-Sigh- I guess the 'review for the other stories too' plan didn't work. -_- Sorry I haven't been updating, I have a piano solo, two orchestra concerts, and a solo ensemble, plus, figure skating, regular schoolwork, Chinese homework, and Chinese New Year is tomorrow as of today so I'm busy celebrating that.

Sorry about that! I kind of got writer's block (le gasp!), so I'm kind of stuck.

All Percy's POV, to make up for the other chapters with Annabeth's POV.


Percy's POV:

I woke up on the couch, feeling strangely happy, for some reason. I searched idly through my memory, trying to remember. Oh, right. Camp. I ran a hand through my hair, remembering what my mom had told me.

Flashback

"Percy, will you come here for a second?" my mom called out to me just as I was about to go leave for my 'not-date' with Annabeth.

"Yeah, Mom?"

"Chiron called. He told me that you two should go over to camp tomorrow at nine o' clock sharp. He hasn't told me the reason for it yet, only mentioning that you two will be training…" she said.

"Thanks for telling me, Mom," I said. "Can you drive us?"

"No problem, dear. Enjoy your afternoon," she said, waving to me dismissively.

End of flashback.

I got washed up, pulled on some random clothes I just grabbed from my closet (Annabeth wasn't in the room, I suspected she had already gotten up and was eating breakfast or something), tried to make my hair look half-decent, and walked into the kitchen, where Annabeth was indeed eating breakfast.

"Morning, Seaweed Brain," she greeted me. She was dressed in a denim jacket over a shirt and sweatpants; curly blonde locks tied back into a side ponytail.

"Ditto," I said, taking a seat across from her.

"So what'd you think Chiron wanted us for?" Annabeth asked.

"I don't know," I answered truthfully. "My mom said something about training." She nodded, and I got up, making myself a bowl of cold cereal.

"Good morning, kids. How was your night?" my mom asked, yawning as she came into the kitchen. She attempted to tie her hair back as she turned on the coffee machine and poured in some powdered coffee mix.

"Good morning, Ms. Jackson, and to answer your question, good," replied Annabeth, finishing up her doughnut she had dug out of the box from Shipley's.

"That's nice to hear," my mom said, smiling. "How about you, Percy?"

I shrugged. "It was okay." I left my statement hanging, thinking about something.

My mother frowned. "Another nightmare? About Kronos?" I nodded, and Annabeth studied me sympathetically.

"You should really relax some, Seaweed Brain. It's winter break, and we're going to camp in a few minutes," she advised.

"Yeah, maybe," I said, playing around with the little pieces of Cheerios floating around. I put my elbow on the table and laid my head against my hand.

"I'm just trying to help," Annabeth said, frowning. "You don't have to listen to me."

"No, no. It's just that… Well, with the prophecy and all, you'd expect me to be a little nervous, right?" She just made a little "hmph" sound.

"We should be going now, Percy," my mom said, checking the clock. "It's eight twenty, and it takes thirty-five minutes to get there." I finished the rest of my now-soggy cereal and stood up from my seat, tugging on another jacket and gloves as I tugged out my suitcase from my room.

We walked downstairs and out of the building, into the winter chill. My mom unlocked the car and I climbed into the back seat, glad of the warmth. Annabeth sat right next to me, storm-cloud eyes shining at the thought of seeing Chiron again, which just made me smile, seeing her happy.

We drove down the streets for awhile, not really saying anything, though I did occasionally try to bribe my mom into telling us exactly what Chiron had told her.

"Percy, Annabeth, we're here," she said, parking in the middle of what looked like nowhere, though we all knew better.

"Come on, Wise Girl. Thanks Mom," I called out, walking towards Half-Blood hill. Annabeth jogged up to me, cheeks flushed from the cold. We chatted for a few moments, climbing up the hill and passing by Thalia's tree.

The camp looked the same, except the magical borders had apparently let in some snow brought in by Zeus. The cabins were dusted with snow, and a centaur was pacing back and forth about the front of the Big House anxiously.

"Chiron!" I said, waving over to him. His expression looked more relieved, as if I was the answer to everything.

"Percy, child. It's wonderful to see you again. And Annabeth as well," Chiron said, attempting a smile.

"What did you need us for, Chiron?" Annabeth asked, nervously twisting the end of her scarf as pieces of snow fell down delicately into her curls.

"Our numbers have gone down drastically since the battle with Kronos' army last summer. The campers haven't received any training, especially not the new campers. Since our former swordsman left us, we've no choice but to let you two train the others, seeing as you're the best choice among us," Chiron said.

"Can't Clarisse help? Or maybe some other Athena or Ares kids?" I asked.

Chiron shook his head. "No, child. They've all gone home to their mortal families or are currently scouting. They can't help us." He spent the next few minutes telling us various information, like our schedule and such.

"Alright then, Chiron. We'll take it. Thanks for telling us," Annabeth said, and started dragging us away.

"You'll be staying here for five days. Your family already knows, Annabeth, so you don't have to worry," Chiron said as we walked towards our appropriate cabins. We unpacked our suitcases and met each other at the sword arena.

Once we got there, I immediately got tackled down by a huge ball of black fur. "Whoa there, Mrs. O'Leary (AN: Spelling? Is it Mrs. or Ms.? I don't own BotL, so I don't know)!" I shouted, holding my arm in front of me as a shield for the dog slobber. Annabeth laughed, looking amused.

"Arf!" Mrs. O'Leary barked, nudging me with her wet nose and letting a soggy training dummy drop from her jaws.

"Um, you want me to go play fetch the dummy?" I guessed. She barked excitedly, wagging her gigantic tail. I looked down at the torn, weather-beaten, and chewed up dummy with my eyebrows raised. "Eh, I'm sorry, girl, but I have to go help campers train for the war and all. I'll play with you later."

Mrs. O'Leary whimpered. I patted her mammoth-sized head cautiously. "It's alright, girl. I'll play with you, promise. Annabeth and I just have some things to take care of first."

At this time, the few demigods in the Demeter cabin came walking up, looking apprehensively at the enormous hellhound. Mrs. O'Leary took this as her cue to leave, and she whined, dragging along the dummy with her as she prowled into the forest.

I turned my gaze to the Demeter cabin. There were six kids, the oldest probably thirteen. "Alright, half-bloods. I'm Percy Jackson, your swordsman for the next five days. Who's up first?" I called. Annabeth seemingly rolled her eyes, but went over to stand next to me.

The oldest one stepped up hesitantly. "I'll go," he said.

"Great. And you are…?" Annabeth asked, already scanning through the rows of swords and daggers, seeing which would fit him the best.

"Jay. Jay Brooks," he said, green eyes shifting from me to Annabeth. I nodded, and Annabeth picked out a sword that she thought was right.

"There. Does it feel unbalanced, or…?" she questioned, picking out a sword for herself.

Jay shook his head, brown hair falling across his forehead. "Nah. It's good, but it feels… Not right, for some reason."

"You might want to change to a dagger later on, but we've got to train you with a sword first. Chiron's orders," I said, uncapping Riptide and hefting it around between my palms, getting the feel of the grip. Annabeth had started talking to another demigod, a newbie by the looks of her.

"Okay, take your ready stance," I commanded, and Jay did so. I started out easy on him at first, then actually putting some real effort into it. This kid was pretty good. I instructed him how to hold the sword, how you could twist the blade around and jab the legs of the opponent, taking them by surprise.

"You've got some real potential, Jay. Try using a dagger next time," I said, nodding encouragingly. He took my advice and used a dagger, jogging over to the corner to try out the dummies.

I turned back to the remaining four kids. "Next!"

This went on until the Demeter cabin was through, and I went to go take a quick shower before going to eat lunch after the conch had sounded.

Annabeth and I didn't have much time to rest, training and practicing in the sword arena. We were already through with two cabins, Demeter and Dionysus. We still had four more to go, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes, and Apollo.

I sat on a bench and took a gulp of water from a water bottle. I felt refreshed, and I wasn't tired so much. I was just about to go take another sip when I heard the familiar clip-clop of hooves.

"Percy!" Grover called out, trying to keep his Rasta cap on in the swirling breeze. He walked over to my side.

"Hey, G-man. What's up?" I asked.

"Nothing much," he said, shrugging. "I'm still trying to restore the wild, and I'm starting on Long Island, so I'll be gone for the rest of the days you and Annabeth are staying here."

"That's great, Grover. The restoring the wild thing, I mean. How's Juniper?" I asked.

Grover brightened up. "She's doing great. I'm thinking of proposing to her in the spring, but I don't know what I should give her as a ring. Do you know any jewels she might like?"

"That's great, G-man! And, uh, me being a guy and all, I don't know that much about jewelry. Try Brookelyn or something. I hear she's still here at camp. I'm doing the Aphrodite campers soon, so you should go later, when I'm done training them," I suggested.

"Oh, thanks, Percy!" he said, happy to find a solution to his problem. Grover stood up to go, but then turned around and said, "Tell Annabeth I said hi, I might not be able to see her today." I nodded, and he clip-clopped out of the arena.

"Um, we're here for sword training," a pretty girl said, twirling around a lock of her amber hair. I looked up at her, standing up and calling Annabeth to come.

"Brookelyn Dale?" Annabeth asked. The girl nodded. Annabeth focused her gaze on me. "I'll take her. You can take the newbie, Josh." I silently agreed, calling up Josh.

"Josh Ramirez?" A ten or eleven year old boy walked up nervously. "You're the newbie, right?" He nodded quickly, looking up at me with slight awe.

"You're the Percy Jackson?" he asked.

I sighed heavily. "Yes, I am the Percy Jackson. Come on, I've got some stuff to teach you."

Josh looked scared. "Is it going to ruin my hair? Because right before my dad took me here, I just got my hair done and everything–"

I raised my eyebrows. This kid was really getting on my nerves. "Maybe. Now come on, I've got to fit you with a sword."

***

It was late afternoon already, and the sun was starting to set. I groaned in exhaustion. Those Hermes campers could really annoy you good. The fact that Connor and Travis Stoll were gone and couldn't help keep the younger children in control didn't help much, either.

I sat down next to the lake, dipping my finger into the clear water and watching the fish follow it. My mind began wandering, watching the snow silently fall down continuously.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, sitting next to me.

I smiled slightly. "Hey." I pulled my jacket around myself tighter, wishing it weren't so cold.

"Did you see Grover today?" she asked.

"As a matter of fact, I did. He's going to leave camp tomorrow to go 'restore the wild'. He told me that he was thinking of proposing to Juniper, and he says hi," I said.

"He's proposing to Juniper? That's…" Annabeth trailed off.

"Unbelievable, right? But it's great news for him," I said.

"Yeah. It's pretty sweet of him to do something like that," she agreed.

"In fact, he even asked me what type of stone he should get for the ring," I said, still chuckling a little at the thought.

"I know what I would say," she blurted out, gazing up at the ice-blue sky, merging with the pink and orange of evening.

"Really? What?" I asked.

"Well, I like emeralds," she said, not looking at me.

"Why emeralds?" I questioned, wanting to know.

"Because… Oh, never mind," she said, shaking her head and slightly blushing, scowling as if scolding herself. I was about to press on, but I let the subject drop, communicating with a nearby pegasus that was soaring overhead with Brookelyn on her back.

"What's with you lately?" she asked suddenly, looking at me inquisitively.

"What do you mean?" I asked, puzzled as I looked up at her. Her blonde hair was falling loose of her rubber band, and a few curls brushed up against her cheeks, blowing in the wind. She looked… Pretty, I thought before I could stop myself.

Annabeth sighed. "You've been all quiet and moody lately, ever since I came to New York. What happened to the Percy I used to know?"

"Nothing's happened. I'm just… worried about the decision I'll make on my birthday," I admitted. "I feel like I'm going to do something wrong, and… And make the wrong decision by accident. I've just been so troubled by it lately." I let out a breath of air, blowing some hair out of my eyes.

Her look softened a bit. "Honestly, Percy. Don't worry about it too much. You know that I'll always be there for you. Grover and Thalia, too," she added hastily.

"Yeah, I know," I said. We sat in silence, and I closed my eyes, absorbing the feeling of the slight burn that occurred whenever a snowflake landed on my face.

"Hello?" I opened my eyes again, just to meet Annabeth's piercing gray ones. She waved a hand in front of my face. "Anyone home in that empty head of yours?" Annabeth gathered up some snow and tossed it into my hair.

"Hey!" I protested, dusting off some snow from my head.

Annabeth laughed. "Come on, Seaweed Brain. We've got the Apollo kids to train. Let's go." She stood up and held out a hand. I pulled myself up, dusting snow off my jeans. She started to walk away, but I stopped her with my hand on her shoulder.

"Wait. I just wanted to thank you for trying to make me feel better," I said, thinking about what she had said earlier.

She seemed to know what I was talking about. "You're welcome, Seaweed Brain." She pulled her lips up into a light half-smile, and we walked back to the sword arena through the lightly falling snow, my hand lightly resting upon her shoulder.


Oh, the pure essential joy of OOCness… I seriously hate you, OOCness. I made the characters way out of whack, I know (to me, anyways). Sometimes, I just make them OOC for the good of the story, by the way. I'm sorry this chapter was so short. I'll try and make the next one longer.

A note: There will only be two more chapters, including the denouement (epilogue). Maybe three if I get the inspiration.

Please review! And if you have the time, read my other stories too and review for them!