Percy's P.O.V

I sulked for the next couple of days, avoiding Annabeth. I talked to the new campers, played fetch with Mrs. O'Leary, and did my classes. But it all felt wrong.

I was touring the woods with Amy and Ali, when suddenly Nico came bursting out of the trees.

"Boo!" he yelled.

"Oh," I said, "You guys, this is Nico Di Angelo. Son of Hades, and King of Annoyance Ville. He likes to freak out new campers."

"Do not!" he argued.

"Whatever," Ali said, turning to the trees, "What a beautiful tree!"

Suddenly, Juniper arose from the tree. "Why thank you," she smiled. Next thing I knew, they were in a fascinating conversation about her tree.

Nico looked up at Amy. He paled. He stood up, brushed of his pants, fixed his hair, then smiled at her. "As he said, I'm Nico."

She blushed. "I'm Amy Laurence."

Nico turned to me. "Um, Percy, why don't you finish giving Ali the tour? I'll give Amy hers. Make it easier on you."

"Sure, whatever," I said sarcastically.

"Great!" he yelled. He grabbed Amy's hand and pulled her deeper into the forest.

I rolled my eyes. But I was happy at the same time. Nico had finally found someone his own age. I was home free.

I was leaving the Big House after talking to Chiron, when someone yelled after me.

"Percy!"

Annabeth was running toward me.

I sighed and kept walking. Then she screamed, and I couldn't help but listen.

"Percy! Please! Listen to me, and then walk away! I knew the minute I saw you that you were special. And I really think that you see me as special too. And, when you told me that you liked me, and then you started ignoring me. It really hurt. I am so hurt right now. And to tell you the real truth, I love you. You're the love of my life. And you're just going to drop me? Well, ok then. If that's your real choice, then ok. Ok. Go ahead and leave."

And with that, she dropped to her knees and started crying.

I was shocked. I didn't know she felt until now. I understood. I ran up the steps of the big house until my feet were directly in front of her. Then I offered her a hand up. She looked up, wiped tears away, and took it.

Once she was back on her feet, I stared at her. She stared back. Then I said two words that changed my life.

"Forget Athena."

Then she cracked a grin so wide it made clowns look depressed. Then, as though those words were magic, she kissed me. On the lips. Everyone around us stared. But she didn't cared. And you know what?

Neither did I.

We walked along the beach together, hand in hand. I was happy for a while that day, and I didn't mind the Ares cabin jeering at Annabeth and I. We were happy, and that was all that mattered. But our happiness drained away when the person we least wanted to see appeared.

"Mom," Annabeth whimpered.

I gripped her hand harder.

"Annabeth," she nodded to her daughter. Then she turned to me. She glanced at our hands.

"You disobeyed me, Son of Poseidon."

I was about say some really awesome comeback, like "Yeah… well, whatever," when Annabeth spoke up.

"Buzz off mom."

I took in a sharp breath. "Annabeth…" I whispered.

She squeezed my hand as if to say, I'll be fine. I wasn't so sure.

"Mom, you're trying to tell me who to love. And I don't like it."

Whoa. Strong words. Had she been taking lessons from Silena?

"Annabeth, he's a son of… my enemy!"

"But we can be friends! Even more than friends! Because I'm not scared of you anymore!" Annabeth argued.

Athena paused. "Then we have nothing left to say."

And she disappeared.

I whistled. "You were a little hard on her," I joked.

Annabeth turned and smiled. "She can't control me anymore."

I smiled back, and we kept walking.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The next few days proceeded smoothly. Nico wasn't bothering me anymore, now that had found Amy, who turned out to be a daughter of Aphrodite. Although I could have assumed.

Capture the flag was tonight, and man was I excited. It was Athena against Aphrodite, (surprising, right?) and I knew Amy would take Nico. Athena made alliances with Poseidon, Ares, Demeter, and Hermes. Aphrodite made friendships with Hephaestus, (I knew that,) Dionysus, Apollo, and Hades, (or Nico, in other words). We were evenly matched. As Annabeth explained the plan, I watched Ali, hanging around the Hermes kids. Poor girl. She seemed so out of place with them. I hoped her parent would claim her soon.

When the conch blew and echoed through the woods, the game began. Annabeth, Clarisse and I started into the woods.

Halfway to the other side, we heard a bunch of Apollo kids gang up on someone.

"Oh no," Annabeth muttered.

"I'll go," I said.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Great, let's go Annabeth," Clarisse said, glad to see I was leaving.

And they ran into the bushes.

I ran toward the sound of the commotion. A bunch of Apollo kids were surrounding Ali, piercing her with arrows.

"Ow!" she kept yelling.

"Hey!" I shouted, uncapping Riptide, "Scram!"

They did as they were told, but they laughed as they ran. Uh-oh. I can smell new rumors already.

"Here," I said, offering her a hand.

She rejected it, trying to stand up alone. She fell right after she got off the ground. I offered my hand again. This time, she reluctantly took it.

"Sorry they ganged up on you like that. You are new, after all."

"Yeah," she murmured, rubbing her cuts.

We walked in silence for a while longer till we a low growl. We both froze.

"What's that?" she asked.

I truthfully didn't know. Until it showed itself.

It was about 7 feet tall and a sickly shade of yellow. It had one horn straight on it's forward, and it had four eyes. But that was nothing compared to it's tail. It was about 13 feet long, and had spikes. Sharp spikes. I slowly backed up, and she was doing the same.

"They really have monsters like thishere?"

"No."

And with that, we both ran like the wind. Brushing branches past us was the easy part. We had to keep distracting it at the same time. Finally Ali stopped and turned around.

"What are you doing!?" I asked her.

"I always have a plan."

Now why did that sound so familiar?

Her plan was impressive for a newbie. She told me to take out Riptide. I did. Then, I was to wave it in the monster's face. I did. Then she stabbed it from the back. It disintegrated into yellow dust, which covered Ali. I couldn't help but laugh. She laughed too.

She stood for a while, as if she were waiting for something. But what?

Afterwards she sighed and walked on. I followed.

We ran back to the campgrounds only to see Nico waving a silver banner. The kids on the Aphrodite team lifted him up and carried him around. Figures. We lost.

Ali leaned against the silver railing of the bridge above the river. I leaned there too. Annabeth was busy cursing and complaining with her cabin mates, so I figured it wouldn't matter.

"What happened back there?" I asked her.

She stared into space, apparently thinking hard. "What do you mean?"

"You just stood there for a while."

She stroked the railing. "Percy, I know I'm not a Hermes child."

"I know that too."

She sighed. "I just thought, if I were too do something extraordinary…"

"Like slay that monster," I added.

"…then my parent would claim me. But I guess I'm not worthy enough."

I patted her on the shoulder. "He or she will claim you. I promise."

She smiled, but she didn't look convinced.

We walked back to the mess hall. Suddenly Annabeth came running toward us, bumping into Ali.

"Oh sorry," she muttered to Ali. Then she turned to me. "Percy! Hurry! Nico fainted!"