Sorry for coming back months later with with a not-a-chapter chapter.

I don't like chapter 1. It's messy and not very thought out. I was striving for word count, but neglected actual quality; non sequitur jumps to random plot points with little connecting them and a whole bunch of fluff for no good reason.

So what am I going to do about it? That's where I need your help. I'm the type of writer who always is ashamed of their old works, where I look at it and go "wow that's terrible, better make sure nobody else has to read this."

There's a poll on my profile. Tell me what you think- or review, that works too I guess.

It's very late now where I am, as of writing this. Or very early. I write late at night most of the time, and I don't have a beta. So, sorry if there's spleling errors.

"I'm going to go with my mom," Penelope Jackson announced to Grover, Annabeth, and Thalia, as they sat around a small campfire on the beach at Camp Half-Blood, freshly returned from the Winter Solstice meeting at Mount Olympus.

"What?" Grover gave her a confused look. "Are you being serious right now?"

Penelope cracked a small grin. She had a reputation for being overly sarcastic, to the point where everything she said was usually taken with a grain of salt.

But the grin faded, and she nodded her head. "I have to go, Grover. I can't leave her alone all the way in California."

Annabeth shook her head, replying "She's a grown woman, Penny. She can handle herself."

"It's way too dangerous," Thalia agreed, "One demigod, right next to Mount Othrys, hours away from the Underworld and all the way across the country, days away from any help or backup?"

"She's my mom! Everyone knows that I'd do anything for her," Penny pointed out. "If the Titans kidnap her or hurt her, they'd have me under the palm of their hand. If anything happens to her out there, I'd never forgive myself."

Annabeth was about to speak up, when she bit her lip and held back what she was about to say, but Penny knew all the same what it was.

Luke would never go that far.

But he did. He practically tortured Annabeth to use her as bait, forcing her to hold up the sky. Having struggled through it herself, Penny knew how arduous it was, how it felt like all her muscles were set on fire. No holds were barred for him, no evil too far, it seemed. Penny sighed in despair, because even after all that, her feelings for him were still all the same.

She wistfully remembered his dry, sarcastic humor, which she had partly made her own. How they would together mess with other campers, Grover especially, and play pranks. Some days it would be elaborate, like the time that they slowly replaced the romantic chick flick movie posters in the Aphrodite cabin to horror movie posters until the walls seemed to be covered with them. Other days, it would be simple, like replacing all the weaponry in the camp armory with squeaky hammers and other toys.

It was just her luck that he had to go and almost murder her, wasn't it?

Then. on her most recent quest, although someone else had caught her eye, it had to be someone off limits. The God of the Sun, Apollo had rugged good looks, sandy blond hair, and a penchant for mischief- everything that made her crazy for Luke, and more. His overprotectiveness of Artemis, when she had been taken by Atlas, highlighted the personal, caring, vulnerable side of him.

But she knew it could never happen between them. She wasn't even sure if there had been any hookups between a god and demigod, but she was sure Zeus would kill her before anything could get serious. That is, if Poseidon hadn't have killed Apollo first. Plus, she knew she would just be used and thrown away, like all the mothers of the crowded Apollo cabin at camp.

Penny absentmindedly twirled her hair around her finger. Glancing down at it, she realized that she totally had a type. Blonde bad boys who were off limits. She groaned internally. Why couldn't it have been loyal responsible men instead?

She looked back up, and saw the concerned gaze of her friends all aimed at her.

"Done thinking?" Annabeth asked, putting her hand on Penny's shoulder, shooting her a concerned smile.

Thalia laughed sharply, a contagious grin spreading across her face. "If we waited for her to finish thinking, we'd be here all night!"

Penny put her head in her hands. "Ha ha. Very funny, coming from the grandma."

Thalia pointed back at the daughter of Poseidon with an impish look in her eyes. "Check back in when you're 60 years old and we'll see who's the grandma around here."

"Psh. Sixty?" Grover snorted. "I'm already over fifty and I'm definitely the youngest looking out of all of us."

"Yes, because we all envy the fact that your voice still cracks," Penny smirked slyly. She raised her hand up for a high five, which was immediately met with a resounding crack from Thalia.

"Ignoring Grover's attempts at facial hair-" Annabeth began, veering the conversation back on course.

"What do you mean attempt?"

She gave him a pointed look and continued, "We just want you to be safe, Penny."

"And I will be safe. I'm sure Thalia will be close enough to help if I ever do need it, but I can handle myself." The dark haired girl argued.

Annabeth looked deeply into her eyes. "I know. I want you to have this." She took a phone out of her pocket and placed it in Penny's hand.

"Annie, don't you need this?" Penny asked.

The blonde shook her head. "I took it from the Big House as soon as we got back. Chiron keeps a stash of these hidden; they're specially made for demigods. Still, you should only use it in emergencies. Texting is ok, as long as you limit it to a few messages a day. Calling is still mostly the same as on normal phones, but you have maybe an extra ten seconds."

Penny looked flabbergasted. "But how did you know I was going to need it?"

"I knew from the second that Sally said that she was moving that you'd go with her."

"You know me so well."

Annabeth sighed. "Sometimes I think it's too well."

Grover beamed. "You don't know everything."

"Don't you dare-"

"Back when Penny was in-"

Penny tackled him, to the delight of Thalia who jumped into the dogpile as Annabeth shrugged, mentally debating joining in before finally joining her friends in what could have possibly been the last time all four would be together. Thalia was, after all, departing with the Hunters. Grover was going to continue the tradition of searching for Pan.

He never got around to finish revealing Penny's embarrassing secret, which was that she had once walked in on Chiron, who had confiscated her My Little Pony ponies for himself, (but it was so long ago she totally didn't have any now) while he was humming to himself and braiding the hair of the bright colorful dolls.

But Grover also never got around to revealing how insecure he was about his destiny. If he was the one who was going to find Pan, or if he was going to end up like his father, Uncle Ferdinand, missing, dead, or worse in his search. If he was even supposed to be going and searching, or if he was just running from his friends so he couldn't fail to protect them a third time.

Annabeth never got around to telling her best friend how scared she was that everyone was leaving her, and that in the deepest darkest part of her fears, past the spiders and past the evil stepmother, was a world where nobody came back. Leaving her all alone, to be the small, scared little girl that was desperate for a family who cared, who found one that was broken apart soon enough, and that maybe her newest family was slowly breaking apart too.

Thalia never got around to telling her rival, who she now definitely called a friend, how guilty she felt for backing out on the prophecy and leaving it on someone else's shoulders. How she knows it should be her duty, but she just doesn't think that the girl who couldn't even keep her two year old brother safe from their unstable mother can be trusted with the fate of the world. How she didn't trust the daughter of Poseidon at first, too wary to put her faith in anyone after what had happened with Luke, how hurt she was that one of her closest friends would poison her and leave her dying, how defensive she got after she came back so nobody could hurt her again.

But sometimes, some things are better left unsaid.