Everything at Camp Half Blood was seriously falling apart. I could see it as I walked around camp... It was heartbreaking. Beside that my mind is reeling about the letter.. my heart is heavy with guilt.
Percy and I were walking through camp yesterday when I felt it. A single drop of rain. I stopped dead and looked up at the sky. I started, mystified. Percy didn't notice that I'd stopped for a moment, but when he did he turned to me, eyes worried.
"What is it Annabeth?" He asked me, following my eyes to the sky.
"Rain." Our tortured eyes turned to the sky, wearily. The sky was grey with rolling, angry clouds. Rain was pouring and as we looked up the rain was steadily gaining straight as it fell down the ground. "Percy..."
"We have to get back. If the sheild is down then monsters might be able to get through. We have to tell them." He grabbed my hand and pulled me angrilly away.
What Percy didn't know is that rain is the least of my worries. What Percy didn't know is that somehow life as I know it is honestly gone. After what happened with Jason.. He got hurt when trying to deliver a letter to me, apologizing to me for what happened. Percy doesn't know this of course. I haven't even told him about the letter.. nor the lood on the floor beside my bed. Percy doesn't know about the dream I had, the dream that made me wake up shaking. Percy doesn't know.
"Annabeth, Percy, what's wrong?" Grover asked when we appeared on the pourch of the Big House.
"Dude! Are you blind? It's raining." Percy yelled, almost growled even.
"Yes... raining. Rain happens Percy." Grover said, rolling his eyes. "Have you not noticed that, Percy?"
"Grover." He growled back at Grover. "Not in Camp Half Blood."
Grover's eyes grew wider and he looked out across the camp. "Oh my gods." He gaped at the falling rain in horror.
"Councilors! I need the councilors!" Percy was yelling, but I wasn't listening. I was tired.. At night I would sleep, but not well. I couldn't stay asleep for long and the dreams that parreled me provided nothing close to a good night's sleep. The rushing going around me was a blurr.
All the conselor's came rushing out, and it came as a quick realization that it was raining.
"Is it raining?" Malcolm asked me, touching my elbow.
I snapped out of my gaze and looked at him. "Yes." Was my brilliant response.
"How is that posible?" Katie asked, appearing from the doorway, eyes wide.
"The sheild must be down." Mike said, glancing around.
"Could that mean-?" Jake started to ask, but Percy cut him off.
"Yes. The monsters could be coming on our grounds as we speak." Percy turned away from us for a moment and leaned against the porch railing. He sighed, before turning back around, eyes fierce. "Everyone needs to stay in the Big House. Lets not tell the kids, but we all need to stick together. We need to have guards constantly."
"Precy." My word was nearly silent, but he heard it. He turned to look at me, his face broken. I shook my head, unabel to form a response.
"Okay guys. I'll take the first watch with Conner, Travis, and Jacob. The rest of you need to go inside and take a count, make sure we have everyone.." The rest of them left, but I stood there, looking at Percy. He looked back at me. Our eyes were blank. "Annabeth.. go inside."
"Percy.." My voice broke.
"What is it Annabeth?" He asked, his eyes tense.
"What's happening?" I asked, tears forming in my eyes.
"I don't know." His voice was deep, broken, sad, and he wrapped his arms around me, hugging me to his chest. "I love you."
"I love you." I whispered into his chest.
He stepped back, kissed my forehead, then said, "Go inside, please, Annabeth."
I turned and walked into the house, staring down at the kids with a frown. Some of them seemed so innocent as if they have no idea what is going on and then there were those who stood vigil, concerned looks on their faces.
The other councilors were counting so I sat down in a chair with my phone in my hands. I knew we weren't supposed to use them.. although under the circumstances I think the monsters are already upon us so what could it hurt? If I could get a hold of Chiron, maybe he could tell us what's going on.. I fingered the phone, dialing the number cautiously before pressing the red button in irritation. How could I risk attracting more monsters for the guys to deal with? On the other hand, how could I prevent the camp from getting vital information that we need to keep everyone safe?
I dialed the number, letting the phone ring and slipping into a quiet room where I sat down on the edge of a couch with a frown.
"Hello?" Chiron asked on the third ring.
"Chiron!" I said with thankfulness.
"Annabeth? What's going on?" He asked, sensing my concern.
"I was hoping you could tell me that.." I started, my frown deepening. "It's raining, Chiron. It's raining in Camp Half Blood. A new guy showed up and then we found him dead the next day. I don't know what's happening, Chiron."
"You said... it's raining?" He asked me.
"Yes. It's raining."
"That means our shield has broken.. somehow. That also means that monsters, like the rain, could find their ways in."
"We figured. We have everyone sleeping in the Big House.. we thought we should stay together. So, Percy and a few others are keeping gaurd. I just thought maybe you could tell us what's happening."
"I wish I could Annabeth. I wish I knew myself. There are dark powers at work here, but we have yet to discover what those are. You guys just need to keep together and in the case of a fight, you know what to do. You have been trained well, but the main objective is to keep these kids safe, all right? So if you think it's time to run, do so, but with digression."
"But Chiron, where could we run to?"
"Somewhere safe... you will know when and where if -when- the time is right."
"Thanks Chiron."
"You will do well, Annabeth."
The line went dead. I choked out a lonely sob.
"Annabeth?" The door opened and Malcolm came in, frowning at me. "Are you alright?"
"I don't know what to do."
"About what?"
"We have things taken care of.. the littler kids have even fallen asleep."
"Not that, Malcolm." With a sigh, I handed him the letter which had been folded in my pocket for two days. I watched as his eyes grew large as they flew across the page. When his eyes reached the end of the page he folded the letter into a small square and handed it to me. "I found it on my bed..the day we found him.. and that's not all." He raised an eye brow and I sighed. "There was blood on the floor."
"There was blood.. on the floor... in our cabin?"
"Yes.. right by my bed."
"That's...wow."
"Yes...I'm fine, I'll just go on inside." I said, wiping my eyes and hurrying into the room where the rest of the councilors were. He was right. The little kids were all sleep. They were lying on their sleeping bags, heads lolling about. The bigger kids were sitting either on the couches or cross legged on the ground. Their eyes were concerned, irritated. Everyone was tense.
"Annabeth, hey, come over here." Katie called me from across the room where she was sitting with a book in her lap.
I composed my face and walked over to her. "What's up?" I asked, sitting down beside her.
"Look at what I found." She handed me the book and I stared down at the pages. "The last time the shield was broken it messed everything up. It was thirty years ago and the monsters came in droves. Kids died, battles were fought on camp grounds. Most of the camp had to be restored. When it happened last time the old Chiron and Dino man were both here but even though they were both on grounds when it happened the camp nearly was destroyed."
"How did they over power it?"
"They couldn't. They fought off the monsters but then they had to kill something else.. but it doesn't say what. It was evil though. That's all it says. The campers faught off this monster, but what happened as the end result was catastrophic. Campers died... many campers."
"Where there any clues as to what it was?"
"Just evil.. something so evil that altered the half blood race."
"Altered the race?"
"That's what it says."
"Lets go tell the guys outside." I mumbled, standing up. She followed after me and we hurried out onto the front porch. "Percy!"
"Annabeth?" He turned around, frowning at me. "What is it?"
"We found something."
"What?"
"In this book it is talking about something that happened thirty years ago. The shield broke and monsters came in droves, but when they killed off all the monsters there was something left. There was a monster that was nothing but evil and it altered the half blood race completely." Katie told them, eyes shifting from each of their faces.
"What?" Travis said, frowning at us.
"We don't know." I told him, eyes drifting to the moon. It was full, round, and perfect.
"Okay, we'll be watching, so don't worry, guys." Jake told us, smiling.
"Yeah, you two go on to bed." Percy said, reaching out to me. "One second, Annabeth." He took my hand and looked in my eyes. "Are you okay, Annabeth?"
I nodded, but my smile was weak. He squeazed my hand and nodded toward the house. So I went in. I walked into the Big House, looking around. "Okay guys! Let's get ready for bed."
I am so sorry guys. I love you people so much, so don't be too mad. I haven't been updating only because I am in high school and so therefore I don't have much time between homework and ... well homework. So I'm sorry. Extremely sorry so don't be mad, bcecause HannahKayJackson loves you. I don't know how to profess how much I love you guys for holding on.. Just so you know, I haven't updated ANY of my stories in forever.. so yeah.. I sorry. I love you.
Lets see... 20 reviews? yes. lets go with that. :)