Yeah, yeah I know I'm really very late in updating the second chapter but I can't help it. Tooooo much work. But don't worry, I won't ever abandon this story. I like it way too much to just leave it. Nevertheless, here is the next chapter and as promised, this one is a little longer. And soooooooo... read and review! Love ya all!

Dgreatsparky: *sobbing with happiness* Thank you for your review! Hope you enjoy this chapter too!

A Boy Crashes In Our Campfire

Annabeth

"What in Hades are you Annie? I leave you by yourself for a few days, and you show up in the middle of Frisco with a hundred broken bones and with blood oozing out of each inch of your body and covered in monster drool to top it off," Thalia teased. There was a smirk on her face as she watched me struggle to untangle myself from the bed sheets.

I heaved a dramatic sigh of relief, as I finally succeeded in my attempts to sit upright. Her tone sounded like she was commenting on my horrible dancing skills and not on my near death experience, but I liked it anyway. We were best friends like that.

Thalia and I had first met about seven years ago, just before I arrived at camp. I had run away from home, fed up of my family who hated me. I was wandering around in an empty street when I found her, literally beating a Cyclops to pulp. Fine, not really, but it was as clear as a crystal that she was powerful enough a match for a Cyclops. After all, she was a child of the Big Three, although she didn't know it back then.

She was dressed like a goth even then – in her ripped-up army jacket and black leather jeans. With eyeliner around her eyes and a spray of freckles across her nose, her appearance felt quite formidable. When asked, she explained to me that even she had run away from her home because her mother wouldn't care for her any more. She would tell me no more right then.

But I had understood how it felt to be a half blood when your mortal parent was selfish and ignorant. Of course, I had no clues that I was a demigod when I left home, but I knew that there was something wrong with me. What I didn't know, of course, was that something which was wrong was not with me but with the damned gods who were incessantly trying to make my life shit.

With a feeling that we had a lot in common, I befriended her immediately and we have only grown closer with the passing of years.

I noticed we were in the Camp's infirmary as I took in my surroundings for the first time. She was sitting on the edge of my bed, wearing her signature outfit: black tattered denims and black leather jacket and quite a few silver chains dangling down her neck. Her spiky black hair and thick black kohl made her electric blue eyes stand out. She might sound scary in my description, because that's exactly what she was unless you know her really well.

And knowing her really well was as difficult a task as calling Zeus a grouchy old man and not getting barbequed by lightning. Or calling Thalia by her full name and not transforming into a pile of ashes the next second. Must be a family thing to roast people alive, I think.

"Yeah, I missed you too," I replied drily, then threw myself on her for a bear hug.

Not able to contain my excitement after meeting my best friend after a whole month, I grinned so wide I thought my mouth would split. Even the hatred I had towards my family vanished. I was so glad to see her, but I dare not admit it to her. Something like that would lead to her conceit becoming quite unbearable, at least around me. Something like that would prove fatal.

"My dad will blast you off if you try to choke me to death," she warned as I pulled back, a wild grin plastered on her face. I rolled my eyes.

"Drama queen," I muttered under my breath.

Her grin widened in response as she forcibly stuffed some ambrosia in my mouth.

"Hey! I'm not a child, you know. I can eat it myself," I protested, but nevertheless, ate the ambrosia as it soothed my aching body. My muscles relaxed. Instantly feeling better, I got up and stretched. I looked at my clothes. I was still wearing the same clothes I was wearing when I left my house.

As I reminisced the events that took place since I had left, and a strange wave of nausea hit me as I recalled my nightmare. The blood, the people, the person pulling me back… it was hard to think of it and not throw up. Trying to wave off the thoughts about throwing up, I tried to figure out what my dream meant.

I was pretty sure I have never had a dream like that. But the actual thing to worry about was that demigod dreams were not like mortal dreams. Our visions were messages from someone else, or showed us things going on in the present or things which will happen in the future.

Just the mere thought of the fact that my nightmare can be related to something that is about to happen made me shiver.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Thalia sharpening her spear using a hand knife. I heaved a sigh of relief. Thalia can literally SMELL from miles away if I was worried about something. Thank gods she was busy otherwise –

"What are you thinking Annabeth?"

– And here end my false beliefs that I can ever be successful in hiding anything from her –

"I know you are mulling over something which is not as trifling as you think it is. You have your thinking-hard-do-not-disturb-or-I'll-kill-you look on your face instead of the usual thinking-hard-do-not-disturb look, which means matters are rather serious. Tell me what it is," she turned towards me with a smug look on her face, her freckles dancing.

"Hem hem," someone cleared their throat. I jumped, startled.

"Luke!" Thalia cried out, forgetting her unanswered question.

My face lit up when I heard his name. The image of his handsome face with the clear blue eyes, sandy blond hair and that scar running from under his right eye down to his cheek floated in front of my eyes, reddening my cheeks.

Thalia and I had first met Luke around a week after I had run away from home. We had just escaped after being chased by a gigantic hellhound when we found him tricking a lady into giving him a packet of Cheetos from a local store. He did it with such professionalism that the lady actually had pity on him and gave him a packet of gummy bears along with it.

Concluding that three was always better than two, we decided to stick together. And we have actually stuck together since then.

He stepped into the room with a silly grin on his handsome face as she ran forward. She punched him – hard – on his shoulder, which was followed by a loud "Oww!"

Note: Thalia loves to punch literally anything, which often resulted in rather a large amount of bruising of people and breaking of things within three feet radius of her.

With a devilish smile on her face, she asked, "Whatcha doing here?"

Still rubbing his shoulder in feigned agony, Luke replied, "Actually I was here to see Beth – Annabeth," he hastily corrected himself when he saw me opening my mouth to interrupt him, "and it's nice to see that Her Highness is already awake," he finished and faked a courtesy. Thalia guffawed.

"Imbeciles," I murmured, rolling my eyes, "you guys are making me regret my choice of being friends with you."

"Oh really, are we that annoying? Or is that your latest way of showing affection?" Thalia asked, feigning innocence.

"Affection? You wish," I answered back, turning away and walking purposefully towards the infirmary door.

"Where are you going? Are you running away?" I could sense the smile in Luke's words.

"No chance, I'll never leave you in peace even in your dreams. I'm going to change my clothes," I replied.

Just then I heard Chiron blow his conch shell. It meant a gathering. I stopped in my tracks on my way to the door and looked out of the window. It was almost dusk, time to eat. Just thinking about food made my stomach grumble. Now that I thought of it, I realized how hungry I was. I had not eaten since hours.

"And eat," I added, "and don't you both think you can escape my questions," I turned around. They groaned. I flashed a smile.

"She is back."

"Yeah, she really is."

"So," I said as I burnt some of my food in the pavilion fire as a tribute to the gods.

Please, please, please let me have a quest this time. And please try a little less hard to make my life so pathetic that I have to literally struggle to survive each day, I prayed in my mind.

I have been repeating the same thing over and over every time I have a meal in the camp, but all my prayers have evidently gone in vain.

"So?" Luke prompted as he stood on my left, having already burnt a piece of toast.

Trying to ignore Thalia's loud angry curses for her father while she dropped an apple in the fire, I whispered to him, "Tell me something – how did I reach here? For how much time have I been unconscious? And –" I hesitated. I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell anyone about my dream yet.

Thalia solved the doubt.

"Whoa whoa, slow down, girl," she said, fiddling with the chains around her neck, "Lemme tell you. When you were fighting the Cyclops – yeah, I know what you're gonna ask so keep your mouth shut and let me complete – so, when you were fighting, the Hunters," she made a sour face at the last word, "were passing by and one of them – Zoë is her name, yes – recognized you when you fell. She and some of the others carried you here. You woke up around five hours later."

Those five hours definitely explained why I was so famished that I had piled up more food on my plate than I could possibly eat. I was thinking something along the lines of dumping some of my food in some nearby person's plate when a loud "BOOM" broke my trail of thoughts.

Hearing the noise, all the campers looked towards the source of it.

"Connor! Travis! I swear that if I don't tie you in a bundle of creepers and then feed you to a rotten bunch of Amorphophallus Titanum within the next two days then I'll quit growing plants," Katie Gardener, head counselor of Cabin 9 was shrieking her head off while the campers on the Hermes' table sniggered loudly.

The Stoll brothers must have sold her the explosive "Demeter Rocks" shirt which had caused the commotion. Ignoring the angry yells of the Demeter cabin, I walked towards the Athena table, parting ways with Thalia and Luke.

I smiled and waved at Clarisse, who was out of her bad temper for once, and Chris, her boyfriend from Hermes' cabin, on my way.

As I took in my surroundings, campers chatting and playing pranks on each other, boasting about their quests, I smiled. This is life, I thought, so peaceful.

To heck with peace. Little did I know that the next second itself –

BAM! A large crater was there in the middle of the Dining Pavilion, exactly where the fire had been. And inside it lay a boy… in a school uniform? What in the name of Zeus was happening? I couldn't see his face but I could tell his hair was the blackest black I had ever seen. Maybe even blacker than Nyx, the personification of night herself.

I looked around. Everyone was frozen in their place. Before anyone could do anything, there was a commotion.

Someone saw the Oracle of Delphi herself coming towards the pavilion. She had, for the first time, left her place in the attic and walked somewhere. It certainly did not mean any good news. Then everyone's attention turned towards the Apollo kids who had started twitching uncontrollably at their table.

I was as still as a statue until now, but suddenly the smell of the blood of the boy lying in the crater reached my nose. A strong wave of nausea hit me as I doubled over, the world spinning in front of my eyes.

The dream, the dream, the dream… the words rang in my brain as I held back my temptation to kill that boy. I barely noticed the snarls and growls coming from me. I barely noticed the green smoke rising from the mouths of the Apollo kids and the oracle. Their eyes shone emerald as they recited the Great Prophecy –

Seven Half-Bloods shall answer the call,

A friend's betrayal may cause downfall,

Victory to gain with unity of foes,

In the secret of the nightmare, truth echoes,

A life shall be burnt to save a dead,

The Titan king shall rise from his bed,

The fate of Olympus shall reside

In the hands of Time and Tide.

As if on the cue, the prophecy-givers collapsed. But I continued writhing in pain. Through the tears blurring my eyesight, I saw campers rushing towards me and the boy who had just crashed in our meal. Then, embarrassingly enough, I blacked out for the second time in the same day.

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Word of the day: Suprabhat

It is the Hindi word for "Good Morning"

Bye!