Alright, so I guess the "not posting for a week" turned into a few months… sort of… I cannot express how sorry I am! *ducks as reviewers throw sharp things* Ever since school and fencing started again, things have been so hectic, I haven't been on FOREVER! (But of course, you already knew that.) I really have been trying to catch up though, and I'll try to update at least once a week. (Now let's put the pitchforks down…)

I am so excited! 16 reviews! (Okay, not that many, but to me, it's a lot) If you read the story, review it! I don't care if you hate it and think my writing sucks, I want to know! Oh, and by the way, I came in 5th in my fencing tournament out of 13 people, and this is only my second month! And it was my first tournament! Okay, so my coach wasn't too pleased, but hey, I tried! That was in Y14. (Youth 14 and under) In Open fencing, (All ages) I froze up and pretty much looked like I hadn't touched a saber before. Yeah, I'm still working on that… But in my most recent competition, I was the only girl, and I got 3rd! My first bronze… anyway, thanks for those of you who are still with me!

But here's the chapter at least 16 people have been waiting for! *glares at those who haven't reviewed*

Chapter 4

Dead. Everyone had thought I was dead. And I might as well be. Luke and his monsters could be marching here right now, and there was no way to stop them. What was I supposed to do? Chiron was all, "but now that you're here, Percy…"

What does he think? That I'll wave my hand and the sea will eat up all our enemies? Yeah, right.

"Done pacing Percy?"

I realized I'd been striding back and forth behind my chair. A table of worried faces was staring at me. I sat down and cleared my throat.

"Um… yeah. So… what's going on? Everyone's… you know…"

"Worried?" A boy of about 14 I hadn't noticed before stood up. "Panicked? On edge? I wonder why! Maybe it's because you disappeared off the face of the earth, weren't here to fulfill your prophecy, and then Luke started attacking with his armies! We're all dying for your precious prophecy, hoping you'd come back, and you've been off on vacation, getting a tan! You—where have you been, Percy?" he finished, looking around as if the answer would jump out from the shadows.

The answer stayed hidden, but something else entered the room with the bang of a door. A curly head of brown hair whipped around the table until bronze eyes rested on mine.

"Percy!" Grover stumbled around the table and the legs of the chairs until he reached me. I stood and he swept me up in a huge hug.

The boy who had spoken earlier cleared his throat with a pointed look at Grover. Grover, without turning, spoke over his shoulder.

"I've been protector of the child of Poseidon for longer than you've been alive, kid. I think I'm aloud in on your oh-so-private meeting to make sure my best friend is alive."

Chiron hid a smile. "Of course you are, Grover." He turned to one of the demigods closest to him. "Will someone bring him a chair?" He then turned back to Grover. "Oh-so-private?"

"Come on, Chiron, Percy Jackson's back! Everyone in camp knows by now! You calling a meeting with the heads of all the cabins just made it more obvious that this wasn't just some trick or prank again."

I looked at Grover, about to ask about the "again" part, but he just shook his head and mouthed "later."

Grover looked at me as if deciding something, then shook his head. "I won't ask where you've been; just say that you have a lot of explaining to do. To Annabeth too; especially Annabeth."

I winced. "Grover, I'm so sorry—"

"No. Don't. I… I think I understand. Well, to tell you the truth, I don't understand at all. But—do you people mind?"

The demigods were all watching us with interest, some (like Silena) more discreetly than others. Chiron shook his head.

"Let's give them some space. All of you will update your cabins. Percy, we can talk later. Go get acquainted with the camp and our friends again. You have the day off. Grover, you too."

And that was that. Grover and I pushed to the door and out into the fresh air.

"Grover, where's-"

"Annabeth? She should be back soon. We could wait for her. If you really want to…" He grinned.

"Oh, shut up," I elbowed him. "She's our best friend." I shot him a panicked look. "What if she hates me for leaving? What if she doesn't even remember me? What if… Grover?" His joking smile had faded.

"Oh, she remembers you all right. It'll be… It'll be fine, you'll see." He looked uncomfortable, and I got the feeling things weren't "fine." You know, like when you're half eaten by a shark, but you don't want your mom to worry, so you tell her everything is fine.

Or like when you're on an island with a girl you realized you don't love anymore, and she calls you out on it, so you tell her you're fine.

Or like when your best friend has disappeared for about a year with no communication or warning, and you forgive him but your other best friend doesn't, so when he comes back you tell him everything is fine. Great.

(star thingies)

Grover and I sat on the hill where Thalia used to stand silent vigil over camp.

Trying to ignore the whispering crowds of people who thought we couldn't see or hear them. Grover had just told them to get the heck out of here about, oh, three minutes ago. These people had no sense of privacy.

I was starting to get seriously annoyed when a familiar face pushed through the crowd, shoving all the other faces out of the way.

"Move it, move it, coming through! You there! Don't you have something better to do? Oh, you have the day off, huh? Should I ask Chiron about that? For all of you! Back to training, move along, move along!"

I sighed in relief. "Beckendorf!"

"Hey Perce. I got word that you were back," he looked me up and down. "You've gotten a tan." He didn't look angry, but he didn't look happy to see me either. His face was a blank slate. Unreadable. And a little scary.

"Look, Beckendorf, I'm sorry. I'm so-" I broke off as my jaw snapped shut. He had punched me. Hard.

"What was that-?"

"Don't take it personally. Actually, take it very personally. That's from my cabin. But mostly from me. I'm not going to ask where you were, but if you wanted to tell me…" He raised his eyebrows. I stayed silent. Tell him, and I was telling the whole camp. You never knew who was listening.

He sighed and turned to go. "All right Percy. It's your business. I just hope it was something very important. More important than camp. More important than us…" He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. I could tell he was struggling between understanding and a feeling of betrayal. Understanding won out.

"This is you we're talking about Percy. I'm sure it was important. Just… don't be surprised if not everyone can forgive as easily as I can." He sighed again. "And, Percy? I'm sorry. I respect you. I do. I'm working on the forgiving thing, and I'll never forget, but if you need someone to talk to, I'll be here. Just wanted you to know I'm here for you."

And with that bipolar turn of events, he stood and sent a few of my personal paparazzi running with a glance. I mentally made a note to thank him later.

Grover watched him leave, then turned to me and said with a serious face, "Well isn't he just the poster child for conflicting emotions." I snorted softly, and that set us both off laughing hard enough to turn our faces red.

It wasn't so much that what he had said was funny, but the tone he said it in, his face, and heck, probably the fact that we hadn't laughed out loud for so long.

With the way everything had turned out plus the war and all, there wasn't much left to laugh about in our world. It was good to have my best friend back, someone to laugh in the face of danger with.

Or maybe in Grover's case, laugh at the thought of danger, then flee screaming at the sight of danger's face. I'm sorry, I meant flee while screaming in a very masculine way.

It was a few minutes before we got it out of our systems, and we were still chuckling softly and having a hard time looking at each other when it happened.

We were halfway back to the big house when we heard laughter. It sounded like a kid, too, which was rare at camp. It was a girl, I could tell that much. And she was walking with one of the older campers, who was patiently pointing out different landmarks, plants, and other things. It didn't sound like they were a part of my new club either.

I glanced at Grover, but he wasn't meeting my eyes. He had all of a sudden become very interested in a loose string at the hem of his orange camp T-shirt. He was wrapping it around his finger and intermittently coughing and clearing his throat.

I couldn't place either voice, so I brushed it off. Two new campers taking a look around, or maybe one of the more senior girls showing the young girl around, helping her get her bearings. She was probably having a hard time adjusting. Nothing strange about that.

But then why was my brain saying that something wasn't right about her? No, that's not right, my brain wasn't just saying it, my brain was screaming it, urgently shouting at me to recognize what was wrong.

Nothing I could see. Not many young kids survived the trip to camp if it became necessary for them, so yeah, it was rare, but not impossible. Heck, all of us were rare and impossible. So what was wrong?

This girl had probably had it rough. After all, Annabeth was one of the only ones who… Annabeth.

And then it hit me. Almost literally, because when the pair walked into sight I stumbled. What my brain had been trying to tell me, the sense of familiarity, why Grover had been fidgeting so much. The "senior girl" showing the younger girl around was all too familiar, even before she turned around.

I considered my options. I could run back in the forest and hide. 'Yeah, and that would solve a whole lot, Percy. What's wrong with you, this is what you've been waiting for!' But a look of annoyance, anger, and then recognition and realization lit her eyes up, along with some other emotion I couldn't place. Her face seemed to be deciding whether or not it wanted to turn red or white before settling on a pale color that made her whole face look drained.

I knew I had been recognized. She had managed to crumple my plan of running up, stomp on it, rip it to shreds, burn it, and scatter the shreds to the four winds all with one look.

Only Annabeth could do that.

So how was- *ducks away from more sharp pointy things*- that for a cliffy? I promised to show Annabeth, and I did! (For like, 10 seconds-but hey!)

I didn't realize that I had sent Annabeth and Lily off to Zeus' fist in the previous chapter until I realized that hey, they would be in the woods walking back, and hey, that works out perfectly and makes sense! I wonder if this is how it is for real authors, with stuff just clicking into place, or if they actually plan it out in advance… probably the latter… you know, I totally planned that…

Scarlet Flames