Annabeth woke with bleary eyes. Where was she? Did she find a tent in some alleyway? Then she remembered, and a big smile crossed her face. She was with Luke and Thalia! She never really had any friends before, and now she had two! Why didn't she have friends? Was she too shy? Too much of a bookworm? But enough with those thoughts, she had friends now! And her mom was Athena, the Greek goddess! But she would have to pretend she didn't know, because Luke and Thalia were going to tell her today. She quickly jumped out of her sleeping bag, but she forgot that it was autumn, so she quickly climbed back in. She closed her eyes for what seemed like a second, but she opened them to see Thalia gently shaking her awake. "Wake up sleepyhead, it's ten o'clock." Ten o'clock? It was six o'clock when she woke up! (She peeked at Thalia's watch.) Annabeth yawned very dramatically, and climbed out of bed. Thalia had a thick blanket ready for her, and Annabeth gave Thalia a grateful look.

"Thank you." Annabeth said shyly, and Thalia smiled.

"Come on out here, Annabeth. Luke and I have something to tell you." Thalia motioned towards the tent flap, and when Annabeth moved out, she saw that Luke was sitting on a log by the remains from the campfire. He held out one of those metal bowls, and she saw that it had dry cereal in it.

"I know that it isn't much," he said, "But we haven't gotten to go to the store in a little while. We have a hideout on the James River that has much more supplies. We have more weapons too, and we can start your training."

Annabeth knew that she'd have to play dumb, because she technically wasn't supposed to know that she was a demigod yet. "My training for what?" she asked.

Luke and Thalia exchanged another look. It was what, the fifteen billionth time they had done that? Annabeth wished that they would actually talk. Like, out loud. Wait, they were looking at her. She settled down on the log next to Thalia.

"So, Annabeth, we have something to tell you." Luke said.

See," Thalia picked up, "You, um, how do I say it. You're different." Thalia rushed on as if she expected a reaction from Annabeth, like crying or running back into the tent. "Not in a bad way, of course. You're like us. You know all of those Greek mythology books that you were reading in your day of confinement?"

"Yeah. They were super interesting."

"Ok, so, Greek myths are real."

"Wait, huh, what? They are not real. That's why they are called myths." Annabeth said. "Because they are not real." She thought that she was doing pretty well. Of course, she already accepted the fact that they were real, she just needed to convince them that she didn't believe that they were. Thalia looked at Luke like 'told you so'. Then, Luke looked at Thalia like 'let me try'.

"Ok Annabeth" said Luke, "what do we need to do to prove ourselves?"

Annabeth cracked up. She couldn't take it anymore. "Nothing! I overheard your conversation last night! I was trying to make you explain because maybe…" The grin slid off her face.

"Maybe what, Annabeth?" Thalia asked gently.

"Maybe you wouldn't want me to stay with you anymore. If you knew that I was eavesdropping on you"." Annabeth whispered. Would they want to stay with her? Should she leave? She decided to stay and see what they decided to do. "Oh Annabeth," Thalia said, "we would never do that. You are part of our family now, and we would never abandon you."

Annabeth threw herself on to Thalia, sobbing "I'm so sorry!" "I thought that you would be mad." and "I didn't want you to abandon me." Thalia rubbed her back and smiled. "If anything, you just made our job easier. Now we don't have to convince you of something that you already know." Just at that moment, a piece of paper floated down from the sky. Annabeth reached up and grabbed it. "What does it say, Annabeth?" Luke asked.

"Dear Annabeth,

I am sorry that I have not been much of a mother to you, but I hope that you will forgive me. As you now know, I am one of the Olympian Gods, and that means that you are a demigod. I would advise you and your friends to head North, to Long Island in New York. There is a special camp there for demigods, called Camp Half-Blood. I will give you the blessing of Athena as you are on your way, so that you will be able to get there without many monsters to follow you. The only way that this protection will cease to exist is if my father, Zeus, or my uncles, Hades or Poseidon undo it. Safe travels.

Love,

Mother"

"That letter is from Athena." Luke said in astonishment. "It's not often that the gods pay attention to their children. You're lucky, Annabeth." He said that with a kind of resentment, and Annabeth wondered if his dad had ever payed attention to him. "Speaking of the gods, we know my mom is Athena, who are your parents?" Luke's face got hard and Thalia looked wistful. Thalia answered first. "My dad is Zeus, god of the sky and King of the Gods. It makes me a target for monsters because my dad is one of the 'Big Three', Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades."

"Why?" Annabeth asked. Why would one demigod be a bigger target than another? It didn't make any sense whatsoever.

"Well, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades kind of made a promise on the River Styx – That's the most binding oath you can ever make, and the punishment is death. Of course, if you are a god, you can't die, so Styx takes it out on your children, but anyway – they made an oath to not have any more kids after World War Two, because demigods always find a way to fight, and the kids of the Big Three are always the most powerful. My dad broke that oath by having me, so I'm a hotspot for monsters."

"Oh." Annabeth didn't know what to say without seeming insensitive, so all she said was, "What about you, Luke?"

"Dad's Hermes. Messenger of the gods, and god of commerce, languages, thievery, trickery, eloquent speaking, feasts, hospitality, guard dogs, birds of omen, gymnastics, athletic competitions, and telling fortunes with dice. He has a lot of stuff to deal with, so he never has time for me. I've never even met the guy. I just know that I'm his kid because I can pick locks really well, and I'm not too bad at stealing." Seeing Annabeth's expression, he said "But don't worry, I only steal to help people, like Robin Hood. Also, I steal from my enemies. Is there anything you want to know about your mom?"

Annabeth paused to consider. She already knew what Athena was the goddess of, but there wasn't really anything else that she needed to know at the moment. "Nope, I think that I'm good! But what did she mean about getting to a camp, and the blessing of Athena?"

Thalia spoke up. "From what it says here, there is a camp for demigods on Long Island, and we need to go there. As for the blessing of Athena, I think that it just means that only the really determined monsters will attack us. And the really determined ones are the ones that are the most dangerous. We'll need to get you trained soon, but for now, we need to pack up. Luke, do you know where your compass is?"

"Yep, I got it right here. C'mon Annabeth, you can help me pack up the tents while Thalia does… whatever Thalia needs to do." They packed up all of their stuff, and somehow they were able to carry it all without falling over. "Where are we going?" Annabeth asked.

"We have a safe house on the James River." Thalia answered. It's south, but we'll be able to stay there for a bit, until we get you trained. Anyway, it's better than living in tents." And with that, the trio walked into the woods, unaware of the danger that was yet to come.

It was good that Annabeth was finding friends. And that they were going to train her. Athena looked down from Mount Olympus, and decided to check on her daughter's progress. She turned into an owl, and flew above them. She could sense the Celestial bronze in their safe house, and thought that they might make it there before nightfall. That was good. They wouldn't encounter any monsters for a few days? Weeks? She wasn't sure, but nevertheless, they were making good time. She sensed Zeus looking at her, and immediately turned and flew back to Mount Olympus. She would get a talking-to, but Zeus couldn't stay mad at her for long. She was his main battle strategist. When she got back to Mount Olympus, Zeus' wrath was more than she thought.

A/N: Sorry guys, I forgot that I needed to update yesterday! I hope that you liked this chapter. This is the final chapter that I have prewritten, so from now on, updates will be irregular and might take a while. Do not think that I will abandon this story! I will try to update at least once a month, but my SYOT will be taking up most of my focus. Speaking of my SYOT, I still have open spaces for characters! Hop over to my profile and on the first chapter it has a list of who is available. Next chapter is tributes! This is going to be week before Reaping and is going to have 2-3 POVs. Writing has been hard lately, so if you read both of my stories, don't expect an update within a week. Please review, follow, and favorite! It really makes my entire day when I get feedback from you guys, and I've been having a harder time mentally. As always, PM with any questions and have an amazing day!