[ AUTHOR'S NOTE ]

So, this is seems like another short chapter but I swear that I will write a better one tomorrow okay? I've just been busy with my blog because I just started so I hope you understand and I also hope that you can check it out! .com :) Thank you all!

[ DISCLAIMER]

I KINDA FORGOT TO PUT THIS IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER!

I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus series. All character rights goes to Mr. Rick Riordan unless stated otherwise or is not found in any of the books written by him. I am not affiliated with Mr. Rick Riordan, his family, friends or even his management.

ANNABETH

After hours of planning and constant bickering, we have finally come up with a plan. Is it a plan worthy to defeat the titans? I'm not so confident about it. You'd think that having the Lord of Creation himself on our side that it will be like a walk in the park but I can't stop thinking that the plan is just some fool's play to cover the real one. Something about Skander, Leandro and Mona's actions during the planning tells me that they're secretly talking to one another. I also can't help but think about the savior in the last line of the prophecy; that without that savior, we will still lose. Is that savior among us? Or is there the slightest bit of hope that Percy will come back? My thoughts were shaken when I heard Apollo speaking through my mind.

"Stop thinking about Percy, Annabeth. Your mother almost caught you the other day! You wouldn't want your memories to be erased for good now, do you?" I stared at Apollo blankly. Mother almost caught me? Suddenly I heard someone coughing and I shook my head before I noticed that everyone was looking at me.

"Oh, uhm, I'm sorry. Did somebody ask me anything?" I asked.

"I think we've had enough for today, young ones. I'm sure the soldiers are famished as well. Maybe we should all retire for today and continue planning tomorrow." Mother said as she looked at me sternly. I knew I wasn't going to be coming with the rest of my friends back to camp just yet.

"Annabeth? Aren't you joining us?" Mona asked. It was almost as if she was forced to ask me that but tried to be as sincere as possible. Before I could come up with an answer, mother spoke.

"Go ahead, Annabeth. They need someone to tour them around the camp. I don't think the Stolls are a good choice." Mona and I bowed and left with the rest of the group and went through one of the portals Lord Chaos made. One leads to the Roman camp and one leads to ours.

"Pe- I mean, Skander! Shouldn't we bring back Jordy? I'm sure he's got plenty of time out with Agatha." Taphios asked.

"He's already here." Skander casually answered. And, as if on cue, we heard something screaming from Thalia's tree. We ran as fast as we could but noticed that Skander was just leaning against a tree. I decided to ignore him and ran as fast as we could. What if the fleece has been stolen again? What if someone hurt Peleus? What if… I was stopped when I saw Jordy hanging upside down in an invisible rope and Peleus with fiery eyes, ready to attack at any second.

"Peleus. Stop!" I screamed as I ran towards the dragon. Suddenly a dark purple smoke appeared on top of Jordy and came out Skander. He gave just one look at Peleus and suddenly the dragon was put back to sleep, coiled near the fleece.

"How… How did you do that?" I asked him when we jumped down with Taphios who was finally free again.

"I can't reveal anything yet, Wi- Why are you asking?" he asked, somewhat losing his confidence. Was he about to say something else?

"Nothing… It's just Peleus never backs down from a total stranger. Only a handful of people can do that to him." I said, Percy included.

"It's just part of his traning with Erebus before he sided with Ouranos. He never finished his training but he was able to learn a couple of handy tips that we can use." Taphios answered.

The rest of our way to the Big House was quiet... Or in my part, it was. I don't know why I decided to stay beside Skander rather than to catch up with my friends but I feel comfortable beside him, like we can be friends, but I also have this nagging feeling of wanting to hate him. If only I can see right through his cloak.

"Welcome back, campers! And I believe these are the soldiers of Chaos? Welcome to Camp Half-Blood!" Chiron said as he bowed towards the soldiers. The soldiers nodded back but Skander, Mona, Taphios and Jordy walked to the front to personally greet him. The rest went to their usual activities and I… I don't know why I can't move. When my friends were waving at me, telling me to come, I just shook my head and smiled at them then hung around while I wait for Chiron and the soldiers to finish talking.

"I believe you would need a tour guide?" Chiron asked, seemingly loud as if he thought this was the question that I was waiting for.

"Sure, we would love to. Thanks, Chiron." Skander said.

"Annabeth, dear, can you come here?" Chiron extended his arm to my direction, as if it was slowly pulling me towards their direction. "Annabeth, can you give them a tour of the camp? I have some important business to attend to at the moment."

"Yeah, sure, of course." I weakly smiled then faced the soldiers. "So this right here is called the Big House. It's big… And it's a house." Suddenly, everything became quiet and I heard things dropping on the floor within a mile radius, at least. I was afraid to turn back to Chiron to see what face he has on and I'm certainly thankful for the soldiers' cloaks until a loud laughter was heard coming from Skander broke the silence.

[ Review Response Section ]

My apologies for just answering your reviews now!

Guest,
If you are reading this right now, thank you so much for reading my story and for liking it! I hope that you won't get tired reading this even though I'm losing the inspiration to write more.

Qoheleth,
That is my fault. I never re-read the first few chapters because I made them a long time ago and at that moment I must've thought that 'bantering' was a good word and I don't know why I never bothered to research for an alternative hahaha! But thank you for that comment and for thinking that this is a creative story! I hope you continue until the very last chapter!

A MAJOR SHOUTOUT TO ALL WHO ARE READING THIS RIGHT NOW. I CAN'T EXPRESS ENOUGH HOW HAPPY I AM THAT YOU LOVED THIS STORY AND THAT YOU CONTINUE TO SUPPORT IT! FEEL FREE TO LEAVE ME A PRIVATE MESSAGE OR A REVIEW ANY TIME. I'VE GONE THROUGH A FEW OF YOUR STORIES ALREADY AND YOU GUYS ARE SO TALENTED! NEVER LOSE THAT SPARK AND CREATIVITY AND CONTINUE SPREADING LOVE AND POSITIVITY. THE WORLD NEEDS EVEN JUST THE SMALLEST PIECE OF IT!

WITH LOVE,

STEPHANIE M. (SAOIRSECHASE)