What disturbed me was this. Mr. D was on a treadmill. Running in all his spandex glory.

"Yikes!" I squeaked when I saw him running.

Chiron galloped up to me and said, "Meet me on the second floor. Percy and Annabeth are already there."

So I walked up the stairs to the second floor. Cody was on one of the hospital beds, his face bleeding.

"What happened?" I gasped.

Percy was on a bed next to Cody, his arm bleeding. Annabeth was crying over Percy, who appeared to be sleeping.

Chiron walked in and said, "I think I owe you two explanations. Cody and Percy were patrolling our borders when Luke came."

At the mention of this Luke, Annabeth raised her head and paled.

"Luke?" she whispered.

"Hold up," I said. "Who is this Luke?"

Annabeth gave a heart-wrenching sob and threw herself over Percy again.

Chiron said, "He was a camper a few years ago. Not to mention one of Annabeth's closest friends. Until he sided with Kronos."

Annabeth started crying louder. So much that Chiron had to raise his voice.

"He betrayed Annabeth and Percy. In fact, he tried to kill Percy on multiple occasions. Anyway, he snuck through our borders today around lunchtime. I should probably tell you that he's harboring Kronos in his body. When Percy and Cody tried to stop him, he attacked them. By then, others were on the way to help and made Luke and Kronos retreat."

I looked at Cody. "Will Cody be alright? Percy too?" I asked Chiron.

Chiron smiled. "They will be fine. I'm just healing them. Cody is awake now, actually. I think Percy is too, he's feigning sleep."

Annabeth jumped up and pulled herself together. She yelled at no one in particular, "He's awake?!"

Percy opened his eyes and smiled. He said, "You know, it was nice to get attention for once. Even from a girl that was crying so hard she got my shirt wet."

Annabeth gave a teary laugh.

Chiron said, "I'll let you all catch up on previous events." He walked out and left us alone.

Annabeth told Percy feebly, "I was worried about you."

I really did not want to be there at the moment. Percy sat up and kissed Annabeth on the lips.

Ignoring what was happening two feet away from me, I said to Cody, "You alright?"

He nodded. He said, "Come here. I've got to tell you something."

Like two eight-year-olds sharing a secret, I bent towards Cody and he cupped his hand over his mouth. He whispered in my ear, "Percy and Annabeth are too dramatic. They should be in an opera."

I suddenly realized how close our faces were. I thought of Sydney. He must have realized the same thing, because we broke apart abruptly, cracking up.

I glanced at Percy and Annabeth, seeing if they were done yet. Annabeth's eye caught mine and she wrenched herself apart from Percy and cleared her throat.

"So, yeah," she told Percy awkwardly.

"I like the smell of your... hair! Yes, hair," Percy said in the same awkward tone.

Cody and I were laughing out loud.

Annabeth hissed at us, "Tell no one."

I laughed, "Why would I do that to my dear sister? But I'm not going to lie if someone asks me directly, 'What did Percy and Annabeth do in the Big House?'"

Annabeth scowled. Cody just laughed again. Percy looked uncomfortable.

I took a tissue of a bedside table and said to Cody, "Let me get that blood off your forehead. It looks horrendous."

Cody protested, "Keep talking like that and everyone will think you're really a daughter of Aphrodite."

I said, "Never in a million years," and wiped the blood off Cody's head.

An hour later, I was in Archery Training. And I really needed the training.

The interesting-haired Apollo girl named Kate went over how to hold a stupid bow again with me.

"Like this!" she sighed impatiently.

I brought back the arrow and let it go. For the first time, it actually hit the target!

"Yay!" I cheered.

Kate shrugged, "Not bad for the thirty second try."

After Archery, I found myself talking with Kate.

"So," I started. "When did you get to camp?"

She replied, "Bout a year ago. Got claimed a week later."

"You waited a week to be claimed?" My mouth hung open in shock.

Kate just said, "Some kids don't get claimed at all and live in the Hermes cabin for the time they're here."

"That's awful!"

"I know."

I don't know how or why, but from that moment on, Kate and I were friends.

Sydney, on the other hand, was just a nuisance. She cornered me after every meal, saying that I seemed like I needed a best friend.

"I have two best friends!" I kept protesting.

"No, you, like, don't," Sydney would then say. At which I would walk away.

Two days later, we were approaching my first game of capture-the-flag. The teams were divided like this. For the blue team, we had my cabin, Apollo, Hermes, Poseidon, and Demeter. For the enemy (the red team), they had Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hades (Vistra was still visiting), and Dionysus. The teams were more or less evenly matched.

Annabeth was approaching me about a half hour before to talk strategy.

"You're offense," she told me. "You're fast and a good fighter. Not to mention you're like a ninja when it comes to stealth." She smiled. "I'm going to distract them while you sneak in and get the flag. After that, I want you to bolt for the line."

I nodded. Annabeth made a good captain. She thought of everything.

I walked into the armory to get my armor on when I saw Cody suiting up in bronze armor.

"Hey," I said as I walked in.

"Hey," he also greeted.

I pulled on my bright silver armor as I told Cody, "My first opportunity to squash the enemy."

He laughed and said, "That's a new way to think about it."

I smiled evilly and said, "They are going down if I can help it."

"Me too," he agreed. "I'm guarding the flag. You?"

"I get to capture the other team's flag."

"Lucky! Well, I did get to try last time."

"Try?" I asked weakly.

"Yeah, I almost had it, but someone pushed me from behind and onto a rock."

"Ouch! That must have hurt!"

"I was in the Big House for a day after. Nasty scrape on my arm."

"Being offense seems dangerous. I'm not sure if I want to do it anymore," I joked.

Cody smiled. "You're up for it. I can tell."

I returned his smile as I grabbed a matching bright silver shield and put Excelsior in its hilt.

About five minutes later, I was standing directly behind the line, waiting for Chiron to tell us to start.

Annabeth rushed past me and said, "Good luck!"

Chiron said, "Now that I've cleared everything up, let the match begin!"

I snuck off towards a denser part of the forest and began to walk stealthily into enemy territory.

I was just about to creep out of the trees when I was seen by a certain obnoxious daughter of Aphrodite.