A/N: Thank you so much Guest, KoalaLover-ABC-123, and PicturePerfectMe for your awesome reviews!

"Do you have to go to camp, Annie?" Bobby questioned one night at the dinner table. Thirteen-year old Annie refused to let anyone call her "Annie" anymore. It annoyed her, she said, or something like that. Which was precisely why Bobby did it.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Matthew. "You should stay here! It'll be fun!"

Frederick wondered if Helen thought it would be fun, too. He decided she might have a different opinion, if she were there, instead of at whatever school meeting she was at. Helen might say it would be "interesting." Although Annabeth didn't hate Helen quite so much anymore, the two still weren't on good terms. And Annabeth still held more than a few grudges against her stepmother.

Annabeth shook her head, looking indifferent. "I have to go to Camp," she repeated, not looking them in the eyes.

"Can you come visit us, at least?" Bobby persisted.

"Please?" said Matthew.

"Not really," Annabeth muttered, taking a long drink of water.

"Why not?" Matthew asked.

"Because it's not safe," Annabeth told the twins. She frowned."Okay?"

"Why?" Bobby asked.

"Because of monsters," Annabeth said. Matthew fidgeted in his seat. "They want to kill me,"

"Annabeth," Frederick said quietly. Matthew and Bobby turned away from their food and looked up at him innocently. Please Annie, they're so young. Give them a few more years without knowing.

"Well, it's true!" Annabeth exclaimed. "I mean, they've been here before when the monsters came!"

"My teacher said monsters aren't real," Matthew interrupted. Annabeth looked at Frederick and crossed her arms.

Make them stop, she mouthed. He looked down and continued eating his crunchy pasta. Not that crunchy was part of the recipe, but Dr. Chase wasn't exactly an expert chef. Most of the time he forgot to eat, unless Helen or Annabeth reminded him.

"Well, your teacher is wrong," Annabeth said to Matthew. She crossed her arms. Her brothers' eyes widened.

"I can protect you," Bobby promised.

But wasn't that what Frederick had said? When he had this same conversation with Annabeth, only a few days ago?

"Me too," said Matthew. "I'm going to take karate!" he cried. "Well, if Mommy lets me," he added.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Annabeth said, standing up and pushing in her chair. She placed her untouched plate of pasta in the sink. "You know what? I just remembered I have a test I need to study for."

"A test?" Bobby cried, grabbing Annabeth's hand. "But it's Friday? Can't you study tomorrow?"

"Nope," Annabeth said, prying the six-year old's small fingers from her arm. "I have to keep my grades up,"

"But you already know everything!" Bobby protested.

"Yeah," said Matthew.

Annabeth couldn't resist. "Well, true," she said. "But I should probably still study, right? The other kids might feel bad if they all fail and I get a hundred without studying,"
"Yeah, I guess," Bobby sighed. He went and sat back down in his seat, looking melancholy. Annabeth walked upstairs, to her room.

"How come Annabeth never plays with us?" Bobby sighed, picking at his food. "It's like she doesn't care about us,"

"It's because she thinks she's cool," Matthew announced, sitting down. "Annabeth thinks she's so awesome because she reads magazines on how to be cool,"

"She does?" Frederick questioned. The twins nodded eagerly. This was news to him. The only magazines he had ever seen Annabeth read were Architectural Digest and the ones Johns Hopkins sent.

"But we're cooler," Matthew said.

"Yeah," Bobby agreed. "'Cause we're friends with Jake D,"

"And his Mom's cousin is famous!" Matthew cried.

He was leaning in his chair in a way so that his feet weren't touching the ground, along with the the front two legs of the chair. Frederick was about to tell him to sit the right way.

Crash.

Too late.

"Annabeth," Frederick knocked on the door of his daughter's room.

"I'm studying," came the reply.

"Well, can I come in?" he asked quietly, albeit a little impatiently.

"Sure," Annabeth said.

He opened the door.

Annabeth sat on her bed, propped up by a few pillows. She held a book in her arms, presumably whatever she was studying. "Yes, Dad?" she asked.

"Well," Frederick said, knotting his hands together. The conversation at dinner had got him thinking. "I was thinking about… things, and well," he sighed. "The twins are right. You should stay with us for the summer,"
"Dad," Annabeth sighed, glancing up. She swung her feet around to the other side of the bed. "We just had this conversation a few days ago. Besides, this was the deal: I go to Camp for two and a half months in the summer, and I stay with you the rest of the year. That's more than fair! Also," she added. "I need to keep up with my training. And I like being able to feel safe for some of my life. You of all people should know that!"

How he did.

"I can protect you!" He blurted out, like a small child, making a promise he knew he couldn't keep.

"Dad," Annabeth said. "You've already told me that," She stood up next to him- she was getting so tall, almost taller than he was- and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know you can protect me, okay?" She looked directly into his eyes. He was losing the argument. Again. "Come on, Dad. It's only for two months, okay? Besides, you went to that conference thing in Maryland for, like, a week,"

"That was only a week," he protested, but he knew Annabeth had already won.

"Come on, Dad," she said, her focus entirely on him. "What are you so afraid of? Camp is perfectly safe, I promise. Nothing is going to hurt me,"

"That you won't come back," he said, his voice cracking on the last word. "That you'll decide it's better there, because it's so much safer, and you don't have to worry for your life every second. Because the people there didn't fail you, like I did," He was full-out crying now, in front of his thirteen year-old daughter. She shouldn't have to see him like that. Like this. "I failed you. I failed my little girl,"

"Dad," Annabeth pleaded. "Don't do this to yourself. I'm going to come back, okay? I promise,"

But promises were hollow and didn't last. He knew that all too well.

A/N: So how did I do? Please tell me in your review!