ANNABETH

"What in the Gods' green Earth did those poor eggs do to you?" Percy said with a soft smile, before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek and sitting down beside me.

Losing my train of thought, I looked down at my plate and noticed my sunny-side-up looked more like scrambled eggs from absentmindedly picking at them for the better part of the last half hour. I dropped my fork in defeat with a small sigh before mumbling a sarcastic sorry. I had barely managed to eat more than a few bites, meanwhile Percy was on his second breakfast plate. This time he had a stack of waffles dripping in Maple syrup and chocolate chips on his plate, as opposed to the eggs and bacon he'd grabbed the first time around. I looked at him, raising my brow slightly. Percy had already shoved half a waffle in his mouth, his cheeks puffy from the food.

"I can't believe you're actually going to eat all of that." I mumbled, slightly disgusted (but in a loving way) at my boyfriend's absurd table manners. He swallowed the food with a gulp, before looking at me.

"I'm a growing boy. Let me be." He said plainly, his green eyes focusing once more on the waffles. I gave him a small smile, before shifting my gaze back towards the camp's entrance. "-Beside, we have kitchen duty later, which is ridiculously boring and I hate it, so I might as well bury myself in all of the food I will spend most of my afternoon doing inventory on. I still can't believe you volunteered to do that with me." He continued, before shoving another slice in his mouth.

"That's because last time you had to do inventory you flooded the dinning hall and now no one wants to be stuck on kitchen duties with you." I responded, swaying my hand in a dismissive motion. Percy rolled his eyes at me.

"Pshhh, Tomato, tomato. That Hermes' kid had it coming, he kept rearranging all of the soup cans and making me lose count. No one should ever make me do math. Besides, I bet I can find something to do in a pantry for hours on end with my new partner." He shrugged, smirking at her as he spoke.

I shifted my gaze towards him, letting myself look at him for a second. Even though we'd been together for three years already, I still felt nervous whenever he flirted in public, even if I secretly liked that it meant he was so publicly mine. He was surprisingly tanner than I was, despite both of us spending the same time outside. His dark hair was a bit overgrown, the longest pieces in the front reaching his dark, bushy brows. I could see the small grey streak peak through the rest of his jet-black hair, as the wind hit his face. I didn't want to worry him, but I wondered if I should tell him about the exceeding realism with which my dream kept appearing each night. Before I could decide, Percy spoke again interrupting my train of thought, his eyes looking into mine tentatively.

"You had that dream again, didn't you?" He asked in a hush tone, shooting quick, friendly glances at the other campers as they passed by. A group of younger girls giggled and batted their eyelashes annoyingly as they walked past us, and Percy gave them an uncomfortable smile.

"Don't encourage them!" I said, rolling my eyes at him, curling a blonde strand with my fingers.

"Jealous?" He said smugly, before adding, "Don't avoid my question."

"No, and I'm not avoiding your question, I just don't have anything new to say. It's always the same, it always ends the same." I bit down on my lip before continuing. "I can't make sense of it, and it's getting… It feels more realistic." I forced myself to look away from him, and shook my head slightly.

Choosing my words carefully, I spoke in a hushed tone. "I'm scared that what I'm seeing is related to something bigger." Percy remained quiet for a moment, the mischief slowly being replaced with the stoic seriousness he'd developed during their toughest battles.

"You think it could be another prophecy?" He asked, his shoulders tensing at the thought.

"I don't know. I thought about going to Rachel but, I don't know, it feels different somehow." I replied, resting my head on one hand, while anxiously tapping my fingers on the table with the other.

I couldn't truly explain why I hadn't already gone to Rachel or Chiron about the dreams, or why these felt so different from any prophecy or premonition she'd ever had before. Something about what happened in the house, about the girl felt inexplicably odd, like she was foreign and familiar all at once. At first I'd thought that perhaps it was because when I first saw her, she was so young, and that had reminded me of my own troubled past. But the girl wasn't running from anyone, and focusing back on those last few seconds, she hadn't seemed scared of being found out either. She was hiding, but only because she'd been curious about the discussion her parents were having, it didn't seem to extend beyond that. I also couldn't explain why, as the dream progressed, she'd been older, or what had happened in that house, or why I'd the cursing pain of a gunshot ripple through my body. A gunshot.

My eyes widened in realization and Percy stared at me.

"Oh, I know that look, you just thought of something." He said, raising his brow in a questioning look. I nodded slightly before meeting his eyes.

"A gunshot." I mumbled at him, but his face still had the same confused expression I had grown so accustomed to over the years. "I was shot, in the dream, I was shot. That's what always happens last, that's why I fade away, and that's also what the strange marks inside the house are. They are bullet holes. I got shot, but I don't know from where or by whom!" I said, rushing to get the words out.

This revelation didn't exactly make things clearer, in fact it was probable that it created more questions than it answered. My mind was racing, trying to connect the dots in what was beginning to resemble an episode of the Twilight Zone. Percy nodded and narrowed his eyes, pursing his lips together.

"Okay, so you were shot, and then you woke up, and- I'm sorry, I'm really not seeing how this clears anything up." He said, running his hand through his hair. I smiled slightly. Some things never change Seaweed Brain, I thought.

"It doesn't, not really, cause we still have no clue who those people are, or why they are being shot at." I said, shaking my head, wondering what puzzle pieces I was missing.

"Yeah, running around with AK-47s doesn't strike me as the most monsterly thing in the world, but then again maybe after a millennium they finally figured they would catch up with the times in ways to kill us." Percy said sarcastically, with an overdramatic shrug.

"Seaweed Brain, can you focus?" I asked impatiently and he let out an exasperated sigh.

"I am focusing, Wise Girl!' He exclaimed, throwing his hands up. "I'm just saying, when have you ever seen medusa carry a shotgun? So, unless you have another explanation, I don't think it was monsters. Are you sure these were demigods?'

"I know, I know it doesn't make any sense. I'm aware of that fact, I'm just trying to piece it together!" I said, finally giving into my frustration and burying my head in my arms.

This wasn't supposed to happen, the summer wasn't supposed to go like this. We weren't supposed to be stressing about the possibility that a pack of 2nd amendment-loving monsters were coming to kill us, or about a new prophecy emerging, or about any of it. I felt Percy's arm wrap around my waist and pull me towards his chest, his other hand softly soothing my blonde curls. The gesture was so simple, yet it made my next breath come a bit more easily.

"You know we'll figure it out, right? But we can't stress about this now. It could mean a million different things, and I know, given our track record, it could be a worst-case scenario type of thing, but it could also be nothing. Just a bad dream that your brain made up and that's it." He said reassuringly, as he looked at me, his bright green eyes meeting my grey ones.

I inhaled deeply, before letting the air out slowly. I didn't know why I felt so insecure, I was usually the one calming him down in the middle of a crisis, but something inside me couldn't help but feel as if the world was coming undone while I sat in the sunshine, watching my boyfriend eat waffles like a famished Victorian child. I knew he was right, and he knew it too, because he was smiling unapologetically at her, like the one time he had beat her at scrabble by mistake.

"You're very annoying when you're right, you know." She said, leaving the comfort of his chest, and gathering her half full plate to throw in the trash.

"Oh you love it when I'm annoying. Besides, I know you are dying to get me alone in that pantry." He said triumphantly, as he rose from his seat. I arched a brow at his overconfident smile.

"You wanna bet?" I asked, as I dumped the tray's contents in the trash, and placed my hand on her hip. Percy's cheeks were red now, and I could tell I had the advantage. His lips were parted, but when he spoke his sudden burst of confidence had been replaced with half finished sentences.

"Oh, I, uh- um I was teasing, but, uh, now that you mention it," Before he could finish his sentence I grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him running towards the back area of the Dining Pavilion, where the doors to the kitchen led.

He was right, this summer was supposed to be about freedom and carelessness, and being teenagers, and I was going to do just that. As my heart raced with the running, I could feel my worries fade to the back of my mind, the summer air filling my lungs. Percy was running behind me, causing us both to crash into the greasy countertop from the momentum of the run, once we reached the pavilion's open floor plan. I scanned the room quickly, making sure no one else was there, and I saw Percy doing the same. Now, it was his turn to lead, and pull me behind him.

"Follow me, the pantry's here." He said in a quick, short gasp and I followed him towards the small door, hidden in the back of the kitchen.

Despite the relatively large size of the storage area, from the outside it seemed to be designed exclusively for dryads or extremely short campers. Percy bent down and opened the door as I tailed closely behind him. I found it funny how despite his embarrassment earlier, he had no problem taking charge and dragging her through a tiny door for privacy. As soon as I closed the door behind me, and stood up again, I noticed him looking at me with a mischievous smile playing on his lips. Without a moment's hesitation he walked over to me and crashed his lips into mine, his hands finding their place around my waist. His mouth was still sweet from the syrup, and I stood on my toes, kissing him back as I wrapped my arms around his neck. His lips were soft, yet they moved with urgency against mine, as his tongue slipped slowly into my mouth. I don't remember how we moved from the table to the countertops, or when he threw the collection of cans to the floor to make room for me, but I do remember the way his hands gripped my hips, pushing me onto the counter.

"So, this is what you had in mind?" I half whispered, half sighed, as his mouth made its way to my neck.

My hands were still tangled in his messy black hair. I bit my lower lip as a soft, hitched breath escaped me, and threw my head back, letting him explore every inch of the curvature of my neck with his lips. I could feel him grin against my skin, and I half-opened my eyes to find him looking at me before his mouth went back to working wonders right underneath my jaw. My hands ran through his back, quickly tugging at his shirt, and pulling it over his head. I could feel the contrast between his warm, smooth skin and the hard muscles he had gained from all the years of training. In that moment I decided desire was indeed the most effective remedy for stress.

"It sure beats counting cans." He mumbled back, an easy smile on his lips as he went back to kissing me.

I could feel the warmth of his breath on my skin, and despite the hot weather, it sent shivers down my spine. I trailed my fingers down his spine, teasingly, circling the spot where his Achilles heel used to be. He arched back, his lips parted as he let out a hitched breath, and grabbed my hips tighter. His eyes met mine, and I could tell we were both thinking the same thing. He opened his mouth to speak, but the words left mine before he could say anything.

"I love you." I whispered, trailing my hands back up his spin, and cupping his face softly.

A smile tugged at Percy's lips as his eyes stared into mine.

"I love you." He replied in a whisper as well, his cheeks turning pink.

I bit down on my lip to not let a small laugh escape me. Percy noticed, but he didn't pull back, instead he continued to kiss me, his tongue crashing into mine with the strength of a wave crashing into the shore. A small moan left my lips in surprise, but he didn't stop. Instead he deepened the kiss, pulling me closer towards him until our bodies were pushed against each other. His wandering hands rubbed against my thighs slowly, before moving to my hips and then my waist. They moved as if there wasn't enough of me for him to grab onto, as if he was afraid I would disappear. Time seemed to stop, as we continued to make out, sweat trailing down his back, whether from the heat of the day or the situation I couldn't tell. Maybe if we hadn't been so distracted by the taste of each other's lips, we would've heard the door open. Maybe if my hands hadn't been so busy reaching for his jeans, or if his hands hadn't been so busy tugging at my shirt, we would've stopped and gotten straightened out in the seconds between the turn of the handle and the opening of the door. Maybe if Percy wasn't such a damned good kisser, I would've had a better sense than to try to sleep with him in the middle of a pantry closet. But that's not what happened. Instead we were interrupted by the urgent exclamation of a camper I had maybe seen three times in my life.

"Hey- whoa, uh, I'm so, so sorry, I didn't mean to uh- interrupt!" the camper said nervously, his eyes going immediately to the floor and his cheeks burning bright red.

Percy immediately pulled away and turned away from the door, shoving his hands in his pocket before looking around nervously for his discarded t-shirt. I pressed my lips together in a tight line, trying hard not to let my embarrassment show as I straightened my t-shirt and tried to smooth my hair. I could see my vague reflection on a hung up silver platter behind Percy. My lips were flushed, my hair was sticking in every direction and it was exactly what it looked like. Percy seemed to regain enough of his composure to turn around and face the camper.

"Hey man, uh, we were just doing inventory, what's up?" He said scratching the back of his head. The cans were still scattered all over the floor, and every ounce of will power in me, to not do a facepalm and sink into the countertop until I disappeared. The camper refused to meet Percy's eyes as he responded.

"Um, sure. Chiron wants to see you guys. Something about some new campers who need tour guides, and not leaving the two of you alone in the pavilion. Anyways, if you would, um, excuse me." He said turning around instantly. I could've sworn I heard him mutter, they don't pay me enough for this, under his breath.

Percy turned to me, giving me a questioning look before finally putting his t-shirt on. I could feel my cheeks growing hot, as I tried to regain my composure.

"Well, that's not how I expected this to end." He mumbled, his embarrassment subsiding. His hair was still sticking out in every direction, but I guessed that was a fairly typical hairstyle for him. We looked at each other and we both laughed at the sheer humiliation of the last two minutes. I shook my head slightly, pulling my hair into a ponytail in an attempt to tame it and conceal what had been happening inside of that pantry not more than five minutes ago.

"C'mon, let's go see what Chiron needs." I said, and he gave me a small smirk before saying

"After you." He replied.

We walked over to the Big House as quickly as we could, making sure to seem as casual as we possibly could given the circumstances. We passed a couple of campers in groups, all heading off to different activities. I wondered what was so urgent that Chiron would request us specifically, since technically, showing new campers around was something anyone could do. Percy seemed to be thinking the same thing, because his eyes were looking straight ahead, and he'd been quiet for a good portion of the walk.

"What do you think he wants to talk to us about? Think he knows what we were doing?" Percy asked, breaking the silence. A small flush of pink came to my cheeks, but I gave him a playful nudge.

"I doubt it. Besides, the kid said it had something to do with new campers, he probably figured restocking could wait until after lunch." I answered nonchalantly, although a small part of my brain feared they would be in for another one of Chiron's talks.

"Hmm, sorry I didn't pay attention to what the kid said, I was too busy focusing on other things, but I guess we'll find out soon enough." He said, giving me a funny look.

As we reached the tall, wooden building, I could see Chiron standing on the front deck of the house. He was sipping a cup of coffee, and I had almost forgotten it was still early. Percy waited as I walked up the small stairs first, I noticed he was fidgeting with Riptide.

"Chiron, what can we do for you?" I asked with a small smile and the older centaur looked up at us. He gave us a genuine smile, but from the look on his eyes I could sense something was off.

Before I could glance at Percy, I felt him squeeze my hand gently as he stood next to me. He had noticed it too.

"Oh, yes! I'm so glad Michael found the two of you so quickly," He paused briefly, glancing briefly to where the camp entrance was. "I'm sorry- I, why don't we just go inside, yes?" He said, and we nodded.

Chiron guided us inside the House, even though both of us had probably been there about a thousand times already. I could hear the soft Italian music coming from the boom-box inside his office. The dusty smell of the Big House always brought back an array of old memories.

"What is going on Chiron? What's with all the secrecy?" Percy asked, but before Chiron could answer, I noticed the three demigods sitting by a ping-pong table, quietly whispering among themselves.

One of them, the boy in the group, gestured at the two girls to stop as soon as they walked in the room. He had dark wavy hair, that curled and spiked in opposite directions, and he wore dark brown glasses that framed his pale, grey eyes. Probably a son of Athena, I thought. He was probably around 15 or 16 from what I could tell. He was the first of them to stand up, and was wearing a pair of dirty, dark blue jeans and a sweatshirt that read Washington State. On his right, facing towards them was a girl. She was the youNgest, probably around 13 I guessed, and as she stood up, she crossed her arms over her chest defiantly. She had dark hair like the boy, except hers fell straight against her back, just below her shoulders. She was paler than the boy, but their resemblance was undeniable. If I had to wager a guess, I would've assumed they were siblings, but the girl's eyes troubled me. Unlike her brother's eyes, hers were a deep blue-green color, bluer than Percy's own sea-green ones, but not quite blue either. I wondered if they actually were siblings, and if instead they were cousins of some sort that also shared a connection through some immortal being. Finally, the third girl stood up and turned around. My heart nearly stopped when I took a good look at her, her golden bob curled in different directions, and a thin, red line ran down her cheek. My suspicions were confirmed when she lifted her gaze to meet ours, those were the same green eyes that had stared down at me as I took one last, gasping breath less than eight hours ago. I didn't hear clearly what was being said, I couldn't focus on anything but the young, teenage girl before me that I had never met, yet felt like I knew.

"These are our new campers, they haven't been claimed yet, but I was hoping you could both guide them around the camp for the next few weeks and perhaps teach them the ropes. Percy, Annabeth meet Kassandra, Hector and-" Before Chiron could finish his sentence I spoke, refusing to take my eyes off of her.

"Helena."