Once I tried talking to Percy about Cupid's arrows and that whole fiasco. We were sitting in the bunk room up on the top bunk letting our legs dangle down off the side of the bed- I admit it was an unusual place, but then again once you've spent enough time stuck in the same place- this ship- you find yourself looking for odd places and perspectives just so it seems new. For instance, that day, Percy and I had tried out just about every bunk in the room before deciding we liked that one best. "You think I was shot?" Percy asked me letting his head fall back against the mattress. I nodded my head, wishing it wasn't so. Percy shrugged it off, "I probably was- it's not like it matters."

"Like it matters? Of course it matters- that means you could have fallen in love with just about anyone!" I whined.

"Yeah, Wise Girl, I don't think those arrows work very well," Percy responded.

"Why's that?"

Percy sat up and leaned in so his nose was only an inch or two from mine, "If they worked I doubt I could tell you that you look absolutely hideous today!" I scrunched my nose at him, and he said, "I'm only kidding." He kissed me quickly. "I still love you- and it's not because of some arrow."

"How do you know that?" I pestered a little worried about his answer.

"I don't know… it's not like I suddenly get the urge to just come in a sweep you off your feet or write you poems and stuff."

"You, writing poems?" I giggled.

"I know- that would be a strange day," he laughed. "And no offense, but it's not like I see you as some Helen of Troy or something- you're just Annabeth, my best friend and awesome girlfriend, Annabeth."

"Aww, thanks, Seaweed Brain." I considered what he said, concluding that the arrows probably did work or the affects wore off or something. Although his words weren't exactly flattering, at least they were genuine.

We spent the rest of the week flying over the Mediterranean Sea, reaching Greece by the end of the week. We circled around over the Aegean Sea for a day or two trying to decide where we'd have to go.

"Juno said we'd have to go to Greece, go to the ancient battle grounds, and only hope that the gods will help us from there," Jason declared. Hazel was already jotting down a few notes on things we might need. "It's no secret that there will be giants, so we'd better be prepared."

"Where are the ancient battle grounds? Did Juno tell you?" I wondered.

"No, she didn't say," Jason scratched his head trying to remember.

"Would they be referring to the Trojan War? I don't know Greek history that well..." Hazel suggested.

"No, it couldn't be the Trojan War- that was fought in Troy, which it now part of Turkey, not Greece," I pointed out.

"Well if that's not it, what other important battles were there?" Jason searched.

"What about the battle where Greece fell to Rome?" Piper suggested. "Back when we came across Midas, that fact seemed to be pretty important."

"Good thinking, Pipes!" Jason cheered. "Hazel, what battle was that?"

"Ummm… Was it in Athens?" Hazel wondered. "I forget."

"No, it wasn't Athens- it was at Corinth- The battle of Corinth," I corrected. "You should know your history, Hazel."

Hazel stuck her tongue out at me. "I could care less."

"We're going to Corinth then?" Jason asked.

"We're going to Corinth," Hazel concluded. "But we're going to need armor and weapons- for all we know we're walking into a battle."

"Against who?" Percy asked- he had missed a couple things and was still getting filled in.

"Gods only know, giants- definitely, probably also whoever Gaea released from the Doors of Death- we already beat Arachne, Cetus, and Python, I can hardly guess you else we'll find. Plus there's the venti, too," I answered.

"Add Medea and Midas to that list too," Jason mentioned.

"Oh, and also, what's-his-name? Luke, too," Piper thought.

"Luke? You think he'll be there?" I gasped. "He won't he's on our side."

"Annabeth, he just went missing from Camp Half-Blood. And didn't he say that Gaea brought him back- that it's all because of her that he's alive again?" Jason took Piper's side.

"Yeah, but he's not going to turn on me again- I know him," I told them.

"You sure about that, Annabeth?" Percy asked.

"Positive, Seaweed Brain," I said carefully. "Leo! How long's it going to take to get to Corinth?"

"We can get there tonight if we're lucky, is that for sure that we need to go there?" Leo asked.

"For now, definitely," I affirmed."What do we have for armor?"

"Only what you've brought for yourselves," Leo responded.

"What?" Piper panicked.

"Yeah, we don't have armor," Jason replied.

"Better get prayin' then," Hazel snickered. "Maybe Olympus will open up?"

That night, Leo parked the boat outside Corinth- he left it floating over a little farm outside the city. Me, Hazel, and Bobby figured out a way to shape the Mist well enough to hide the flying, flaming, ship for a while. With Leo's help, we climbed out of the ship, first time in weeks. Land! Oh, thank gods. It had been an incredibly long week kooked up on the ship.

Before Leo left the ship, he pulled a bag out from beneath the deck and lugged it down the ladder to the ground. "Before I forget- I made you guys something." He pulled the bag open, "I had some extra time while you guys were away rescuing Percy and Annabeth- hope you like it." Leo pulled out bronze armor- shoulder pads, breastplates, helmets.

"Whoa…" Piper's jaw dropped when Leo handed her a helmet- "Leo this is incredible!"

"It was no trouble, Piper," Leo handed Jason the next suit of armor.

"Thanks, man!" Jason smiled, gladly accepting the gift.

"Like I said, it was no trouble- once I'd made the mold for all this stuff it was easy. Originally, I was only making some new armor for Thalia, but I got a little carried away," Leo explained.

"You actually made something for Thalia?" I wondered.

"I'm not going to lie- that's a little weird, Leo," Jason whispered to him.

"What? Roses seemed like a bad idea- since she's a hunter," Leo responded. Ari burst out laughing, incredibly amused.

Jason, Piper, and Leo strapped on their armor. "That's great for you guys, but what about the rest of us?" I thought. I had nothing. "Never mind- I'll figure it out. I always do."

By the time I'd said just that much, I found out I was too late. An arrow came flying through the air, whooshing past me, hitting Percy in the gut. Percy groaned from the force of the arrow, but fortunately for him- the arrow couldn't pierce his skin. "What was that?" I glanced around searching for its source. We were in the middle of a field – there was an orchard not too far and a stream just passed that, by the looks of it, we were the only ones here. "What the Hades?"

We all gathered closely, searching for the shooter, trying not to have our backs turned in any one direction. Nico panicked, "Did that tree just move?"

"No, stupid, trees don't move," Ari answered.

"I know that, but I swear- it just moved- look! There, there it is again!" Nico shouted. Then another arrow shot just over our heads- it hit the side of the Argo II and disintegrated to ashes in seconds due to the heat of the ship.

"Alright, maybe it did move," Ari muttered.

Even in the dark we could see the shooter now- it was just a kid. Wait… who am I kidding, it is never just a kid. The kid had stepped from the orchard.

"Who are you?" Piper shouted from beneath her new helmet. She was the best of us to speak- Piper was persuasive. She clutched her dagger, down at her side, trying her best not to pose as a threat. Jason tried to step up by her side, but she shoved him back. Piper could stand up for herself.

The kid was younger than us, but not by too much. He wore muddy jeans and leather armor over his shoulders, arms, and chest. Between his hair and his armor, his appearance reminded me a little of tree bark. He spoke: "We are the Children of the Earth- the demigods you, westerners, never cared about- the sons and daughters of tree nymphs and river gods. Once Gaea wakes up, she won't want you- you 'heroes of Olympus', she'll have us, the new heroes for the new age," the kid said proudly. "We were told all of you would come and try and screw things up for us. We came to stop it. We've come to kill you."

I feel like I've heard that said one too many times, yet somehow, I'm still in one piece. I gripped my knife, still in its sheath. Suddenly, from behind the kid, shapes began to move in the orchard, out from behind the rows of trees.

"Brace yourselves," Percy muttered to our tiny army.

The 'Children of the Earth' came running, swords drawn and prepared to fight- they had easily outnumbered us. My knife clashed against the first sword it met. It was too dark to distinguish any of the enemies- they all looked about the same, all wearing similar armor. They didn't fight very well as after only a few blocks and a couple tough blows, they fell and another came to take their place. The battle waged on. Arrows flew and swords clashed. From the corner of my eye, I saw Percy use Riptide to knock the sword from an enemies hands. The demigod ran off after, leaving his sword behind. I noticed in the fighting, none of us were fighting to kill- perhaps the 'Children of the Earth' were, but they obviously lacked the same training we had had.

When it seemed that we were pulling through and winning the fight, the enemies fled drawing their lines back behind the stream. We chased after to find that they had reached the stream that ran through the orchard. One of the demigods stood ankle-deep in the water. She was just a little girl. She scowled at us and all the sudden the water rose up around her, gleaming in the light of the moon. She hissed and a tidal wave of spring water rushed at us, knocking me and just about everyone else off our feet. Was that even possible? I wondered. This girl, whoever she was couldn't have been a child of Poseidon. A river god perhaps? What the heck? The children of marginal gods like that weren't supposed to be powerful!

Percy had stayed his ground- the tidal wave didn't have an effect on him. He walked forward coming to the enemy lines. The little girl who sent the tidal wave was now on her knees in the stream, breathing heavily. Moving the water like that had taken quite a toll on her- it must have been a last ditch effort. That is more like it. The girl cowered as Percy approached.

"We don't need to fight," Percy reasoned. "So, please, quit while you're behind and just leave us be."

Another boy stepped forward- I couldn't tell if it was the same one from earlier or not. "Why quit now? And who says we're behind?" the boy helped the girl in the stream to her feet while the enemies parted enough to show that they had Ari and Hazel bound and gagged. They both squealed and struggled with their bindings. Darn it! So close.

"Let them go!" Nico shouted.

"Why quit now?" the kid repeated. The enemy demigods fled with Hazel and Ari with them. The two girls kicked, trying to force a getaway, but couldn't. The rest of us rushed after them.

"Hey get back here!" Nico argued. But they had disappeared into the shadows of the orchard and were gone quickly after that. We chased after in the direction they fled continuing even after they had disappeared from sight.

As we ran, Percy stumbled, "Whoa!" he toppled to the ground.

"Percy!" I was the first to notice and went to help him to his feet. The others had continued on after. "I didn't think a tree root would lead to your demise," I teased.

Percy blinked, looking down at the dark ground. "I didn't trip on a tree root- look!"

I looked down. My helmet! It was the helmet I'd received at Legion Camp. But that wasn't all that was there. There was armor, Percy's Nemean Lion cloak, and shields – there were also a few items I assumed must have belonged to the Romans, such as a decorated helmet with flowers carved into its sides- Reyna's, I'd assume. The pile of equipment was gathered at the foot of one tree.

"Looks like Olympus has opened up," Percy muttered pointing to the tree.

"What…?" my question stopped there- carved on the tree was a Caduceus.

"Shoot! We've lost them!" Bobby grumbled.

"No, they couldn't have gotten far-" Reyna responded.

"No time for that-" I said quickly, catching up with them. "Olympus has opened- we have to prepare to fight."

"But they might try to kill Ari!" Nico fought back. Nico obviously took death very seriously- he wasn't about to let her die.

"They won't, not if we fight Gaea and win-" Percy replied.

"But what if we don't win?" Reyna nagged.

"If we don't win, then everyone's doomed anyway," I answered.

"To storm or fire the world must fall," Jason recited in agreement. He knew the prophesy.

"Real optimistic, Jason," Piper told him.

"I can't do this…" Nico exhaled. "I'm going after them."

"Hazel's gone- I'd better go to," Gwendolyn spoke up. I was actually a little surprised- I guess she and Hazel actually were friends.

"Oh, and me too!" Dakota said immediately looking to Gwendolyn, probably caring less about what happened to Hazel and Ari and more about staying with Gwendolyn.

"No! You can't!" I argued knowing already they wouldn't listen. Nico shot me one last sarcastic glare as though to say and you think that will stop me? He turned, grabbing hold of Dakota and Gwendolyn and vanished in the shadows of the trees.

Hope you like it, please write a review. Ideas are welcomed. Gratias Ago!

Also again, I would like to ask opinions on killing off a character. If so, who?