A/N JUNE 2019: In an effort to clean up my old, mostly abandoned fanfic account, I didn't realize that deleting a chapter (a contentless authors note from 8 years ago that didn't need to be here anymore) would mark this fic as "updated". I would like to apologize profusely to anyone who might have gotten excited about a possible update. At this time, I do not have a conclusion to this fic. If you would like to read some of my newer fics, please direct yourself to my AO3 account (link on my author page). In the meantime, enjoy a little blast from the past reminder of this fic, I suppose!

The storms continued throughout the following months, rain and wind and thunder to pound New York with near relentless power. The mortals just thought it was some strange weather pattern, but the campers knew differently; the gods were angry, and the elements were at war with one another.

It had been months since the Solstice, and word had begun getting around about what had happened during the holiday.

Something was stolen from Zeus, and he blamed Poseidon.

Sure, Zeus and Poseidon had had their tiffs in the past. Some things were said, some cities were sunk, some cities were burned; you know, the usual collateral damage for brothers that get into arguments. But this was different. No one could recall a single story in which something of this magnitude had happened. Nearly every day, there were thunderstorms and huge swells that bordered more on tsunamis than waves.

But not even the warring gods and nasty weather could keep Camp Half-Blood from keeping its usual camp schedule. Despite the elements tethering on the edge of battle, campers began arriving for the summer.

No matter what horrible things might happen during the year away, no matter how many monsters tried to attack or teachers you annoyed or times you got sent to the principal's office for being a disruption in class, everything went away the second you passed through the borders the protected the camp. You could feel the tension roll off a person's shoulders when they got their first whiff of the strawberries ripening in the New York sun, when they saw the very tip of what all the campers called the Big House, when they first heard the laughter of all the campers who had gotten there before them. They were finally in a place where they wouldn't be judged by their past records and would be protected by people who cared about them. For many, those first days of summer were their first days home.

I enjoyed the summer, too. There were always new faces that I couldn't see, new demigods to become friends with in my strange, one-sided way. I loved hearing their hesitance when first learning about everything demigod and how they would be around people who truly understood what it was like to face monsters and mayhem that came with being a half-blood. No one but a demigod could understand the strain.

Camp picked up speed as more and more schools were being released for the summer. Everything was in near full swing, with only a few more campers expected to show up. Campers practiced archery with the Apollo kids (the school where Chiron was teaching at for the year was getting out today, so he would resume his role as the archery instructor), learned combat with Clarisse, tried rock climbing with the camp satyrs, raced the Naiads on the lake, and lazied on the beach with the Nereids.

Everything was going perfectly. The campers were up to their usual tricks, swiping things from the camp store and messing with their rival cabins, among other things. Everyone was excited for Chiron to return to the camp and save them from the rath of Dionysus. And everyone was excited for the arrival of the new demigod that he had been watching all year.

I was excited to find out more about this new boy, too. Everyone still speculated that he was a son of one of the Big Three. He could potentially be my half brother. Not that they could ever make up for the loss of my real brother, but still. It would be kind of cool if I could have one, even if he would never know me.

It was expectedly chaotic when Chiron returned. Old campers rushed to say hello and new campers rushed to get away from Dionysus and introduce themselves to someone who would hopefully be in a better mood than the disgruntled god.

"Welcome back, Chiron!" Travis and Connor Stoll shouted together.

"Dionysus almost killed half of the Apollo cabin!" a particularly artsy Apollo girl yelled.

"He threatened to turn us all into chipmunks!" a young, first-time camper squeaked.

"We're happy you're back, Chiron," Annabeth said, a smile clear in her voice. Chiron was the closest thing she'd had to a father figure in a very long time, and she was happy to have him back.

"It's very good to be back," he told everyone. "We'll have everything running smoothly without threat of anyone being turning into woodland creatures."

Chiron always knew what to tell the new campers to make them feel better about their strange new reality. It was a good thing that he was back, ready to take care of all the new demigods in a way that Dionysus would never be able to.

"Now, let's get on with the camp activities!" he announced happily.

The crowd of excited half bloods cheered and began to drift away in small groups, leaving only Chiron and Annabeth standing together.

"Chiron," Annabeth started. "When is Grover getting back?"

I knew – as did Chiron – what she was really asking about.

"Grover should be back today with the young demigod that we've been watching this past year," he told her.

"Do you have any ideas about the new kid?" Meaning, why was he so special?

"He is no different than any others when they first arrive. He knows nothing of his heritage." There was a small pause, in which I guessed Annabeth's face had fallen. "Annabeth, I know why you want this boy to be the one, but you've heard what will happen. It would be far better for him not to be the one."

"I know, Chiron, but if you would just grant me a quest!"

"No, Annabeth. When the time is right, you can go on your quest. But to go on a quest simply for the sake of going on a quest… I'm sure Luke could tell you how well that goes over."

Ouch. Low blow. When Luke had been given a quest by his father, Hermes, it was the first contact that he's had with his dad since he's come to Camp Half-Blood, which had been… disastrous, to say the least. He was honored to take the quest, but still angry because the quest had been done before. He returned to camp with a huge scar running the length on his face and dishonor weighing down his mind. And I knew that, behind his easy laugh and carefree nature, there was still that hatred for a father that would allow such a thing to happen to his son.

Annabeth sighed. "I know, Chiron. I know. One day, though, I'm gonna get a quest."

Chiron's voice was much gentler when he spoke again. "Exactly. Now run along to your activities. If you're going to go on a quest one day, you're going to need to train hard."

"Yes, Chiron," Annabeth said, the smile back in her voice again. "I won't let you down!" With that, she ran off in the opposite direction, towards the arena, where she could always take down her opponent.

"You never could, my dear, even if you tried," Chiron murmured fondly before heading back to the Big House to play pinochle with the satyrs.

A/N JUNE 2019: Again, so sorry for possibly getting your hopes up. I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed this story over the years, even though it's been 8 years since it was last updated. This is still my most popular fic to date and I still think of it very fondly, though I have definitely changed as a writer in the nearly 10 years (!) since I began writing it.