It was once said by Aldous Huxly, some man I do not know, that 'sons have always a rebellious wish to be disillusioned by that which charmed their fathers." If Huxly was right, and I had known who he was and read more of his wise words, I would've known to avoid war at all costs. Obviously I didn't, now I know. I also would've kept Clarisse by my side and out of battlefields as well, like any good big brother would've done. Again, I didn't know which is why she's scarred and bruised and wears marks of battle and loss all over her body. You can't tell from looking at her, but her mind is the same. Me, my love, my friends, we're all the same.

The day Clarisse came to camp, was the day I had to grow up. I could no longer run around and sword fight with my half-brothers, challenging them to races in the lake and helping Annabeth with our capture the flag plans against the manipulative children of Hephaestus. Whether I'd admit it or not, in later years that'd be what I missed most, simple things like spending time with Annabeth. Maybe things would've turned out differently if I'd just chose the right, but I'm not sure I'd be as happy as I am now.

My duty from then on was to care for Clarisse, make sure she had everything she needed and most of what she wanted. Power, strength, those were easy to give her. I made my half-brothers and anyone who I felt wasn't worth my time fear me almost instantly. There were even times Mr. D would watch his back around me and he was a god. I quickly over-powered my older brothers, not admitting I'd been going easy on them for two years. Word got around about what I'd done to earn myself a year-long boarding room in Cabin Five and it only added to my image built by my friends' fear.

Clarisse quickly took control of the cabin and nobody questioned her leadership capabilities, knowing it'd be met with me. She was proud, pretentious and quick to act, characteristics our father was known for, but she was also brave.

After two years at Camp Half-Blood, I never gave up hope that I'd see my sister again. I didn't know what I was thinking, leaving her with my mother, but it was safer than taking her with me, and staying wasn't an option. Mom made that very clear.

When there was a knock on the door, my older half-brother, Jackson, opened it and revealed Annabeth standing outside of the cabin, I had thought she'd come to remind me of some meeting I'd forgotten, but I quickly remembered that I wouldn't forget a meeting with Annabeth. Somebody else, maybe, but not my best friend.

"Hello beautiful." Jackson's tone was casual, but Annabeth didn't seem to notice. I didn't know it was possible for a nine-year-old girl to turn fire-truck red until I saw it with my own eyes. "What do you need?" Jackson's question snapped her out of her slight trance and she met my eyes as if my half-brother wasn't blocking half the doorway.

"Chiron needs T.H. at the Big House." I stood up just as another one of my half-brothers cackled.

"You're in trouble now, T.H." I sent a glare behind me, not exactly sure which one had insulted me, before shoving past Jackson. He gave me a shove out the door and I struggled to keep my balance as I almost fell off the porch.

Annabeth sent me a bright smile and for a second, I saw her grey eyes drift into blue, like the clouds drifting out of the view of the sky, but I blinked and the illusion had ended. I automatically looked at my feet, feeling ashamed, as if I didn't deserve to see such beauty.

Annabeth began to walk and I followed after her. I waited until I was out of hearing range of my cabin members, before questioning her on my thoughts.

"I'm not in trouble, am I?" I fell into step with her and she shrugged. I didn't continue, knowing I'd get a detailed answer soon enough.

"I don't think so. I know it has something to do with a new camper that showed up a few minutes ago, so it's probably about giving them a tour or something. He probably suspects she's a child of Ares." I nodded. I was convinced that was all it was. Her and I were both wrong.

She? A daughter of Ares. The voice in my head laughed. I felt bad for her if she was.

Annabeth and I didn't speak after that. It was normal for us to sit in silence. We both felt comfortable in it.

I'd known Annabeth longer than I'd been at Camp Half-Blood, not by much, but still longer. We'd gotten along well enough for the children of rivals. She seemed to be untrusting of me, but she quickly realized I suppressed everything that tied me to my father and she trusted me wholeheartedly, with everything.

I held the door open for Annabeth, admiring how gracefully she walked and quickly turned to see Chiron, sitting in his wheelchair, next to a familiar girl.

"Clare." She turned and a smile spread across her face when she realized who I was and how I knew my nickname for her.

"Thay." She stood up while saying my nickname.

It was then I'd noticed how much she's changed in two years. She was bigger, but not taller than me, unlike the last time I'd seen her, where we'd been exactly the same height and weight. Now I towered over her. Her hair was longer. It'd been shoulder length before, but now it fell down her back in a long wave.

She seemed to be checking out my differences as well because her eyes scanned my body continuously.

"You're so buff and tall and beat up. Why are you beat up?" I looked at outfit, before realizing that it was burnt in odd places from the rock-climbing wall's lava.

Chiron didn't wait for my answer before wheeling towards the exit.

"I see you two know each other. I guess I should make sure a bunk is made for Clarisse in Cabin Five while Mr. D finishes talking with your mother." I watched him leave and finally realized that Annabeth was still standing in the room.

"Clare, this is Annabeth. She helped me get here." Annabeth sent me a grateful smile, probably thankful I didn't forget about her and held her out her hand for Clare to shake.

Clare's face suddenly hardened, as if she smelt something rotten, but shook Annabeth's hand anyway. I saw Clare's grip crush Annabeth's almost the moment their hands touched. I thought about separating them, but Annabeth narrowed her eyes and tried to crush her hand back, which she failed at doing and Clare let her go. They both turned to me, as if I had caused the mini arm wrestle. Clare was the first to speak.

"I have to get my things from Mom. Do you and your girlfriend want to come with?" I choked.

My mother was here. That was the one thing I never expected to hear. Camp Half-Blood had been my home for two years. I could forget about the things my seven-year-old self did. I had changed.

"She's not my girlfriend," were the only words that came out. Annabeth went a bright shade of pink, but Clare just shrugged.

Could she even look at me? Would I hug her if I saw her? Would I break down and cry? Would she? She'd probably get scared and leave and take Clare with her. Did she know I was here? She didn't. Had she, Clare would've known as well.

I followed Clare onto the porch and froze when I saw Mr. D talking to the tall, strong, blond women on Half-Blood Hill. She turned and looked right at us.

I couldn't see her face and she probably didn't recognize me, but I couldn't bring myself to walk any further.

"Clare." My voice came out gruff, but she turned to look at me anyway. "Don't mention I'm here." She nodded and began walking towards the hill. I didn't follow after her because I knew I couldn't face her. I was being a coward.

"Hey, it's okay." I felt Annabeth's hand on my shoulder. She knew everything. So did Luke and Thalia, but I never expected something like this to happen.

I turned to look at her. She wasn't smiling. Her eyes met mine and I wanted to flinch back.

"How are we friends?" Annabeth's eyes widened.

"Because we make a perfect team. Daughter of the goddess of battle strategy and son of the god of war. Because we've known each other for almost three years. Because I trust you more than anyone I know. Because-" I cut her off.

"That's not what I mean, Annabeth. How can you be my friend knowing I've killed people? That I'm a monster?" Annabeth laughed, as if this wasn't a serious matter.

"I've seen monsters, T.H. You're not one of them." Our eyes were still locked on one another. Than I must be insane, I thought.

A ten-year-old who'd kill two people was either a monster or insane or both, which is most likely. I looked down at my feet, away from her grey eyes that I'd seen too often.

"Thay! Thay!" I looked and saw Clare running this way, Mr. D walking slowly along behind her. I couldn't help but look up at the hill. My mother had already left. Something settled in my stomach, that may be the last time I'll see her.

"She's just a dime isn't she?" I looked at Annabeth, noticing the sarcasm in her voice. I rolled my eyes and waved at Clare.

She continued to run until she was on the stairs. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and gave me the same smile she gave me when we lived together. There were so many questions I wanted to ask her, but I knew I'd wait until we were alone, but even then, I wasn't sure I wanted the answer.

"I think we need to talk." I looked at her and nodded, heading inside the Big House. I knew Annabeth would follow, but something made me wish she wouldn't.

Clare sat down and gave me a look that would've had me burned alive if looks could kill. I felt Annabeth's presence behind me. I turned around, ready to tell her to go away, but Clare beat me to words.

"You've been here for two years?" Annabeth's eyes widened, as if she could sense my panic.

"Yeah, and?" I turned back around to face my sister, knowing I'd sparked her temper.

"And you didn't say anything." She looked like a mixture of rage and sadness, both were annoying, but combined they made my chest hurt.

"What was I supposed to say? 'I'm sorry I can't be home with you, even though Mom doesn't want me there anyways, because our dad's the God of War and crazy monsters are out to get me.' I don't think that'd make for a pretty letter, Clare." She narrowed her eyes at me.

"You really think they stopped coming just because one of us left, Thay." It's then that I noticed a small scar sticking out of her sleeve.

I had left my sister alone with no protection and no reasoning behind why everything around her was going wrong. I'd left her in the hands of a mortal women, who'd just witnessed her son murder her husband. I'd left her in a city where everyone knew her as the twin sister of a crazy kid. I'd left her to hell, but that didn't stop my anger.

"You just sat by and watched as Mom shipped me off and you're getting mad at me for not writing. Where were you when I was trapped in a mental hospital for a year?" Her face flushed with the same rage she'd unleashed on me when we were kids. We both had it. A gift from Ares.

"You'd killed someone, Thay. I'd probably had been locked away too if I tried to defend you after that!" I had no intention of calming down and I knew Clarisse didn't either, but when I saw Annabeth in the corner, I felt my temper spike to an all-time high.

"Will you get out of here? This is a private matter!" Annabeth jumped at the tone of my voice, but my anger didn't reside at all. "This is none of your business!"

"T.H. calm down."

"Don't tell me what to do, Annabeth." I felt my voice grumble, like I was growling at my best friend.

"Thay." I kept my eyes on Annabeth and Clare repeated herself. "Thay, leave your friend out of this." I looked behind me at my twin sister and felt every bit of anger in my body multiply.

"She's not my friend! I don't have any friends! I don't need friends! I don't need anyone!" I'll admit I was being dramatic, but when Annabelle glared at me for the first time ever and stormed out of the Big House, my future with her was set. Those three years as friends went down the drain.

Little did I know, that had that not happened, I could've had my life spared.