A/N: Brownie points to . . . . apr1998, The Uh Girl, cocoa85715, Musicality101, stargategeeket , and ClarVoYant2015.

: Haha that's awesome! :p And yeah I'm pretty happy too

Annabeth10121: Thanks!

cocoa87515: Yeah same aha! And thanks so much that means a lot!

ClarVoYant2015: Haha here you go! Sorry it took so long!

Chapter 9: Surprise, Surprise.

The next morning Percy and Annabeth were gone. I know I should've apologized to her the night before but I was a little preoccupied with this Quintus guy. Life at camp went on rather normally. Chiron, Jake, and I made battle plans. Campers trained. The pack trained. That was, until Annabeth came back . . . without Percy.

When she explained what happened I couldn't believe it. No matter how many times I tell that kid to be careful he goes and does something stupider than the last time. But he had fucked up royally this time. We all knew the chances of him coming back alive. And thank the Gods Paul's arms were around my waist because the moment I found out, I don't think my legs would've held me up.

Today was exactly two weeks since Annabeth came back. I knew it the moment I woke up. This was going to be the worst day of my life. Kronus taking over I could deal with because there was something I could do about it. But a dead brother? How in Tartarus can you fix that? To me, nothing was that bad if there was a solution. But losing Percy? There's no solution to that. I felt lost. I didn't know what to do.

I know kids at camp had started wondering exactly how much I cared about Percy. I hadn't cried since I found out.

~~~~Flashback~~~~

I had sat on my bed for a few hours staring at his bunk until Paul had come in and sat down beside me. He pulled me into his arms so that I was on his lap. Still no tears fell.

"Talk to me," he murmured into my hair.

My voice came out almost too soft and weak to be mine it seemed. "Does it make sense that it hurts too much to cry? I feel like if I cry it makes it real. I can't deal with that. There's no way to fix this and if I make it real . . . I'm scared . . . I can't lose anyone else."

"You've got to face it at some point. It doesn't have to be right now. But whenever it is, I will be right beside you every moment."

I just curled into him. I don't know how he knew exactly what to say, but he always did. He really was my soul mate. I didn't need reassurances or people telling me it was going to be okay because it wasn't. And somehow he knew that.

~~~~Flashback~~~~

Paul and I were sitting on the dock, his arm around my shoulders. I leaned into him as I heard Chiron's hoof falls as he came down the dock. I squeezed my eyes shut. Not now, not now, not now, not now.

"Atlanta," Chiron said the sadness in his voice as clear as the blue water under us. I took a deep breath before looking up at him. "It's been two weeks. You know what happens."

"I know," I whispered. Missing for two weeks meant you were presumed dead. "Is Annabeth still working?" For two weeks Annabeth had been trying to find a way to find Percy. I hadn't helped her. It wasn't that I didn't want to find him; it was just that I knew I wouldn't be able to help.

As Paul and I walked behind Chiron to the amphitheater, I let all my memories of Percy play through my head. He was my little brother and all of a sudden he's gone. I loved him so much and just like that poof I never see him again. I knew what everyone would say. He's a demigod. Since when were we supposed to live passed 25? If you were a child of the big three you were lucky to live to be 20. He wasn't that lucky. And he died on a quest isn't that how it's supposed to be? So you can be remembered as a hero? None of that makes it any better or any easier.

As I stood on the edge of the stage looking at Percy's shroud, I thought I couldn't do it. I couldn't let him go just like that. But I had to. Paul made to walk away to go stand with the pack albeit reluctantly, but I grabbed his hand. He looked back. "Stay," it came out as barely a whisper. He came back and wrapped his arm around my waist. I leaned into him as the tears I had held back for so long started to streak silently down my face. This was going to be terrible.

Chiron stood at the front of the stage facing the camp. "Percy Jackson has been missing for two weeks." Anyone could hear the raw sadness in Chiron's voice. "We must assume he is dead. After so long a silence it is unlikely our prayers will be answered. I have asked his best surviving friend to do the final honours."

I had asked Annabeth to speak because I couldn't get a word out. There was no way I would be able to talk about him. Annabeth was the only other person here who knew him and loved him as much as me. Annabeth walked to the centre of the stage and set the cloth on the flames of the fire. Her voice was choked as she spoke and you could tell her throat was raw from crying but she spoke all the same. "He was probably the bravest friend I've ever had. He . . ." All of a sudden Annabeth's face went from the pale colour it had been to a blood red. "He's right there!"

At first I thought she'd lost it. But when I looked to the back of the theatre and heard Beckendorf yell out, "Percy!" I thought I was going to collapse with relief. Of course, then the anger set in. Apparently Annabeth felt the same way because the two of us shot off the stage after Chiron and pushed our way though the crowd.

"Well," Chiron started, the relief in his voice even more obvious than the sadness had been. "I don't believe I've ever been happier to see a camper return but you must tell me—"

Annabeth's booming voice interrupted, finishing Chiron's sentence. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" And then she hugged him harder than I thought physically possible. She let him go when she relaxed everyone had fallen silent. "I—we thought you were dead, Seaweed Brain!"

As soon as Annabeth released him I hugged Percy to me and whispered, just loud enough for him to hear, "I was so worried. Never do that again ok?"

"I'm sorry," he said. "I got lost."

Wait, lost? I let go of him then and stepped back. "Lost?" I said incredibly. "For two weeks? Percy, no one gets lost for TWO WEEKS!"

Chiron jumped into our conversation, "Perhaps we should discuss this somewhere more private, shall we? The rest of you, back to your normal activities!"

We walked back to the Big House. Once we were inside, Annabeth demanded to hear Percy's story. As he spoke I could tell he left something out and I had an idea of what but Annabeth was in the room so I wouldn't say anything.

"You've been gone two weeks, Perce," I said, my voice steady now that I was sure he was safe. "We thought—"

"I know," he said, squeezing my hand.

"When I heard the explosion I thought—" Annabeth's voice still shook just the slightest.

"I'm sorry," Percy said. "But I figured out how to get through the Labyrinth. I talked to Hephaestus."

"Woah, woah, woah," I said. "Slow down a sec there, bud. A) You just got back, B) last time you were in there we all thought you died, which leads to C) no way in Tartarus are you going back!"

"Atlanta, we need to stop Luke," he argued. "Which means we need to get through the Labyrinth Hephaestus told me how to."

"He told you the answer?" Annabeth piped.

"Well, he sort of told me that I already knew. And I do. I understand now." And he explained. Personally, I thought it would work, but I knew Annabeth would be less than fond of the idea. And why did he have to go with them?

"Percy, that's crazy!" Annabeth voiced.

Chiron threw in his two cents, "There is precedent, however. Theseus had the help of Ariadne. Harriet Tubman, daughter of Hermes, used many mortals on her Underground Railroad for just this reason."

"But this is my quest," Annabeth argued. "I need to lead it."

"Annabeth," I started slowly, "it's your quest but there is no rule saying you don't need help."

"And this is supposed to help?" She protested. "Please! It's wrong. It's cowardly. It's—"

"Hard to admit we need a mortal's help," Percy interjected. "But it's true." Annabeth's glare was ferocious.

"You are the single most annoying person I have ever met!" She yelled as she stormed out of the room.

"So much for being the bravest friend she's ever had."

I sighed and looked at Percy. "You're my brother and I love you to death, but you are so damn blind sometimes." I ran after Annabeth.

"Annabeth!" I called to her. "Hey! Slow down!" She stopped so I could catch up to her. "Talk to me, girl."

"Why does it have to be Rachel? Why couldn't it be a guy?"

I laughed. "I hate to break it to you, but what you're thinking has never even crossed Percy's mind. There is absolutely no reason for you to be jealous. And if it was a guy I think we would have something to worry about." Annabeth rolled her eyes at my comment. "Now, I know going to a mortal for help is one thing, and I also know that you hate the idea of Percy saying you need to bring along Rachel of all people. But what's really bugging you?"

She looked at me for a moment before she got a sad look on her face. "You of all people can guess where he was marooned, Atlanta."

"Annabeth, I know you're worried because he was with Calypso, but he came back. Doesn't that count for anything?"

"He was still there for two weeks! A lot can happen in two weeks!"

"Ok, you need to listen to me and listen closely. Nothing. Happened. He came back. And I know for a fact he didn't come back because of me." I gave her a very significant look and she turned away.

"Still . . ."

"Annabeth, just stop. You have no argument, so drop it." She looked up at me. I smiled. She rolled her eyes. "You know I'm right."

"For once," she scoffed and walked off.

"I resent that!" I called after her. And then I went to find Paul.

As I wandered camp, I got tackled from the knees and ended up on the ground with none other than Hali on top of me.

"Atlanta!" she yelled excitedly.

"Hey, Hali!" I said giving her a big smile. "What are you doing?"

"I was looking around for you!" she replied with an enormous smile of her own.

"Really? Well, why were you looking for me?"

She shrugged. "I haven't seen you in a while I guess."

I stood up and placed her on my hip. "Well, good, because you can help me find Paul. We're just going to walk around and you tell me if you see him, ok?"

"Ok," she said as she laid her head down on my shoulder. We walked around camp in a comfortable silence. She got so quiet I thought she was asleep at one point. "Is that him?"

I looked where she was pointing and saw a toned back and a mess of shaggy black hair. "No, that's Embry," I told her, "but he might know where Paul is." We started to walk over and I rolled my eyes as I noticed he was talking to the Aphrodite girls. "Hey, Embry!" I called.

He turned around and smiled as he saw me. Then he saw Hali and a look came over his face I had only seen once before. No fucking way. My step faltered slightly but I continued to walk to him and cleared my throat loudly which caused him to snap out of his trance and look at me. "Embry, this is Hali. Hali, this is Embry," I introduced, my face blank and voice steady.

Embry leaned down a bit so he could smile and wave at her. "Well, hello Hali."

Hali giggled and waved back shyly with a soft, "Hi, Embry."

I put Hali down and said, "Why don't you go see what Annabeth's doing, ok?"

Hali nodded and ran off. I turned to Embry and watched him as he watched Hali until she was out of sight. He looked back at me and cringed at my look.

"Come on, Atlanta, you know it's not something I can control—"

I held up my hand to stop him. "Look, pay attention because I'm only going to say this once, got it. You better treat her like a fucking princess. I'm only giving you one shot at this. If you screw up it's not my fault. She is going to be the best thing that's ever happened to you so don't fuck it up or I will fuck you up. Got it?"

He just nodded and went after her.

A/N: Hows that for a twist?