By the time we had all arrived back at the infirmary, the girl was up and moving. We all rushed in to find her sitting cross-legged on the bed, talking with Will. No longer was she frail and sickly looking. She seemed awake and alert. As we all stumbled in, Nico and Piper stood from where they had been sitting on the other side of the room.

"What's going on?" I asked under my breath.

Nico and Piper glanced at each other.

"We're not sure," Piper replied slowly, "Will's just checking her out now."

We all looked to Will. He was still talking to the girl. He was holding a handful of paint swatches and had a stethoscope around his neck.

"And this?" he asked, holding up the red palate.

"That is the colour red," the girl replied formally.

"And this one," Will asked again, this time holding up a yellow card.

"That's the colour yellow, duh," the girl sniped, exasperation on her face, "You've already asked me these, like, a thousand times. I feel fine."

Will turned back to us and shrugged. We all gestured frantically for him to come over.

"What?" he asked, looking at all our faces.

"What happened?" Jason asked, "Is she good?"

Will's face conveyed his amazement.

"Look's like it," he replied, "Her eyes are completely fine now. The only condition she has is a bad case of sarcasm, and low melanin levels, which can be expected."

We all looked at each other, thinking.

"Annabeth?" Hazel asked, "What do you think?"

I thought it over. That girl had had really underdeveloped eyes just last night, and now they were fine?

"Nico did anything happen last night? Anything that might have fixed her eyes?" I asked.

"Nothing," he answered, shaking his head.

"This smells kind of...fishy," Percy added, and we all groaned at his pun.

"As much as I hate that pun, I agree," added Frank, "This is a bit odd. Yesterday her eyes were ten times worse. They can't just fix themselves instantly like that."

"Anyone gonna bother to ask me what happened?" came a voice.

We all glance at Nisha as she stood and walked over.

"Well?" she questioned impatiently.

"Yeah."

"Yeah, sure, okay."

"I guess so."

"Good," Nisha replied, " 'bout time. Magic. I used it to fix my eyes."

Right, because in a demigod camp anything can be fixed by magic.

"Why were your eyes that underdeveloped in the first place?" Nico asked.

She fixed him with a glare. She really didn't seem to like Nico.

"Because I didn't see the sun much where I lived," she seethed.

"Okay, okay," I interrupted before one of them started throwing punches, "Nisha, how did you get that much magic?"

She shrugged.

"Parents," she answered slowly, as if I was illiterate, "I'm a daughter of Hecate. You know, the goddess of magic."

I sighed quietly. The levels of sass in this girl were nearly as bad as a tired Percy.

"Well," Percy said, stepping forward, "Now that your eyes are fine...welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

We all looked incredulously at Percy. Had he just decided she was safe, or what? He must have noticed our looks, because he gestured at the girl.

"She's fine," he said defensively, "Her eyes are fixed. What's the problem?"

"Percy, she could be dangerous," explained Jason.

"What, are we gonna turn her away? When do we ever turn away a demigod, huh?"

"Percy, her levels of magic…"

"Guys seriously! She's not even one of the Big Three! Any of us could kill all of you with a flick of the wrist, and you're not kicking us out."

That stilled everyone. I could see everyone elses gears turning. Percy had made a good point. But I could only think of the side of Percy I had seen in Tartarus. The way he had nearly killed Akhlys… How easily he could have broken away, his tether snapped. It was terrifying to think how that could happen again. I shook myself out of it. This was Percy I was talking about here. My Percy. He would never let that happen. Never again.

"Alright," I said, breaking the silence, "If Percy thinks she's fine, I say let her in."

Percy smiled gratefully at me. Everyone looked uncomfortable, but mumbled their agreements. Nisha grinned.

"Great," she gushed, "I'll be on my way then."

She walked past us grinning and slipped out the infirmary door.

"We should have taken her to Chiron," Nico told us forcefully, "He wanted to see her when she woke up, didn't he?"

"Drop it, Nico," Percy said in a monotone.

We all were taken aback with his tone. Nico glared at him.

"Why are you so defensive of this girl, Percy," asked Nico, voicing the question we were all silently harbouring, "Do you know something we don't?"

Percy's face grew stormy. I laid a hand on his arm. His muscles tensed under the skin, and I hoped for everyone's safety that we could calm him down. I didn't know what was up with him.

"Maybe you shouldn't go around saying that we're the ones keeping secrets. Who knew about the Roman camp and didn't think to tell us, huh?"

"I-I… How about the fact that maybe, just maybe my sister was at that same bloody camp, and maybe I wanted to keep her safe!"

"Oh, yeah. The exact same sister that you brought back from the dead! As if you would do that for the rest of us!"

"That's enough, I think that maybe we should all just take a big deep breath." Piper sliced through the tension so easily it could have been butter. With that one simple command the room started to cool down, the anger and fury washing away.

"Percy," Piper continued, "It was not just your decision to let Nisha in. Nico was right, she could still easily be dangerous to us. What you said wasn't nice. Apologise to Nico and to Hazel."

For a couple seconds, I thought he wouldn't. He was still tense and glared around the room. He suddenly relaxed, head drooping.

"I'm so sorry Hazel," he said softly, "I'm sorry Neeks. I just … with Gaia ... the deaths … I just,"

Percy ran out of words, but everyone understood what he was trying to say. He felt responsible for all the deaths caused by Gaia. Nico nodded stiffly, accepting Percy's apology. I could tell though, by his posture, he had not forgotten what Percy had said. I hoped Percy didn't just create a rift between the two of them. We all needed each other, now more than ever. We all unconsciously looked to the doors, where Nisha had left.

"Frank and I will go get Chiron," Jason announced, "We'll tell him what's happened."

Jason gestured at Frank and they both left, leaving an awkward silence.

"Well," I said in an overly cheery voice, "Percy and I are going to go to the lake."

I gave his arm a tug and we started towards the door. I glanced behind me. Piper and Hazel were both giving me variations of good luck, Will was watching Percy and Nico … Nico was staring at the wall. His expression was fragmented, switching between devastation and fury. I thought back on what Percy had said to him, about not bringing us back if we had died. After all these deaths, that had probably hit a really tender spot. Percy and I exited the door and started walking to the lake, my arm stiff and my pace fast.

"Annie," Percy started, coming to a halt, "What's wrong."

"You," I replied, "What was that?"

"I don't know … it just kinda came out."

"That was horrible Percy. You think Nico doesn't think about bringing people back every dark night? You made it sound like he was doing something wrong. As if it was an unspeakable act. As if he wouldn't do the same for us. That was awful!"

"Annie, I swear," Percy implored, distress in his tone, "I didn't mean that. I wasn't thinking straight. I … I don't know what that was. I'm sorry."

"And Nisha? What was all that about?"

"I don't know."

An angry silence fell. I tapped my foot as I pondered what Percy had said. It just didn't seem like him, at all. I understand that the deaths may have had a negative effect on him but this was a touch excessive.

"Annie," Percy said softly, and I turned towards him, surprised to see an immense sadness on his face, "I was like Nisha once. I was new and I was scared and I was powerful. I may have tried to hide it with sarcasm, but when I first arrived here I was so afraid that you guys wouldn't accept me, that I would have nowhere else to go. I don't ever want a demigod to feel like that again. I was a rash and a blockhead, but I guess I recognised what she was going through, you know?"

He raised his sea-green eyes to mine and I saw a true sadness in them. The tension in my body fled, until there was just a niggling feeling left in my gut. Percy was fine. He was just worried and strained and scared. I stepped forward and kissed him. He pulled me in tight. I breathed a sigh of relief. Still my Percy. Everything was fine.