We listened and sang along to a few more songs, with that cozy feeling still inside me. After a while, things started wrapping up. Campers started heading back to their cabins, calling out to each other good night, some still mumbling about the tie, others excitedly discussing plans for tomorrow. Of course, Percy and I walked together.

"Did you see the look on Clarisse's face when Chiron said that it was going to be a tie?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied, trying not to laugh at the memory. "So, what do you want to do tomorrow?"

"I don't know," he replied. Typical answer.

"How about you help me come up with ideas for my English paper?" I teased.

"Sure, I could help you get an F," he offered.

Suddenly Grover trotted over to us. "Hi," he greeted, "Do you mind if I join you guys?"

"No problem," Percy replied without hesitating. The satyr was his best friend, and a good friend of mine too. The three of us had worked together on our first quest to rescue Zeus's lightning bolt.

"Where were you all day?" I asked. "We haven't seen you once since we got here."

"Oh," Grover replied nervously, "I thought that you guys might want to be alone. I've been busy listening to all the other satyrs' reports on finding demigods."

Grover was the Lord of the Wild, the chosen one of Pan, and the leader of the Council of Cloven Elders, which basically meant that all the other satyrs had to listen to him and report back on whatever they find, whether it was a new demigod or a threat to the gods. Everyone preferred it to be a new demigod. Grover was pretty good at his job, and the satyrs respected him a lot.

"There's this one satyr," he started to explain, "His name is Gleeson Hedge, and – "

"Gleeson? What kind of a name is that?" Percy wondered, laughing. I couldn't help laughing too, until Grover's expression told us that this was serious. I quieted down and nudged Percy to do the same.

"Anyway," Grover continued, ignoring the laughter, "He's pretending to be a coach at a school for bad kids, kids who committed crimes of some sort. He told me through an Iris-message that he's already sensed and located two half-bloods, a boy and a girl, but here's the strange thing: they're older than thirteen. Gleeson reported that they both were about fifteen years old."

That was strange. Last summer, after the second Titan War, Percy had asked for one of his gifts from the gods to be that satyrs took demigods to Camp Half-Blood no later than the age of thirteen, because that was usually when monsters started noticing their scent more. Why were these two different? Was it possible that the gods were ignoring us to this extremity? That couldn't be. I'm way too dramatic.

Grover took in our surprised expressions and nodded. "I know, it's confusing. Gleeson also told me that the two half-bloods he was keeping an eye on seemed more powerful than most. Maybe they have special powers. Who knows? He can tell that there's a monster in disguise in the group of kids in the school, too. And as if that weren't enough, I can sense that there's more coming. The two demigods aren't complete, someone else is arriving soon, I think. We're waiting for that before Gleeson takes them to camp together." He shrugged in confusion. "I don't know why I know this… but…"

Grover looked tired and weighed down with all his responsibilities. You'd think that the gods would give us a break after what happened last summer, but no. There's always new problems.

"You'll figure this out, man. Look on the bright side. It could turn out to be a good thing. What's so bad about two or three powerful new demigods on our side?" Percy suggested.

"Yeah, Goat Boy, it's winter break. Cheer up! These half-bloods could be really helpful to us, once they're brought to camp," I added.

"Maybe," Grover replied. He paused. "Am I annoying you guys? Tell me if I'm annoying you guys."

"Oh, you're always annoying us," I teased.

Grover smiled. "I'll go now, then, since I'm so annoying," he said, and headed over to Chiron.

"Do you think something bad is going to happen?" I asked after he left.

"Don't know."

"Why do you think the gods have started ignoring us? Have you heard from your dad recently?" I asked, knowing the answer. Grover's information about Gleeson's situation had filled me up with questions again. I was curious.

"I don't know," he said again, to the first question. "And I haven't heard from Poseidon, not since summer," he confirmed. "But that's normal, isn't it? Some gods talk to their kids only once, or maybe even never, in a lifetime. It doesn't have to mean anything."

"That's true. But the doors of Olympus seemed to have closed, in a lot of ways," I pointed out, "It has to mean something, something really weird."

"At least they're still claiming their kids. That shows that they haven't forgotten about us completely," he referred.

"But what about those fifteen-year-olds Grover mentioned? What if that means that the gods start forgetting about their kids again?" I asked uneasily.

"They won't," he said, "The gods might be a little forgetful and sometimes a little crazy – "

We both looked up to see if a lightning bolt would be hurled down at him for daring to say that. No lightning bolt.

" – but they wouldn't stop claiming their kids. Look at the Hermes cabin. It's not half as full as it used to be. And they haven't stopped claiming new demigods since summer, even since their silence."

"That actually make sense," I observed.

We had reached our cabins now. It was getting late, and I knew that a good night's sleep was what everyone needed.

"Bye, Annabeth. Good night," Percy said. He leaned in and kissed me. I felt warm all over, like I always felt when he did that. I also felt giddy, but I definitely couldn't let him know that.

I straightened and squeezed his hand. "See you tomorrow, Seaweed Brain." I watched him walk off to his cabin, admiring how confident and strong he looked. It was hard to believe that just a few years ago he was a scrawny, clueless (well, he still is clueless) boy who drooled in his sleep.

I ran into my cabin. All the other Athena kids were already there. "Where were you?" asked my half-sister Stacy.

"Outside, where else?" I answered. I climbed onto my bunk and started getting ready to sleep. It had been a long day.

The other Athena kids, though, didn't seem tired at all. They were all in their bunks, but nobody was sleeping. Everyone seemed to have something to say to one of their half-siblings or another. "Outside with Percy, of course," Stacy commented to me.

"You two are inseparable!" Wynter, who was sitting on the bunk next to me, added. "Gods, I don't think that even Zeus himself could pull you guys apart!"

I knew that she was teasing me, but it was nice to think of it that way. Inseparable.

That night, I had dreams. Not just one, but several. They were all confusing, all jumbled up.

I was trudging along in the snow. I had lost something, something important. I couldn't find it. I searched everywhere. Nothing. A rumbling noise shook the earth, a woman's soft and ghastly voice laughed without humor, and a bank of snow collapsed in on me.

The dream faded. I was now in a dark cave. All alone. I heard the distant, familiar roar of monsters. I tried to reach out and grab for something: my knife, a friend, a magic item, anything, but no. There was nothing left. The ground trembled as the monster – was it a giant? – closed in on me. It brought its fist down, and everything dissolved.

Now I was at a scene of destruction. The place, wherever it was, was so wrecked that I couldn't even tell what it used to be. Trees had been smashed into the earth, buildings had collapsed into massive piles of wood, and it looked like a wasteland. I heard distant laughter, the laugh from the first dream. I tried to run, but there was nowhere to go.

I woke suddenly with a jolt and a sense that something was wrong. Sunlight was pouring in from the windows, and almost everyone was already up. What did my dreams mean? Demigod dreams almost always had layers of meanings. I'll worry about that later, I told myself.

When I got to the dining hall for breakfast, I looked around for Percy like I always did. Strangely, I didn't see him, even though he usually wasn't late. I wanted to wait for him to come before I ate breakfast, but finally I decided that he had probably just slept in.

After breakfast, it was cabin inspection. The Athena cabin was perfectly organized, of course. Since I didn't have anything other to do, I went over to the Poseidon cabin to see if Percy needed any help. I expected that he would.

The familiar Poseidon cabin was welcoming. I knocked once on the door. "I'm here to help you not get a score of 1 on cabin inspection," I called loudly.

There was no answer. He was probably still sleeping. Maybe he still drooled. I opened the door.

I couldn't see him. I walked farther into the cabin, feeling a little creeped out by the empty feeling inside it. "Percy?" I asked, "Are you in here?" It was a stupid question. He obviously wasn't. I checked the whole cabin, every single corner that he could be hiding in, but the place was empty.

He's probably gone outside while I was in my cabin, I thought. I ran out of the Poseidon cabin. Chiron was standing on the porch of the loud Hermes cabin, overseeing the cabin inspection.

"You guys get a 1," announced Will Solace, the Apollo cabin counselor who was doing the inspection.

"What? Dude, that's not fair at all! We cleaned up!" protested Travis, motioning towards the cabin. Clothes, soda cans, magical weapons, and Mytho Magic cards had been quickly thrown under the bunks, a classic solution. A few missed pieces of popcorn and cheese puffs were scattered across the floor. Suddenly, the closet groaned and collapsed, showering down dirty socks and rumpled clothes, along with some stolen merchandise from the camp store.

"So that's where the twenty packs of Oreos that mysteriously disappeared from the store went," Chiron said drily, looking at the pile on the floor. The Hermes kids exchanged sheepish glances with each other.

"We didn't – " Connor started.

"Chiron!" I interrupted. "Where's Percy?"

Chiron turned towards me. "I was wondering the same thing. I haven't seen him since last night." The old centaur's brow creased with worry.

"He wasn't at breakfast. I've checked his cabin," I told him, panic starting to rise up inside me, "He wasn't there."

"We shouldn't become too concerned," Chiron decided. "He could have just decided to wander off somewhere. That boy is unpredictable. Why don't you go and check around the camp? Ask a few people to help."

I nodded and walked off, leaving the Hermes cabin (where a trash fight had suddenly erupted) behind.

I walked all over the camp. I checked all the places he loved to be, and even the places where I was sure he wouldn't be. I asked a few people at each place if Percy had been there this morning. The answer was always no. I asked them to alert me if he came over later on. No one reported back to me saying that he was found.

Before long, word had spread around the camp that he was missing, and everyone joined in looking. No one saw him. Up until this point, I had thought that he was just hiding or something. Now, I realized that he was really gone. Waves of hopelessness swept over me.

Every single camper said that they hadn't seen him since yesterday. "There's still a chance that he hasn't totally vanished," pointed out Lacy, an Aphrodite camper. "Call his mom. Maybe he had to go back home for an emergency or something."

I'd been so worried that hadn't thought of that. It was the obvious thing to do. I thanked Lacy and dialed Sally Jackson's number on my phone. Demigods weren't supposed to have phones, because technology attracted monsters, but I didn't care about that right now. Chiron saw me and nodded his consent. He was as anxious as I was.

"Hi, Sally? It's Annabeth," I said when she picked up. You might think it was strange that I called her by her first name, but Ms. Jackson had insisted that I call her Sally when Percy and I had first started dating.

"Annabeth! It's so nice to hear from you," Sally replied. I could hear the surprise in her voice. She knew as well as a demigod that technology wasn't good for us. "Is anything wrong? Is Percy okay?"

"Well…" I started, "That's what I was calling you about." My heart sank deep down. If she was asking about Percy, he obviously wasn't at her apartment. I decided to tell her about what happened, anyway. She was his mom, and deserved to know.

"We can't find him," I told her, feeling my voice shake.

"What?" Sally asked in disbelief. She was used to her son disappearing on dangerous missions that started out as a happy trip, but this was winter vacation. Kronos had been defeated last summer.

"I know, it's…" My voice trailed off. "He's just gone. No one's seen him since last night. We've searched all over the camp, and we're sure that he's not here. I'm sorry." I felt like I couldn't say the words he's gone or anything like that anymore or I'd go crazy. "I have to go now, this call's probably attracting monsters."

"Tell me if you find out anything," Sally demanded.

"I will," I answered. I turned off my phone and walked back to Chiron. "He's not at his mom's house."

"Is there anything else we could try?" Chiron asked.

"Well," I began. I thought for a moment. "Maybe we could try to send an Iris-message. Or… Grover could try to use his empathy link." Those were my last hopes. One of them had to work.

"Those are good ideas," Chiron said. "Let's see if they work."

I made myself think that they would. I remembered what Wynter had said the night before: You two are inseparable. But deep inside, another voice was arguing, saying the words I hated most: He's gone. He's gone.

And there's the fifth chapter! It's a miracle, as always, that I got it done on time. SUMMER VACATION AT LAST! :D :D :D I have way more time now. Even so, I was kind of in a hurry, and I just got over a huge case of writer's block, so sorry if my story is random or anything. P.) There will be at least one more chapter! It'll probably be posted two weeks from now, as some people may know. That means around July 9th. Please try to review! Thanks! Yay! :)

-Awesomejoyce