Noah,

I woke with the sunrise.

I had only slept about three hours, and I needed more sleep.

But I had to open my eyes to pull back the curtains, and I saw the happy morning outside my window. The strawberry fields were covered with dew, and the buildings in New Rome shone in the sun. A few early bird campers were out on their jog, and the sky was blue and dotted with clouds.

It was beautiful.

Usually, I would be waking up about now here at camp, though I didn't want to. As a senior, I would need to go for my weekly crack-of-dawn run through the camp, and it would be pretty enjoyable by this point. New Athens would look so beautiful, the air would smell of freshness, and everything would look perfect.

I was too tired to marvel this morning though, and I leaned back in the bed.

That was when I caught eye of Kate.

My heart stopped for a moment, and it took me a minute or two to remember that I had fallen asleep here after coming to talk to her last night. When I did, I let out a sigh, though I wasn't sure if it was for relief or sadness.

I was absolutely shocked though.

Even when she was wearing a shirt three sizes too big with her hair crazy and her face without any bit of make-up, she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I wasn't sure if it was just me thinking that or if it was true, but it killed me to think that she would always see me as her older brother.

After what felt like forever, I finally slid back into bed, and I wrapped my arms tightly around her, bringing her close to me. I could feel her heartbeat, and she snuggled up closer to me, now using my chest as a pillow now. I kissed the top of her head, which made her let out a cute little hmm and snuggle even closer.

For a moment, I felt complete bliss.

As I began to fall asleep again, I was still thinking about Charlie.

I loved Charlie. When Annabeth was pregnant with her, I thought I might not. Annabeth kept saying she knew it would be a girl, and I wanted to have a little sister. But then my father kept reminding us that the baby could be another boy, and I hadn't been happy about that.

Up until about a year before, I had really been the only person in my father's life, and, while I was glad to share the attention with Annabeth, I wasn't sure about another baby. Even after Annabeth made me realize I would still be loved and taken care of, I wasn't exactly sure. And then a beautiful little green-eyed baby was born.

I loved her from that moment on, and I was overprotective from the start, just like my father.

It felt impossible to know that she was thirteen not three, much less that she had a prophecy she had to handle.

No matter how many times Charlie kept proving that she really was growing up, I still saw a five year old with pig tails, running around the house in her princess costume. This should have been the greatest proof that she wasn't my little girl anymore, but it still couldn't change anything in me.

"Noah?"

Someone's warm breath blew into my ear, and I opened my eyes slowly to see that Kate's grey eyes were beginning to open.

"I can barely breathe," she smiled weakly, and I blushed as I realized how tight I was holding her. I unwrapped my arms from her waist, and I moved back to my spot in the bed, looking up to the ceiling.

I knew I should leave, but I kept this moment going because I didn't want to yet.

"What time is it?"

Kate sleepily sat up, scrambling for her jeans on the floor with her cell phone in it.

"Seven," Kate looked back to me, pushing her hair behind her ear, "You better get going. Chiron is usually up here by seven thirty to remind us about breakfast."

Was I imagining it or was she disappointed?

I didn't get much time to think about it before I thought about the hassle Chiron would give me if he found me here, giving us both a lecture about the "Bird and the Bees" and making us so embarrassed we would blush for the next ten years. But then I thought about the look Charlie would give us…

Charlie had known how I felt for Kate for the last year after suspecting it for a while now. I didn't even have to tell her. She saw the way I looked at her last summer after so long of not seeing Kate, and that was just it. I didn't really allow Charlie to talk about it. Instead, she gave these looks, and I honestly would have preferred that she teased me.

Thinking about what a field day Charlie would have, I jumped out of bed without another thought. I ruffled my hair, and I looked back to Kate, who was gathering up her clothes from yesterday.

I stopped at the door, and Kate looked up at me.

"Uh, thanks for letting me stay in here. And talking to me, I guess I needed that," I wasn't exactly sure what to say.

"That's what friends are for," Kate seemed just as tongue-tied as me, "Um, when do we need to… tell her?"

"Today."

Kate nodded.

"I'll see you down at breakfast."

"Okay."

Kate,

I was wearing a pair of the Oracle's jean shorts, my tee shirt from the day before, and my lucky sneakers when I came downstairs. Chiron wanted to throw my jeans in the wash and the clothes I used as pajamas, and I ended up wearing anything I could find.

When I got to the kitchen, Chiron was still working on the laundry, wanting to avoid this morning, and Noah was making breakfast.

While he made French Toast and eggs, I made regular toast and put out juice, trying everything not ot speak.

As I set out a place of toast, I wasn't sure exactly what I was avoiding.

The prophecy with Charlie?

Noah after all this time?

Or Noah after waking up with his arms wrapped tight around me like I was the most important thing in the world to him?

I still couldn't get over that.

I had never felt like that…

I didn't feel like I needed to run to the bathroom and fix my hair and make-up so he wouldn't see how I really look in the morning. I didn't even feel like going back to sleep though I had barely slept a wink the night before.

I just wanted to stay like that…

But, eventually, I knew I had to get up, and I had to wake him up.

"Morning, Kate. Morning, Noah."

My eyes shot to the doorway, where Charlie was letting out a big yawn and a stretch.

It almost killed me to look at her right now.

She looked like the kid she was. Her curly blonde hair was in a messy blonde ponytail, and her sea green eyes were still full of sleep. She had on a giant tee shirt for the Party Ponies and a pair of shorts, wearing a small smile to go along with it.

"Ooh, scrambled eggs. My favorite."

Noah smiled as he made Charlie a plate, and he handed it to her with a smirk.

"You're finally up."

"It's only seven, Noah," Charlie rolled her eyes, taking a sip of her orange juice.

I felt a little sick as I realized we had this conversation a million times. Every sleepover, every family event that involved sleeping over, all of it. Charlie and Noah said that exact same thing.

What if I never heard it again?

I needed to change the topic.

Fast.

"How'd you sleep?" I asked Charlie, and she shrugged.

"Eh, not bad. Not great but not bad. I didn't get much of it though. How about you two?" Charlie looked between me and her older brother.

Noah turned a small shade of pink.

"Uh, fine," Noah quickly answered, ruffling his hair.

I looked down to my French Toast, and Charlie watched us, raising her eyebrows at me.

Wonderful, now questions, I almost moaned.

"What happened with you two?" she whispered, nudging me.

I pretended not to know what she was talking about.

"Nothing."

"Did you two…?" she raised her eyebrows again, only this time with a smile and a dirty mind.

"No, no," I quickly shook my head, turning as pink as the strawberries the camp grew.

"But something happened."

"Nothing happened, Charlotte."

"Whatever you say," Charlie took a sip of her juice, "But I will still find out what happened with you two."

I rolled my eyes, and I was about to say something about how nothing happened when Noah sat down at the counter with us.

"What are you two girls talking about?" Noah smirked, taking his spot beside Charlie at the counter. He took a big bite of his favorite food, French Toast, and he looked between us.

"Something," Charlie smirked.

"Nothing," I corrected.

"Sure," Noah nodded, laughing at the two of us.

I rolled my eyes, and I began on my breakfast.

"So, what did Chiron say last night?"

Noah and I both started choking on our breakfast, and I paralyzed as I stared at Noah.

Noah looked like he might cry, and I felt like I might throw up.

Charlie frantically looked between the two of us, her sea green eyes watering as she began to realize what was going on. Her jaw dropped, and her head went faster as she looked to Noah then me, then Noah then me again.

She was doing it so much I worried her head would pop off.

"So, he-he… he said…?" Charlie's voice croaked, and her tears streamed down her face, making my eyes water, too.

Noah wrapped his arms around her, and she began to sob into his chest.

"I know, baby… I know. But it'll be okay," Noah rubbed her back.

She answered with more tears.

"We'll be there, I promise. We can do this," Noah reassured.

Charlie pulled away from him, wiping her eyes as she looked back to me.

"You, too, Kate?"

I nodded, meeting her eyes.

"Of course, Charlie."

Charlie nodded, sitting up straighter as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"When-when do we leave?"

"It's up to you," Noah put his hand on her shoulder.

"Tomorrow, I want to go tomorrow."

"You can have another, if you want."

We all turned to see Chiron at the doorway.

"If you want to bring a third person, I will permit it."

"You can bring Emily-Rose," Noah offered.

"I want Sam."

We were shocked as we all stared at her.

"I want to survive this. And you three are the best in the camp."

Noah almost cried again, and he rubbed her arm comfortingly.

"I'll tell him," I offered, and Charlie nodded.

"I'm going to get dressed, and I'm going to head down to the camp. I'll see you guys later," Charlie slid off the stool.

I nodded, and I quickly gripped Noah's hand to stop him from running after her.

His eyes met mine, questioning what I was doing, and I just simply shook my head, which seemed to get the message across.

Noah nodded, and I hesitantly let go of his hand.

"Kate, your clothes are ready," Chiron offered, still watching me.

"Uh, thanks. I'll go get dressed," I stood awkwardly, and I started off to get the clothes.

Charlie,

"Oh my gods…" Emily-Rose pushed her red hair behind her ear, staring across at me.

We were sitting in my cabin by the fountain.

The cabin was beautiful and completely able to control through a control panel on the door. The walls were light blue, but, with a press of a button, they could disappear and let the cool lake breeze in. The ceiling had a mural that looked like what you might see under the water, but another button could make it disappear to blue glass that made it look like you were under the ocean when the sun came through it. The floors were marble, and, in the center of the room, there was a grand fountain.

I adored it here, and I had been excited to put my trunk at the end of my bunk. I hated so much to leave it…

"I know."

"Are you alright?"

I shrugged, looking to the gurgling fountain.

"I guess… Scared, but I don't know," my eyes wandered over to the bunk that had once belonged to my father.

On the wall, when it was here as it was now, there was a collection of pictures of my parents. The one on the end got me staring the most.

My parents couldn't have been more than twelve, and my mother was slightly taller than my father. He had a big wide smile and messy black hair, and my mom's curly hair looked like the blonde version of Merida from Brave. They were together after their first quest.

Guilt consumed me.

My parents were on their second prophecy by this age, and I was much more trained than both of them.

But their prophecy involved someone wanting compromise.

This woman wanted my head…

I closed my eyes as I thought about the prophecy.

"The Wise Children shall love

The One of the Sea shall protect

The Mother shall release from old debts

The Fates will grant with great power

But ancients feud will scorn

The daughter of the mind and sea."

At the time, it was pretty straight forward. But, sitting here now, I had no clue what was going to happen. It made no sense, and it was driving me up the wall.

Chiron told us our first stop would be to the god of prophecies himself to see if he could shed any light, but I knew I would never get a straight answer. I just had to wing it and pray to all of the gods I could think of that my mistake didn't get us all killed.

"Who did you chose?" Emily-Rose seemed nervous.

I knew she wanted to be a good friend to me, but I also knew that she knew the stories about this prophecy and wanted to live to be older than thirteen.

"Noah, Kate, and Sam. I would have picked you, but-"

"No, no, I understand," Emily-Rose quickly told me, "I would have done the same thing.

I smiled weakly, and looked to the magic backpack my grandmother had given me years ago.

"Want to help me pack?" I asked with a small smile, hoping we could get the tension out of the air.

"Of course!"

We did everything as we usually did, and Emily-Rose ended up with a new tank top that she decided would look much better on her. But it didn't feel right.

It felt pathetic. It felt sad and final. It felt like something you did with someone you knew was about to die.

We still laughed, but it felt dry and empty. We still danced around the room, though it felt off beat and forced. And we still talked about anything and everything, though a certain topic was most definitely off limits.

It didn't feel right, and I knew I couldn't force it to.

"So, there is this guy, from the Demeter cabin, Kia. Did you know his dad is from Hawaii? They moved to New Athens a few years ago."

Kia.

Yes, I knew that Kia had moved from Hawaii, and I had known this for the last year when Emily-Rose first met him. She was visiting home as she often did since her mother's Juniper tree was here, and she met him in New Athens.

And she hadn't gotten over it since.

"You could try to talking to him, you know?" I reminded her as she reclined onto my bottom bunk.

"I was just mentioning it."

"Sure," I rolled my eyes, and she got on her elbows to look at me.

"Hey! Whatever happened with Daniel?"

"Daniel?"

"You are kidding. Daniel! Daniel Morgan! You know, the Daniel Morgan?" Emily-Rose smiled wide, almost giggling.

Daniel Morgan was the star of our middle school. He was on the soccer team in the spring and star of the football team in the fall. In the meantime, he was on the debate team, and he maintained all A's. Along with that, he was gorgeous.

In the last semester of school, he had suddenly shown an interest in me for reasons I couldn't understand.

And I wished he hadn't.

I wasn't unpopular before. I was the star of the swim team, and I was in all honors. I had great friends, and I was perfectly happy with my life.

But, once Daniel paid attention to me, I was different. Girls wanted to be me or hated me, though usually both. Boys suddenly noticed me, too. The turnout for the swim meets got higher, and everyone kept telling me I was so lucky.

But I didn't know what to do about the change.

"What happened when?" I shrugged to Emily-Rose.

"At the end-of-the-year party! I heard you guys were talking all night! And then you were gone! Did you do something bad, Charlie?" she laughed.

"We talked for a few minutes. And we both disappeared because his mom came to pick him up and I went to the bathroom."

"You're telling me nothing happened?"

I expected her to be proud, but she looked disappointed.

"I don't really like him, Emily-Rose."

"Everyone likes him. And he likes you!"

I shrugged.

"I don't want that though. He would be much better off with Jennifer or something."

"Don't you dare say that!" Emily-Rose jumped off the bed, "If you are going to cast him off, at least do you friend a solid and pretend I have a chance."

"But you want Kia."

"I do not," Emily-Rose blushed, which meant her face turned green.

"You're blushing."

"Shut up," Emily-Rose crossed her arms, "Let's go get some ice cream. The pavilion should just be opening."

"You go ahead. I'll be there a little later."

Emily-Rose let out a weak smile, and she set off towards the Pavilion.

I reached for our "praying bowl" and set a fire with a small match, and I threw in a blueberry Poptarts.

"Please let me come home alive," I whispered to the gods.