellen you're better than this," Connor pleaded, "Stop, please stop. Remember when Travis stole your stuff? You only laughed. Remember when we had wrestling classes with the Ares kids and Benjamin beat you up? You only told him he had nice hair. Why, Lou, why?"

"My mum wanted me to fight for Kronos," the girl sobbed, "None of the gods ever did anything nice anyway." Her staff sliced through the air with surprising speed, but Connor blocked every attack with ease.

"They're going to destroy the world," Connor said, "We'll take you back. Everyone in camp likes you, Lou. Please, please stop. Give it up. It's not worth it."

Lou Ellen couldn't find a reply.

A faint voice behind Laura called "HIT THE DECK," and she dropped and rolled under the car.

Connor threw his sword away, grabbed Lou Ellen around the neck, and slammed her to the ground, just as a massive chunk of concrete sailed over their heads. Laura fumbled with her camera (It was hard to take pictures under a car) and caught the scene with the click of a button. Their scratched and grimy faces looked towards the sky in alarm, and their hair was full of dust.

Laura put her camera back in her bag. She crawled out from under the car and grabbed the sword, wincing as gravel dug into her skin.

Laura saw movement from the corner of her eye and automatically turned, her sword extended. Before she truly registered the giant snake coiled beside her, she beheaded it, and golden monster dust flew everywhere.

She wiped the snake's remains from her face and laughed in shock. She'd killed a monster.

A smaller chunk of concrete flew past and smashed into the ground just two cars away from Laura. She straightened and looked in the opposite direction. Where was the concrete coming from?

She got her answer. Two Hyperborean giants were lumbering along the streets, as blue and as big as they came.

A clatter, a yell, and a rush of hot air distracted her, and Laura climbed onto the car she had hidden behind to see what was going on.

A chariot approached from another side of the street, and the campers let out an earsplitting cheer. Clarisse, head of the Ares cabin, was driving the chariot one handed, and she was glowing red. She seemed to vaporize seven monsters with every swipe of her flaming sword, which she had obviously taken from a Laistrygonian giant. But the biggest eye-catcher was the drakon she had lashed to the back of her chariot.

Laura watched as the huge drakon streaked past and she hastily got out her camera. She couldn't imagine a camera lens could capture a scene like this properly, but it was the best tool she had.

Clarisse charged the pair of giants, and Laura thought that they must surely be an equal match. Laura wanted to watch the fight from the top of her car, but arrows were falling thick and fast, and she was a living target. She slid off the roof as quickly as she could and landed uncomfortably on the wrong ankle.

When she looked up, she made eye contact with the hellhound peeing on a street lamp.

It is never a good idea to make eye contact with a hellhound.

The huge dog shook its leg, bared its fangs, and charged. Terror flooded through Laura's chest and she barely managed to scramble out of the way. She swung her sword as the hellhound passed her but she only grazed its side. It jumped up onto the car, denting the roof and sending showers of drool onto the windshield. Laura shrank back as it turned to face her again.

An arrow from a fellow camper hit the hellhound's leg, and it let out a whimper of pain. Laura darted forward and plunged her sword into its neck. Its nose and teeth slammed into Laura's head, but then it vaporized, and Laura fell onto the hood of the car. Black spots blurred her vision and pride enveloped her fear. She'd done it again.

Her eyes cleared and she looked towards Clarisse.

Only one giant was left, and he was bleeding snow. Rivers of slush spilled from his back as the demigods filled him with arrows. The drakon lay curled around him like a shield, and Clarisse stood triumphant in her chariot, her eyes flaming, her sword raised, and her mouth open in a defiant yell.

But she didn't move.

And the layer of ice that encased the daughter of Ares seemed to chill the heart of every half-blood in the city.

~oOo~

The fighting seemed to go on for days, but it ended about an hour later, when Kronos was defeated. The war would only stop for Kronos. It was logical, but it didn't seem right. There were many soul-crushing moments, and many times the world should have paused.

The end didn't feel like the end. It didn't feel happy either. Even though they had won, no one felt like rejoicing.

~oOo~

"Psst! Laura!"

Lacy's voice pulled Laura from her dreams and she looked up sleepily from the couch. The cabin was dark and empty, and her sister's tearstained face was looking down at her in excitement.

Laura sat up, still clutching her camera. She hadn't meant to fall asleep.

"Come on! You're going to miss it! It's Percy and Annabeth!"

Laura was completely awake now, and she followed Lacy quietly across the camp. Crickets chirped happily in the shadows and the cool wind caressed their cheeks. A group of campers lay silently behind a thicket, and the girls ran to join them.

As the campers lay there together, with hot breath, sparkling eyes, and mischievous intentions, Laura's worries drifted away, and she smiled in excitement as Percy and Annabeth talked and ate blue cake.

Happiness drifted among the breathless campers, and Laura was relieved, because it hadn't seemed like home without the happiness. Although everyone was grieving in their hearts, they still remembered how to laugh.

When Percy and Annabeth finally leaned in for a kiss, the campers revealed themselves, and everyone cheered, laughed, and shouted until they were sore.

Laura took a picture just as the crowd pitched Percy and Annabeth into the canoe lake.

It was a perfect picture.