A/N: Back to camp! Hope you all enjoy this chapter. Thank you so much to Harmony and 27gutzwillriley for reviewing, rest assured that I do a happy dance every time you do :) See you all next week! ~ Emma

Annabeth yawned, stretching her arms. It wasn't that she was tired—just that the black and purple patterns on the outside of the Morpheus cabin swirled and shifted in a way that made it hard to stay awake. Nathan was supposed to meet her at breakfast, but as Morpheus kids so often did, he'd overslept. Annabeth banged repeatedly on the door. Eventually it swung open to reveal a very sleepy Nathan, hair pointing at all angles.

"No, for the last time, I can't take away the nightmares Bahram sends you." His eyes clearly hadn't adjusted to the sun. He blinked and squinted, raising a hand to shield his face.

"That's not why I'm here and you know it." She folded her arms, half tempted to dump the contents of her water bottle on his head.

"Can't we talk at a more reasonable hour?" He dragged a hand over his face.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. They had arrived late the previous night, after Percy's swim competition, and she had been tempted to find the son of Morpheus then. Instead, she had patiently waited till morning and she was not going to wait any longer. "It's ten am."

He sighed. "I'll take that as a no."

"Have you managed to make contact with your Dad or not?" she asked, tapping her finger against her arm as her agitation rose.

"I have. Last night actually." He combed his fingers through his white-blond hair, but it did nothing to fix the mess. "Took me ages to find him in my dreamscape."

Annabeth frowned. "Dreamscape?"

"Yeah everyone has one. It's like the labyrinth, but each room holds a different dream or nightmare that you've either had or could have. Moroheus is somewhere in everyone's dreamscape, but only his children can navigate it. Well, as far as I'm aware." Nathan scratched his head and Annabeth wondered if she'd ever seen him fully awake. "We can also navigate other peoples dreamscapes. So, for example, if you were to wake me up in the morning ever again, I'd find a really bad nightmare of spiders and make you have it every night for a week."

Annabeth made a mental note to put Nathan on her team for capture the flag next time. She always underestimated the smaller cabin's powers and never made enough use of them. What Nathan was describing sounded deadly and, to Annabeth, deadly was good. Despite his threat.

"Either way, I'm pretty sure he's been avoiding me, but I finally managed to track him down." Nathan shrugged casually. She couldn't tell if he was enjoying dragging this out or if he was simply too tired to realise. "He didn't want to tell me at first, said he wanted to stay out of it. Once I'd explained how Bahram had been threatening us he eased up a bit. Turns out Bahrams mom has been a pretty big secret up till now-"

Annabeth snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Nathan, I know. Tell me who it is."

"Jeez, alright." He rubbed the back of his neck taking an infuriating pause. "Bahrams mother is Styx."

"Styx?" Annabeth's mouth hung open. Eris, the goddess of strife and discord, had been her top guess. Never would she have supposed it could be Styx. "How did that match happen?"

"I know, right." Why was gossip the only thing that perked Nathan up? "God of dreams and the oceanid who holds people to their oaths. She's also really, really old."

"I'm pretty sure the gods don't choose partners based on mortal standards. If you hadn't noticed, most of them are related anyway." She knew he didn't normally make it to classes, but his lack of knowledge really astounded her sometimes. "Besides, old makes her powerful. Really powerful."

"Which in turn, makes my brother powerful, I get it." He rubbed his eyes. "Can I go back to bed now?"

Her only response was to roll her eyes and walk off.

When the water cannot be called from the shore, the cloak of night will rise once more.

If Styx really was Bahrams mother, that would explain a lot. She was far more powerful than Morpheus and if she'd made him swear an oath not to kill their son, that could be why Morpheus just put him to sleep. Still, it made what they were up against that much worse and that much more dangerous. At least they still had time, a commodity they were usually so short of. She just didn't know if it would be enough.

"Try picturing the ocean," Percy said. "Think of its deep blue colour, the way the waves rise and fall with white foam forming on the top. Try to drain from there, and into your hands. Good."

Emma felt the water start to accumulate against her palms as he spoke. Her eyes were closed as she faced him, both sat on the grass of the field. They usually trained in a discrete part of central park, so it was nice to train openly at camp.

"So, a hellhound took a bite out of your arm, but there's a really ugly Cyclops coming at you. How do you use it?" He asked.

She didn't hesitate to answer. "Heal myself with it and fight with my sword."

"Bounce it." He said and she forced the surface tension to become that of rubber, testing it against the ground. "Now make it hard as rock." She did as he asked.

Once she had gone through each thing he had taught her, she let the water drop and sighed. "Shouldn't we be focusing on fighting with swords?"

"Because of the prophecy?" Percy raised an eyebrow. "In an ideal world, we stop him from rising. In which case, water will always be at our disposal. In the case that he does, and we can't use the water from whatever lake he choses, then we need to make sure we can summon our own."

"And what if that doesn't work?" She asked.

"Well that's why you're training with Sherman this afternoon." He smirked at her, raising his sword.

Emma rolled her eyes. "If I have any strength left."

Instead of responding, Percy struck out with his blade. The sound of the metal colliding let out a loud clang, but Emma held her footing. They spared, neither giving an inch. She met each of his blows with an anticipation that grew each time they fought. After training two to three times a week with him, she was learning his fighting style and little he did surprised her anymore. He relied heavily on his instincts and incredible natural ability. The complacency it gave her was dangerous, and she knew it. Still, their sessions didn't become any less tiring. When he allowed her a water break, she dropped down into the grass and drank deeply.

"You're a quick learner. You're getting good." He sat down next to her.

"I'm getting good at preempting your moves, that doesn't mean I'm getting good." She wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Against him I don't stand a chance and we both know it."

"That's not true. You're good at reading me and working out what I'll do next. That's a skill." He looked at her with a pained expression. She could almost feel how hard he was trying not to sound patronising. "It's okay if you don't feel ready. We've still got time and you won't be alone against him anyway."

"No, I won't be against him at all if I 'die before the ritual ends.'" She took another swig of her water, wishing it were something stronger.

"You know, you have this fun little habit of not only thinking the worst, but saying it out loud too."

When she looked over at him his fists were clenched and there was a darkness in his eyes. Slowly, it faded and he ran his fingers through his hair, dropping his head. "I'm sorry, that wasn't fair."

"No, you're right." She pursed her lips together, trying to think of the right thing to say. "I haven't quite got used to separating my internal monologue from what I say out loud. I used to say nothing at all, but I think I've swung too far the other way. I'm sorry."

"You're scared and frustrated, just as anyone else would be in your position. No one thinks straight when they are. It's okay." He rested his hand affectionately on her shoulder and it surprised her how comforting it was.

"I've already messed things up between us once because I was scared. I don't want to do that again." The confession felt like it was drawn out of her, but she didn't mind.

He smiled softly at her. "I'm pretty sure there is nothing you could say or do that I couldn't forgive."

Emma felt her heart rising in her chest at the hope his words gave her. The closer they got, the more afraid she became. Their bond felt like one of glass and one wrong step from her could shatter it. She brushed away the thought before she could dwell on it. Her prior insistence that she was better off alone seemed like an age away. He was her family, even if it was via way of her father, and she needed him more than ever.

"Training going well?" Annabeth's voice caught their attention as she came into view.

"As always." Percy dusted himself off as he stood. "Everything alright?"

Annabeth nodded. "Yeah, but I've just talked to Nathan about Bahrams mom and I thought you'd want to hear this."

Emma felt her gut twist at the mention of his name. There hadn't been new information for a while. No dreams, no new attacks, nothing.

"So?" Pery raised an eyebrow at her. "Who is it?"

~l~l~

"Well don't you look like a ray of sunshine." Kit flashed her an Apollo-cabin smile that was more blinding than an actual ray of sunshine.

"Is that the title of your next big hit?" Emma took a seat across from him at the stone picnic table. "I'd like to see you fight Percy and retain your perpetual state of cheeriness."

"I'll pass." He winked at her before taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Should we get Lou from her cabin?" Rachel said, taking a sip of her drink. "I haven't seen her since breakfast."

"I wouldn't worry." Emma smiled to herself. "I gave her the rest of that book series, so I doubt we'll be seeing much of her."

"Here she is." Nyssa inclined her head, gesturing to somewhere over Emma's shoulder.

Emma turned around to see Lou plodding over, book in hand, with her long black hair tied back. She felt a swell of pride and laughed. Maybe they weren't so different.

Lou sat down without a word or a plate of food, her eyes never leaving the page.

"Good afternoon to you too, Lou." Rachel stared at her until Lou lowered the book.

She looked at Emma pointedly with a smirk. "I'll only stop reading if you have some good stories."

Emma shrugged. "What do you want? The time I went bowling, but ended up shutting the place down because it was run by Laestrygonians, or the weekend after when I went to a halloween party?"

Lou's jaw could have hit the table it hung down so low. "What magic did you use to get a life so fast?"

"Guess I took your advice." The corners of Emma's mouth twitched up into a smile.

"Why didn't you mention this earlier?" Lou pressed, gesturing wildly with her hands.

"We were talking about the books." Emma laughed nervously, unsure how offended Lou was. "I never have anyone to talk about books with."

"Well I'm assuming one of these occasions is when things progressed with Mr just-a-friend, so spill. I need more song material." Kit grinned wickedly at her. He'd been so late to breakfast she'd barely had time to tell him about her and Rory, let alone how they came to be.

Everyone at the table looked at her expectantly, though none seemed to be confused at his words. "Kit, how much have you told everyone about that?"

"Only everything." He shrugged. "There are no secrets at camp."

Emma sighed. "Oh gods, here we go. Well, I talked myself out of it at first."

She recounted the events of the past two weeks as they listened intently. She was sure Kit would have done a much better version via song, but they'd have to wait for that. She found it strange that they actually wanted to hear about her life, that somebody else cared enough to listen.

Lou was practically on the edge of her seat. "Your life is officially interesting."

Emma's eyes grew wide at the praise. "Wow. I didn't think I could get that classification without going to a school dance."

"But you will, right?" Lou pinched Emma lightly.

"Ow. Yes, alright." She rubbed her arm as she shot Lou a glare.

"You're so lucky. I wish I could go to a dance." Lou pouted as she stole one of Emma's chips.

"We could always try and sneak in as the live band." Kit drummed his fingers on the table. "I've polished off my setlist and it's ready to go. I tried some of it out at the campfire last night, but someone arrived too late to see it."

"Hey, you know I'm sad I missed it." Emma's shoulders slouched. "I loved the campfire last time I was here."

Kit shook his head. "Well maybe that's because you don't spend enough time using your beautiful voice. Please tell me you've joined a choir, it's not like you do a lot outside of taking down monster business' and going to parties."

The humour in his voice made his intentions clear, but the words were jarring to her. All she could hear was her stepfather going on about all the extra curricular his nephews do and how she did none. She hated the shame that fell over her, hated that his voice was still in her head when he wasn't there. She tried to play it off and hoped no one noticed.

"Do you guys want to write out the list of things you want me to do before I come back, or should I just remember it?" Emma asked.

"I think you're doing just fine." Rachel smiled warmly, leaning her body toward Nyssa's. Emma couldn't help but smile back. She loved seeing them together. They put each other at ease, the same way Rory did for her. She could only hope she had the same effect on him.

"No." Lou tapped her chin. "I think we should go with the list."