Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

This is kind of useless but it takes place right before Chapter 3 of BOTL. Sometimes they may sound OOC... but enjoy!

I got down to the sword-fighters arena only to find it deserted. Mrs. O'Leary wasn't here either. She was probably in the forest looking for real treats.

I uncapped Riptide and approached a dummy. I stood there for a minute, looking like I was contemplating how I was going to attack it, but I really was thinking about what I had just saw the night before.

So Nico would come looking for me. He wanted to exchange my soul for another soul. His sister's soul.

I shook my head to get the thought of him out of my mind and spun around, piercing the dummy straight in the heart with Riptide.

"Yah!" I shouted, backtracking and taking Riptide out of the dummy.

"You just keep getting better, don't you, Seaweed Brain?"

I jumped and turned around. There she was, standing with her knife, her blond hair in a pretty ponytail. Annabeth.

"How long have you been standing there?" I asked, feeling my cheeks go bright red.

"I just came to relay a message." Her voice sounded grave.

"What message?" I asked, my mind jumping to conclusions that contained Nico.

"Chiron told us... that around three in the morning, a drakon was found prowling the borders of Camp Half-Blood, near Thalia's tree," Annabeth said.

"What?" I said, half relieved and half irritated. First, it wasn't Nico. Second, nobody even bothered to wake me up. "Why didn't any one wake me?"

"I came inside your cabin to wake you," Annabeth said, who turned pink this time. "but you were in a really deep sleep. What made you so exhausted?"

We stood in silence, staring at the ground.

I sighed, knowing that Annabeth was the only one to make me feel better at a moment like this.

"Last night," I started. "I got an Iris message."

"From who?"

"Nico di Angelo."

"What? Really?" Annabeth asked. She stepped forward so we were less than a foot apart. "What happened?"

"He... he was talking to this ghost or something. This ghost king. And..."

"And?" she prompted.

I lowered Riptide. "...and Nico was asking him what he needed to do in order to get a soul exchange."

Annabeth didn't say anything. I didn't meet her eyes, but I felt her gaze.

"For Bianca?" she finally said.

I nodded.

"And he wants to... oh."

I nodded again, and she put out her arms. We closed the gap between us as we hugged, and I immediately felt my chest pooling with warmth.

"Thanks," I muttered, and pulled away.

"Don't worry about it. We'll tell Grover later," Annabeth said.

I nodded, but I couldn't help thinking about it.

"Well, let's do something to get your mind off things."

I looked gratefully at her, my eyes saying, thank you.

She smiled slowly. "Sword fight."

I only had two seconds to recover from my mind being frozen because of our hug. I immediately lifted Riptide and Annabeth took out a sword.

"Where'd you get that?" I asked, nearly cowering as she raised her blade.

"The armory," Annabeth said, laughing. "I'll give it back, don't worry. I had to use it for the drakon."

I scowled. The drakon.

"Right, you can't use knives against -- WHOA!"

She swung her sword and I had to swerve to avoid it. She was really fast. I only noticed this now.

"Wait! Time! Time!" I yelled. She wasn't listening, in fact, she was clearly enjoying herself. "This isn't funny!"

I clashed Riptide with her blade and it made a deafening clang! around the arena. This was when I started laughing.

I moved to the side just as Annabeth tried to pierce my ribs. Of course, we weren't hurting each other. That's what armor was for. And I would never hurt her.

Annabeth caught me off-guard, and I dropped Riptide. She pressed her sword against my armored chest and backed me up against the wall of the arena. Riptide was about six feet away, lying on the ground. I was weaponless against a wise girl.

"Yield, Seaweed Brain," she said.

"Okay, okay, you win!" I said, raising my hands up in a surrendering motion.

She dropped her sword and we both starting laughing.

"Want to go down and eat breakfast now?" Annabeth said, straightening up and looking like she was trying to hold back a smile.

"Yeah, sure."

That definitely got my mind off things.