And you're sure that they said Romans?" questioned Chiron.

"Positive," said Annabeth. She herself had been trying struggling to figure out why those evil, self-centered Romans had sent all those terrible beasts after them. Because of them, the Nike, Artemis, and half of the Demeter cabin were no longer in existence, all that was left were 2 and a half piles of ashes. One of the dragons must've had a bad taco by the looks of how hard and fast he was spewing out nasty, fire breath.

"Hmmm, well this is all a very interesting story you're telling me, Annabeth," he said. "Could perhaps the monster have been lying to you just to get you off track to escape?"

"But how could they have known that we've been thinking about them so much since they took Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth protested.

Chiron lifted a dark, fuzzy, untrimmed eyebrow at her when she said "Seaweed Brain". She never knew why, but Chiron never liked her calling him 'Seaweed Brain'. So what, if he was someone who was supposed to the fate of the world, choosing to either save everything that wasn't already in total chaos or cause the down fall of Olympus for all eternity? It didn't matter that he was the son of the ever all mighty and powerful Poseidon, one of the three strongest gods who could crush her along with everyone else o the planet if he was having a bad hair day. She could call him whatever the heck she wanted to.

"Sorry, I meant Percy," she said.

Chiron sighed and pushed himself up from the table with his arms, then unfolded the back legs and then the front." I just don't know Annabeth. It doesn't sound reasonable and the facts just don't add up," Chiron stated his opinion. "If the Romans wanted to destroy the camp, then why didn't they just do so themselves? They know that we already lost most of our valuable campers fighting Kronos."

"Maybe they don't know Beckendorf died yet," suggested Annabeth. "Remember what he did to them last time?"

Chiron went back to a few years ago, where he saw a small, African American, athletic looking boy who had just had a long, silver sword in his hand. HE was up against a tall, muscular, male Roman camper who must've been at least 18, which was nothing compared to Beckendorf's small 13 year old body. As soon as Beckendorf got within 5 feet of the camper, he screamed a battle cry and charged the boy. The boy, looking a little frightened but as confident as ever, did not run away from the camper, but stood there and waited for him to strike. Just as the camper was about to bring the sword down on Beckendorf's head, he quickly dodged out of the way. The camper had realized he had dodged the sword, so he turned on his heel, and hit Beckendorf's sword with his own, causing it to fly into the nearest pine tree. Beckendorf had looked like he lost some of his confidence, like any boy would when he was weaponless in front of a 6' 5", 2 ton camper with a huge pointy object in his hand, but still had a glimmer of hope in his eyes. The camper was laughing madly, knowing he had won this battle, and threw down his sword on the dirt and leaves. He stomped over to Beckendorf, and grabbed him tightly around the neck and lifting him up in the air. Beckendorf was starting to turn little blue and panicked, kicking his feet wildly at the camper. Of course, the camper felt nothing from his kicks. Beckendorf was starting to lose consciousness, but then he did something any 13 year old boy would do in this type of situation- he kicked him in the groin. The camper dropped Beckendorf, giving him an opportunity for him to rum off.

Chiron grinned,"Yes, I'm sure any human being would be terrified and scared for life, but, I don't think it would be enough for them to never attack again. We knew they would attack eventually, we just should have prepared more."

"Keep in mind," started Annabeth, "Hera switched Percy and Jason, not the Roman's. We've got something they want, and they've got something we want. This may sound kind of dumb for a child of Athena, but can't we just do a quick exchange?"

"No," responded Chiron, "There are two reasons. One: Hera would never make something that simple. Two: The Romans would assume it was a trick and destroy us.

Annabeth frowned, "That's true. Why does this have to be so complicated?"

"Annabeth, I have never in all my years seen you give up this easily. Do you think that Euclid figured out all those geometric problems without a few miscalculations? O Hercules ran into a few problems while performing the "labors of Hercules" without a little side tracking? Of course they did! Don't give up yet! We'll get him back safe eventually."

"Fine, I won't give up yet. But, it's almost as if the gods don't care about us. Like, they want us to fight. If we don't get him back, won't there be a fight between the gods? I mean, Poseidon will blame Hera for taking Percy, then Zeus will get all angry at him for blaming his wife, then the gods will have to choose sides and fight. That's how it usually is."

Chiron shrugged, "I don't know, Annabeth. I'm not going to lie to you. It is likely, if we don't get him back. Sounds like something the gods would do. But, we can't lose hope, not yet. Judging by how powerful Jason is, they want him back just as much as we want Percy.

There was a moment of silence.

"What if they're changing him?" asked Annabeth. "What if they're telling lies about us. What if they're teaching him to hate us? What if I ever had to face him in battle? You know I would never be able to do that! I could never hurt him."

"Don't worry, Annabeth," said Chiron gently. "The Romans are probably thinking the exact same thing as us at this exact moment. I give you my word; you will never have to face him in battle. Even if you did-"

Annabeth looked up at him with her grey pleading eyes. They looked like the eyes she had they had just met each other for the first time, her begging him to save Thalia, when there was nothing he could do.

"-which you won't, you'd be strong enough. You were able to take down Luke. That took incredible strength," he finished.

"You're right," said Annabeth. "I'm just so afraid that those stupid Romans will hurt him."

Chiron looked at her. "I know, but they wouldn't dare. They're wiser than that. They know that if they hurt Percy, we'll hurt Jason, which we wouldn't. Keep in mind, Jason is almost as strong as Percy. They need him."

"When will we tell the rest of the campers about how the Romans are after us?" Annabeth asked.

"We'll tell them tomorrow morning at breakfast. As for us discussing this further, we'll talk early before breakfast. Understand?" said Chiron.

"I just wish we had told him about this sooner," said Annabeth.

"As do I Annabeth," he replied. He checked his watch," It's past curfew, get some rest. It's been a long day. As for me, I must go listen to some Dean Martin music before I retire to my bed."

Annabeth gave a half-hearted smile,"Good night, Chiron"

"Good night, Annabeth."

Annabeth turned her back and walked into the dark, misty night