AN: Cynder2013- the last one was actually a little over 850 words. Intense, yes. Yes it is. Wonder what will happen...

But on a different note!

Annabeth frowned at the floor, trying to figure out what had caught her attention. Then she spotted the dark flecks of blood. She poked her head out of the Athena cabin bathroom and looked around. "Did someone cut themselves while shaving?"

"Why?" one of her sisters asked from behind the bunk. She must have been cleaning.

"There's blood on the floor." Annabeth frowned at it again.

"Well, I did, but it didn't bleed that much. And I kept it contained to the tub." Maggie's head appeared from under a pile of scrolls.

Joseph shook his head. "Wasn't me."

"Ooh, can I analyze it?" Mark's eyes lit up.

She hesitated.

"Mark, last time you analyzed blood you ended up making a poison out of it which we then took two weeks to figure out how to destroy," Malcolm snapped. "You're not allowed to 'analyze' anything anymore."

Mark pouted.

Annabeth was glad he had spoken up. She hadn't heard about that incident. She could see that Malcolm was making an excellent cabin leader.

He came over and glanced at the floor, then around the bathroom. "Is it fake blood? Alice and Julia have been trying to prank us all summer. And there was that day where everyone woke up from a trance and the whole camp was pranked."

She shuddered. "That was a mess." She got a couple drops of water onto it. The Stolls had made started making sure that fake blood could be distinguished from real blood by adding some extra orange dye to it all. Connor still did it incognito. "It isn't fake."

Malcolm nodded slowly.

"So either someone is bleeding and doesn't know it, or…" She shrugged trying to figure out an alternative. She looked up at Malcolm and realized his gaze kept flitting between the door and the sink.

She looked around, trying to think about it practically. "Or someone was cutting themselves and didn't realize it dripped." A sense of dread filled her. She'd never had to deal with something like that. She couldn't even imagine what would drive someone to that. Wasn't monsters trying to kill them hard enough without hurting themselves?

"Annabeth? Malcolm? Connor just told me that a cabin leader meeting is starting. Apparently it's serious." Katie was by the entrance to the cabin.

Annabeth stood up. "We'll have to deal with this later. Malcolm?"

He didn't move, he was staring at the mirror, almost looking angry.

"Malcolm, is everything okay?"

He finally looked at her.

She could see the pain and anger there, the sadness and fear.

"Yeah, everything is fine." He blinked and his face became stone.

She stared at his back as he walked past her. She hadn't seen that pained of a look from Malcolm, ever. Not even when his dad died. Had he and Cassie broken up?

She hurried after him. "If it's about someone hurting themselves—"

"It isn't. I told you. Everything is fine."

"Didn't look that way."

"Annabeth, why don't you stick with obsessing over your own life and I'll stick to taking care of our cabin, okay?" He snapped, stopping to glare at her, and the continuing on.

Katie pretended nothing was going on, but her lips were pressed tightly together.

Annabeth shivered a little. "Malcolm?" Luke flashed through her mind.

He ignored her.

She looked at Katie. "Did I do something and miss it?"

Katie hesitated. "You haven't been around, maybe he feels like you're stepping on his toes or something?"

Annabeth shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe. I haven't seen that much anger in a while. Not since Luke."

Katie shook her head. "Malcolm is not Luke. He and Will talk a lot, and he's dating that new girl, Cassie. He's happy around her. So…he isn't Luke."

"Then what in Hades is wrong with him?"

Katie was about to answer when she noticed that the group that had been to New Rome was returning. "Whatever it is, maybe his girlfriend will help."

Malcolm was already jogging to meet them, and wrapped his arms tightly around one of the figures.

"He found her." Annabeth walked up slowly. She didn't want to make Malcolm angrier, but she also didn't think she should let it go just yet.

Cassie waved to her, looking a little amused. "Malcolm. You have to let go."

He said something Annabeth didn't hear.

Cassie's smile faded and she looked up at him, her eyes flashing with something like anger and sadness. "We'll talk about it later."

He nodded and pulled away.

Annabeth hated that she didn't know what had just passed between the two. Could it really be that difficult to figure out? I mean, there were only so many things that Cassie could be upset about like that that wouldn't cause her to break up with Malcolm. Maybe it had something to do with their trip earlier this summer. A nagging doubt formed in her mind as she considered that maybe there was something about Malcolm that she didn't know that could be potentially dangerous. Ever since his dad had died he had pulled away a bit, gotten quieter. They no longer talked about their lives, and it didn't help that she was in California for most of the time. It was natural that something might have come up that she didn't know…right?

But then again, Cassie and Malcolm had only been dating for a short while. It was impossible for Cassie to already know everything about Malcolm.

"Annabeth?" Cassie nudged her. "Shouldn't you get to the meeting?"

Annabeth flinched, then studied the daughter of Hermes critically. Disarmingly kind slate-blue eyes, brown hair that was slightly wavy, and concern written clearly on her face, Cassie looked back at Annabeth then sighed and looked after Malcolm.

"He's not as strong as he seems," Cassie said in a soft voice. "He does his best, though."

Annabeth felt a wave of cold dread wash over her. "What do you mean?"

Cassie had a look of carefulness about her as she seemed to consider her words. "I mean, pressing the matter won't get you any further. I mean that he has people watching out for needs support sometimes." She smiled gently. "You find it in Percy, and have for quite a few has his own support taught him how to lead the cabin, so that's what he does."

Annabeth stared. "What?"

Cassie blinked quickly then shook her head. "Nothing. You should get to the meeting. They're probably waiting for you." She turned to leave.

Annabeth caught the girl's weaker arm, feeling a little bad but knowing it was the easiest way to stop her. "You're telling me it was him."

Cassie looked mildly confused. "I'm telling you to trust him a little more. I could see that you were struggling and from his mood it was obvious you two had some sort of fight. I'm not sure what you think he did, though."

Annabeth had assumed that Cassie knew what had been going on from the way she spoke and acted. The generally mild-mannered girl was good with words though, and as a daughter of Hermes, she could probably lie her way out of many a sticky situation. "Unexplained blood on the bathroom floor, not fake."

Cassie made a thoughtful sound and looked toward the cabins, eyes narrowed. "Unexplained. Yeah. Sure. I have to go check in. Good luck." Her gaze met Annabeths for a brief second, flashing protectively, secretively, then she casually left.

Annabeth started up the steps to the big house. He's not as strong as he seems…

Malcolm was seated between Will and Connor.

Will seemed to be whispering in a slightly scolding manner.

Malcolm glanced over when she came in, but then went back to shrugging off Will.

She took her seat beside Percy, finally managing to catch Malcolm's gaze for a moment.

He gazed back at her steadily, then tilted his head ever so slightly. Their silent way of acknowledging that the other might be correct, or sometimes saying there was no more reason to fight.

"Hey, you okay?" Percy asked, smiling and taking her hand.

Annabeth nodded and managed a small smile back. "Yeah, just processing something I learned earlier."