A/N- Chapter 6. Not much else to say except a big thank-you to all reviewers. Enjoy!

Disclaimer- Do I have to say it? *Rick Riordan's lawyer walks in with a big official-looking briefcase* Fine. I don't own PJO. Whatever.

Chapter 6: Day 3: Sneezes and Games

Lief's POV

Somebody was shaking me. Hard. I curled into a tighter ball and willed them to go away. The shaking stopped, and for a moment, all was silent. Then somebody tried to lift my eyelids. I groaned and sat up so fast I hit my head on something hard. "What's going on?" I asked, rubbing my head.

"Lief! Never do that to me again!" Oh, right. It's Erin.

"Huh? Do what?"

"I woke up this morning and you were gone! What were you doing?" Erin rubbed her head. Oh. That's what I hit.

"Um…well, I went outside to sit in the rain and kind of fell asleep," I said, rubbing my back. Sleeping outside really makes you stiff.

"Lief, you idiot! It was raining! You got soaked through. You're probably going to get sick or something."

"That, Erin, is why I went outside. Because it was raining. I like the rain. Besides, I hardly ever get sick." I sneezed. Well, so much for not getting sick.

"You like the rain?"

"Yeah." Another sneeze.

"How can you like the rain? You're like the child of the sun and that doesn't make sense that you'd like the rain," Erin said, seemingly unconcerned about my sneezing.

"I just like the rain. Is that so strange?" I asked. Really, I quite like the rain. It helps to blot everything out, including all the memories.

"Yes, it is. Now get up, go inside, and get some dry clothes on. Your clothes are soaked." I looked down and realized that Erin was right. My clothes were indeed soaked. I looked up. The rain had stopped, but the sky was still overcast. A light breeze was blowing and I shivered.

"I'm not cold," I protested, even though it was a lie. As if punctuating my sentence, I sneezed again.

"You might not feel cold, but you are sneezing Lief - Oh, darn, I don't know your middle name."

"Why do you need to know my middle name?" I asked.

"Just because. Plus it sounds more impressive, like Matthew Timothy Robinson or Erin Judith Parman."

"Your middle name is Judith?" I asked. It seemed an odd name for someone like Erin.

"What's it to you?"

"Nothing. It just seems odd that-" I cut myself off before I started to talk about That Which is Not To Be Talked or Thought About. The past.

"That what?" Erin asked, tilting her head slightly to the side like she always did when she asked a question.

"Nothing," I mumbled. "It's not important." I sneezed again. Curse this stupid cold that I seemed to have picked up overnight.

"Just- go inside, Lief." Erin ordered. Frankly, I didn't mind having to go inside, but the chances that I was going to tell Erin that was about the chance of ice cubes surviving in Tartarus. Just saying. Anyways, I went inside like Erin ordered and changed into my one spare set of dry clothes. Afterwards, I went out of the cave only to find that Erin was gone.

"Erin?" I called. No answer. "Erin!" I was about to go looking for her when she burst out of some brush.

"Hi Lief!"

"What were you doing?"

"Me?"

"No, not you. Because there's so many people around here that it couldn't possibly be you. Yes, you, Erin." Sarcasm- my first language. And my favorite as well.

"Oh. Nothing." I sneezed again.

"Oh, yes, of course. Because there's such a huge possibility that you would be doing nothing by- a tree covered in berries?"

"Yes, a tree with berries. They're good." Erin popped a berry in her mouth. I gaped at her.

"How do you know those aren't poisonous?"

"Because unlike some people, I've seen chokecherries before."

"Chokecherries? What is a chokecherry?" Hey. Don't look at me funny. I'd honestly never seen a chokecherry before.

"It's a type of edible berry. It's really quite good." Erin smirked and offered me a berry. I reluctantly took it and popped it in my mouth. A second later I spat it out.

"You call that good? That's tart. Very much so. Actually, it's a bit more then tart. I think it completely dried out my mouth."

"Yes, I call that good," Erin said, slightly exasperated and chewing on another handful of chokecherries. "And they're supposed to be tart, Lief. That's why they're called chokecherries."

"Oh," I said, turning a most unflattering shade of cherry and sneezing.

"So, what do you want to do?" Erin asked, curious.

"Why?" I replied.

"What do you mean, why?" Erin started. "Do you need a reason?"

"Yes, yes I do."

"Okay. I don't really know you that well. You're not blowing up at me for once. Need any more reasons?"

"No," I said. There was silence for a minute. "What was the question in the first place?" I felt kind of stupid asking that, but I really couldn't remember. Haven't you ever started talking about something and then- Wait. Who am I talking to? I sneezed.

"What do you want to do?" Erin repeated.

"Oh. I don't know."

"Okay, then. Since you don't know, then I'll just have to pick. But you have to put up with whatever I choose. 'kay?"

"Whatever." I wasn't really in a mood for talking, but Erin's not really the type that'll let you alone.

"Hmm…"Erin was thinking out loud now. "I'd say truth or dare, but that's really cliché and plus there's only the two of us. We don't really have any board games. Simple stuff like tic-tac-toe would be useless. I've got it!" She suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" I asked. This conversation may have been pointless, but it sure helped me get my mind off what had happened two years ago…

"It's something you've probably never heard of. It's called First Impression."

"First Impression?" I asked. That sounded totally lame. But hey, might as well give it a shot… "What is it, and how do you play?"

"It's a game, obviously, and I'll explain as we play." Oh, great. Explain-as-we-go. I always hated that kind of game. "Now, we need a spot to sit," Erin mused.

"Inside?"

"No. I've been in there more then I can handle for now."

"Top of Zeus' Fist?" I asked.

"Sure." We climbed up. I went first, with Erin following more slowly. Once I got to the top, I turned back to wait for her. A couple minutes later, Erin came up.

"So, how do you play this?" I asked.

"Well, how about we just play?"

"Fine," I muttered.

"So, name a random person I know." Erin instructed. I thought for a moment before picking the first person that came to mind.

"Mr. D." I smirked.

"You would pick him!" Erin groaned.

"Well, what do you do?" I asked.

"Now I have to give my first impression of him, what I first thought when I saw him."

"So…"

"What?"

"Go on…"

"Okay, fine," Erin grumbled. "I thought he looked like an idiot. Happy?"

"Um, no, not really, since I really don't want to be playing this game." I said.

"Well, you're stuck with it anyways. Now, your turn. Autumn." We went on like that for a while. Not my ideal for spending a morning, but it worked.

Things Learned about Erin

1. Likes chokecherries

2. Knows strange and useless games like First Impressions

3. Pranks to get rid of nightmares

4. Has a strange and unusual interest in my past

5. Is, in fact, scared of Theo and Noah, but won't admit it.

Hmph. 5 out of ten. I wasn't doing too badly…

Erin's POV

I started to think playing First Impressions was a bad idea when Lief asked me about Theo and Noah. Frankly, they scare me. I answered the question, but I didn't really tell the truth. What? I didn't want Lief to know I was scared of the twins! "You're lying," Lief accused me.

I gasped. "Me, lie? That never happens." I scoffed.

Lief smirked. "Yes it does. I'm not as dumb as you think I am. I can tell when you're lying."

"I'm not lying!" I insisted. "I'm not scared of Theo and Noah."

"Yeah right."

Darn. He knows me too well. How does he know me this well? We've only really talked for what? Two days? I thought. I decided just to ask Lief a question. "Lief?"

"What?" Lief sounded bored.

"Do you want to keep playing this?"

"No. I didn't want to play this in the first place, you know." Lief started to climb down, but I stopped him.

"Wait."

"What?"

"This has to be even. I get one more question."

"Fine. But this better be fast."

"It will be. Camp Half-Blood."

Lief's face twisted into what could have been pain or just another sneer like the ones I'd seen him direct at other people. "You have no right to ask me that," he growled.

"I have just as much right as anybody else," I said.

"Right? Right? Who are you to be talking about rights? You have no right to know anything about me, you know that? I don't have to tell you anything. You know something, Erin Parman? I keep telling you little things, little bits of information, and all you want is more. Did I ever ask you about your past? No. Do you ever stop asking about mine? No. Who are you to be talking about rights. Can you tell me that?" Lief's voice was quiet but as cold as steel. See, the thing is with Lief is that you never know what's going to set him off. I tried to calm him down before he blew up.

"I'm- I'm sorry," I said.

"Sorry? Sorry has nothing to do with this! What do you have to be sorry for? Huh? Huh? Can you tell me that? You don't have the weight, you don't know how it feels, you don't-"

"Don't what?" I asked. I could practically feel the tension in the air. Plus, I could sense that Lief was about to divulge something.

"Don't ask. Don't talk about it. Don't ask about it. You know what? Just leave me alone for once. What nobody gets is that I just want to be left alone." Lief started to climb down again.

"You know, Lief, if you're left alone, you'll just wallow in your guilt for- for whatever happened."

"How would you know? Are you some kind of an expert on this or something? 'Cause if you are, I sure ain't coming to you for advice. I've been perfectly fine when people just leave me ALONE! So go off, do whatever you want, just stay away from me. Or else." He jumped the rest of the way to the ground and took off into the woods. Again. Will he ever stop doing that? I jumped down and started to follow him before I realized I wouldn't have a hope of catching him. I was about to head back into the cave when I heard a scream. And not just any scream. A scream I'd heard in the middle of the night. Lief's scream.

A/N- There you go! Hope you liked it! Review?

-smartone101