Back with Chapter 2! This kind of introduces some of the whole "behind the scenes" of what these characters were doing while The Titan's Curse was going on. I'm not really sure what to say about this. This is just...my story. And I'm...publishing it. And...it's not very good. And...I'm gonna go now. There's not much more to say.

Before that day, I had never heard of anyone named Annabeth. I hadn't even known that it was a name. Ever since then, though, that name has been permanently imprinted in my brain.

The first time I heard the name, it was uttered from the mouths of dozens of campers surrounding me. They muttered it over and over again until it started sounding like a chant. I had no idea what they were talking about. Was it supposed to be a name, or was it some kind of title for someone like me? And, if it was the latter, what would that be exactly? Was it about me being a grandchild of a goddess, or could it possibly be about my father? I had no clue whatsoever.

Just as I was about to tell them I was not an "Annabeth," whatever that was, I heard the pounding of a horse's hooves. Within seconds, Chiron towered over me. The scariest part of him, I realized, is that his face remained completely expressionless, even as he examined me thoroughly. I couldn't tell if he was surprised, angry, happy, sad, afraid, or anything else. If he was furious, I would have understood; if he was confused, I would have understood; if he was scared, I wouldn't have understood exactly, but it would have been less frightening than this.

Finally, I saw his first emotion emerge. There was a flicker of doubt in his eyes as he fully took me in. Doubt? I wondered. Why was there doubt, of all things, in his eyes? Before I could even confirm what I saw, he regained his composure. "What is your name, child?"

"My name's Helena," I said without hesitation.

"And do you know who your parent is?" My mind suddenly flashed to the flag stuffed back into my pocket at the word "parent."

"My father is… well was, Marcellus Day, and my mother was Lexis Day."

"So…who was your godly parent?"

"I don't have one," I stated simply.

"What?" His mask of calmness slipped for a second, and he looked panicked. "How did a mortal get past the boundaries?" he asked more to himself than anyone else.

"I'm not a mortal," I said patiently.

"Then, what are you?"

"My grandmother was Athena, so I guess you could call me a second-generation demigod."

Without warning, his horse half reared up on its hind legs. I felt a sharp pain as his hoof made contact with my forehead. Then, there was nothing.

When I woke, he was sitting by my bedside. Before I had time to react, he pressed his finger to my lips. "Shhh. Don't speak," he commanded. "You're too weak." No, I wasn't, and I could tell he knew that. But I didn't say anything.

I glanced around the room I was in. It seemed like some kind of infirmary. That wasn't a good sign. What had happened again? Oh, yeah. It all came back to me.

I tried to sit up, but he pushed me back down. "Not yet. You need to rest." I wanted to argue that I had been "resting" while I was unconscious, but I held my tongue. I had learned long ago not to talk back to him.

Just then, Chiron burst through the doors. "Ah, so she's awake." He trotted over. "So, Helena, tell me more about you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, where were you born?"

"Colorado."

"Do you know where in Colorado?"

"Colorado Springs, the Garden of the Gods."

"Hmmm…" He stroked his curly beard. "Interesting. So, your father was Marcellus Day, and your mother was Lexis Day. Is that correct?"

I nodded.

"Marcellus seems kind of an old fashioned name, doesn't it?" I shrugged. "So, what did your mother and father do for a living?"

"My father was a neuroscientist and my mother was a college professor." At least the last part was true. I don't know why I picked neuroscientist, of all things though. I could have chosen architect, artist, inventor, or a lot of other things. Then, it wouldn't have been a complete lie.

"Where did they meet?"

"In Colorado Springs." Before he could say another word, I interrupted, "Sir, why are you asking me all this?"

Just then, the doors of the infirmary exploded open, and an out-of-breath camper stumbled up to Chiron. "There're here!" he exclaimed. "Percy's back. And's he's brought some people with him."

Even if there wasn't a group of girls following him, I would have known that Percy Jackson was a celebrity. Something about him, the way he oozed confidence and had an aura of power, made him look like he was used to getting attention. And I immediately disliked him.

I knew that that was probably totally unfair; he was probably a really nice guy. But something about him just made me feel uncomfortable, like I wasn't supposed to be near him.

I shook my head to clear it of these thoughts. I was being ridiculous. I didn't even know him, for goodness's sake. I would get to know him and then judge him, I decided. But something was still warning me not to get too close to him…

The son of Poseidon was accompanied by a satyr, a boy of about ten, a girl with spiky black hair, and a group of teenage girls, all armed with a quiver of arrows and bow.

From somewhere beside me, I heard the name Annabeth again. Who was this girl? She must be famous too. What was she, Percy Jackson's celebrity girlfriend?

I felt a pair of eyes on me. I turned and saw Percy staring at me with a strange expression on his face. Was it joy? Hope? He started straight towards me. Then, I saw another expression fill his features (disappointment?) and he stopped dead. He opened his mouth to say something but seemed to change his mind and turned away.

I didn't like the way he looked at me. I felt a hand on my shoulder and didn't resist as someone steered me away. Away from the strange son of the sea god, away from the girls with the bows and arrows, away from everything that was familiar to me, and into the unknown.

Marcus Teeming, son of Hermes, was about same age as me. He was at least an inch taller than me, though, and that annoyed me. Every chance he got, he bragged about his height or used it in some way that irritated me. Sometimes, I don't know why we were best friends. But then I remember his impish smile and his sparkling green eyes, and I remember.

We had met in the lair of a drakon, of all places. We battled it together and eventually killed it. Then, we got to know each other better, became friends, and reluctantly went our separate ways. I still don't understand how he could have ended up in the same place as I did for the second time. Maybe he was stalking me.

All of this info flashed through my mind as he helped me to the blue house I had seen before. He sat me down on one of the chairs on the porch. "Are you okay?" he asked.

I nodded. Before I could stop myself, I asked, "What was that all about?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the way that Percy Jackson was staring at me, the expressions that flashed across his face. What was that?"

Mark glanced around to check if anyone was around. "Well, I'm not 100% sure, but…"

"Marcus, tell me what's going on."

He took a deep breath. "Well, the truth is you look like Percy's friend Annabeth. I mean, you resemble her so much that it's creepy. I'm not exactly sure why she wasn't with him, but we'll find out soon enough. My guess is that she was captured or something."

I let that sink in. "So, you're saying that I look exactly like this girl that he likes whom he somehow lost?"

"I never said he liked her." But by the expression on his face, it was obvious that he, and probably everyone else, knows that that's not true. "But the rest of it's pretty much true."

We didn't talk anymore. I fell asleep in the chair, and when I woke, he was gone. Everything seemed to be back to normal. How wrong I was.

It all began with yet another game of capture-the-flag. It was the girls with the bows and arrows, which I learned were actually the Hunters of Artemis, against the campers. It all seemed normal enough. Until Percy Jackson and the girl with the spiky hair started fighting and the creepy old lady waltzed right into the midst of the battle.

She looked like a cross between a hippie and a mummy, two things that should not go together. When she spoke, green mist came gushing out of her mouth. By the time she was done talking, I figured that she was reciting some creepy poem. But it turns out she was delivering a prophecy.

I had no idea what she meant, but some of the people seemed to. They started saying stuff about Artemis and Annabeth and some person named Luke. Before it could get totally out of control, Chiron told them to get back to their regular schedules and that they would be fully informed about this later. Then, he took a couple of people with him to the Big House.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Mark standing behind me. He looked as confused as I was. "What in the world was that all about?" we asked at the same time. We grinned at each other; this is the kind of thing best friends are supposed to do, not battle mythical monsters together.

"And more importantly, what are we going to do about it?" he said.

"I guess we just do what Chiron asked and wait."

"Are you really going to do that?"

I couldn't help but grin again. "No."

"Oh no," he groaned. "You have that mischievous glint in your eyes that means you're going to do something extremely dangerous and/or against the rules."

"Well, of course I am. C'mon." I took his arm and dragged him away.

I was glad Chiron left the window open. We could hear every word they said now.

They talked about a prophecy, a quest, and the number five. I didn't understand much of it, but I knew enough. I knew that Zoë Nightshade, one of the Hunters, Bianca di Angelo, another Hunter, Grover Underwood, a satyr, Thalia Grace, a camper here, and another Hunter with a name I could never remember, were going on a quest to save Artemis. I knew that the Hunters definitely did not like boys. I knew that Percy Jackson was going to find a way to get on this quest from all I had learned about him in my time at camp. I also knew that the meeting was over and that we needed to hide right now.

Mark and I scrambled behind the corner of the building. The sound of footsteps faded. I was about to peek around again when Mark suddenly pulled me back. He put a finger to his lips and mouthed the word Listen.

Two voices, one female and one male, were whispering to each other in quick, hushed tones. Suddenly, I realized that they were the di Angelo siblings, the ones that had arrived at camp with Percy, Grover, and the Hunters. What were they up to?

"Nico, you have to understand. I have to go on this quest," the female voice, Bianca, starts.

"But you can't go!" the other voice, Nico, wails.

"I'm sorry; I really am. But I have no choice."

"Yes, you do. You could tell them that you can't go or fake an injury or…or something. Please, don't go." I could hear the genuine hurt in his young voice. A wave of sympathy instantly surged through me. He sounded so much like…

No! Don't think about that. Focus. I turned my attention back to the conversation but still couldn't get the thought totally out of my head.

"I'm sorry," Bianca was saying. Then, I heard the crunching of snow and knew she was walking. Straight toward us!

We couldn't back up fast enough. We were already on the other side of the building by the time Bianca passed by the spot we had been standing only seconds before, but it still felt like a close call.

I breathed a sigh of relief and turned around the next corner. And bumped right into Nico di Angelo.

Nico, Mark, who had been behind me, and I were knocked to the ground. Nico had his hand up to his forehead. I wasn't much better; that collision had been pretty hard.

"What the…" His voice trailed off as he saw me. "You're that girl who fell off that cliff! How did you get back? I bet Percy's going to be excited. I'm going to go tell him." He hopped to his feet.

"Wait. You must be thinking of someone else. My name's Helena and I have definitely not fallen off any cliffs."

"Oh." He looked disappointed. "Then, who are you?"

So, that's how I ended up telling a ten-year-old boy my false story instead of doing archery with the rest of the Athena cabin (which was just me since I was the only one in the Athena cabin). Mark added in some things (mostly about him) occasionally but mainly let me do the telling. At one point, though, I caught a glimpse of his face, full of confusion. "Tell you later," I told him with my eyes.

Finally, I was done. There was silence, broken only by the noises of the other campers around us and the sound of our mingled breathing.

I half expected Nico to just shrug and walk away, probably forgetting it by the next day. The other half thought he might figure out that I'm lying and maybe even tell Chiron. That thought made my heart race. Nobody, absolutely nobody, could know the truth about me. Not yet, anyway. If they did, they probably wouldn't let me stay at this camp.

I waited, both hopeful and anxious. The tension-filled silence lasted for a couple of seconds more. Finally, Nico broke it. And he said neither the former nor the latter. He said something totally and utterly unexpected.

"I know you!"

"You do?" both Mark and I asked at the same time. But this time, we didn't grin or laugh.

"Well, of course. You're Marcus Teeming, the only known person to trick Dionysus and get away with it. I've heard all about you." Nico himself seemed to be teeming with excitement. I, however, released the breath I was holding in relief. So, he didn't know anything.

"Yeah, that's me." Mark glanced at me, clearly as caught off guard as I was. But that confusion quickly turned to pride as he walked off with Nico, talking about his apparently famous prank.

I watched them go then turned and trudged off toward the archery range. Halfway there, though, I halted. An idea had popped into my head.

I had sensed it all the way from Central Park. I had then followed it from there to the camp. But I still hadn't found the time to look for it. Now was the time, I knew.

Following that same instinct as before, I changed my direction and trekked in the direction of the woods. Just before stepping under the canopy of trees, I hesitated. The first time I had strode in these woods, I had found my best friend again, accidently won a game of capture-the-flag, and almost blew my cover and revealed my true identity. Not exactly a good omen. Nevertheless, I placed a foot over the invisible boundary between the camp and the woods.

Part of me thought something would attack me once I crossed the line. But nothing happened, to my relief. I quickly started walking in the direction the instinct was taking me, soon speeding up to a sprint.

The sun had nearly set by the time I finally reached my destination. It didn't seem too special to the common eye, just a big pile of rocks. But I knew what lie within it. Or, more accurately, what lie beneath it. It was something of unspeakable power, something so large, it covered the whole country.

"The Labyrinth," I breathed. "It's an entrance to the Labyrinth."