Disclaimer:

I do not own the PJO characters

"So why are we doing this?" I asked Hazel.

"Because these people need some inspiration and you are just the person who can give it to them," she explained.

"What exactly happened while I was gone?" I asked.

"Same thing that happened to Camp half blood, we were bombarded by army after army, we barely survived. By some miracle, almost a month ago, they stopped coming. You could feel this place just holding their breath."

"Probably when I came back," I said, "the attacks have almost stopped as well in New York."

"The city looks almost untouched though," Damian noted.

"Yes, we can't explain why the city was spared, but almost no harm was done to it."

"They were easy targets though, weren't they?" I asked Hazel.

"Pardon?"

"The monsters who attacked, they were easily taken down, just like the ones at the other camp."

"Well I wouldn't call them easy but yes, the armies mostly consisted of smaller targets."

"You're talking to the chosen one, to her, they're easy," Damian said.

"But why?" I asked myself, "why send attack after attack of monsters who don't stand much of a chance. Why not send like a few minor Immortals?"

"We have just as many questions as you do," Hazel said.

"They were all looking for me, right?"

"Yes."

I turned to Damian. "Someone is looking for me, and I bet you it's that voice I heard."

"What voice?" Hazel asked.

"Once when I was fighting, I asked what the monsters wanted from us and they said that he wanted something. We don't know who he is or what he wants but after the monster spoke to me, a voice appeared in my head and I started to scream and cry uncontrollably," I explained. Just thinking about it made me shutter.

"Well we'll figure that out later, for right now how about we just enjoy that we haven't fallen yet," Hazel said.

I fell back a few paces so that me and Damian were a few feet behind Hazel. "I'm tired of people telling me that," I whispered to him, "just this week I've been told that twice. First it was the thing about the other me and now this, it's not like I can just stop thinking about it."

"I know," Damian said, "but they're just trying to keep you as calm and relaxed as possible."

"Right now, that's not possible." Damian put his arm around my shoulder and we sped up a bit so that we were back behind Hazel.

We eventually stopped in what I think was the middle of the city, in maybe the city's square? People were everywhere but I don't think any of them saw me.

"Do we really have to do this?" I asked.

"Trish, it's to help the people, I think you do have to do this," Damian said.

"Fine," I muttered.

"Can I get everyone's attention!" Hazel yelled, her voice cut through the air like a razor blade. They all turned and stared and I could feel myself melting into a puddle of anxiety.

Hazel pushed me forward and yelled, "the chosen one lives!"

I was expecting everyone to look at me judgingly like at Camp half blood, but instead, everyone cheered. People came to the streets to see what all the commotion was, people were even hanging out of their windows. "Say something," Hazel told me.

"Do I really have to?" I looked over at Damian who just gave a small no of reinsurance.

"Uh, hi," I smiled. The weird thing was, everyone fell silent as if waiting for me to spew green smoke like Rachel does when she gives a prophecy.

"She's here to help us!" Hazel yelled, "we only now learned that she still lives and that he," she pointed to Damian, "saved her from her fate with the giants."

The crowd began to cheer again, which caused even more people to join.

This went on for almost an hour. I don't know when but Hazel had disappeared sometime while the crowd was cheering, leaving only me and Damian to stand there awkwardly. Like I said, after about an hour, the crowd began to disperse.

We started to walk back to Percy and Annabeth's house, but we had forgotten what direction it was in. "Crap," I muttered.

"Can't you just float us over the city and we can search for the house?" Damian suggested.

"No, all the roofs look the same, we won't be able to tell which is which."

"Well crap."

So that's what we did for the rest of the day, try and find our way back to the house.

Thanks for reading! We hope you enjoyed. Stay safe!

-Lou Ellen and Sydney