I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Rachel's couch was really comfortable- I had designed them that way- but I could have been lying on a bed of nails for all I cared. I felt like Minotaur dung.

The cave was dimly lit. I was lying down with a knit blanket pulled up to my chin and a couch pillow under my head.

Rachel was at some Oracle meeting thing and had said that I could crash at her place. I just couldn't face the other campers. It was 2 days after…. after capture the flag. Percy was still missing. There was a rumor going around camp that I had somehow caused it. Danny was also missing. I think that the Aphrodite girls had started the rumor- but who knows?

Wanting to stop pondering over this- I tried to fall asleep.

"Bah! Is there anyone up there?" a familiar voice asked.

"Grover, I'm up here!" goat boy had been away for 3 months- helping Satyr efforts in the Amazon rain forest.

When I saw him- he gave me quite a shock. His hair was a mess. His orange Camp Half Blood shirt was ripped and dirty. He was bruised and cut- but it didn't appear to be anything to be worried about.

"I've been looking all over for you," he said. "No one could tell me anything- What happened?"

"What happened to you?" I implied- sitting up.

"Oh, this? Let's just say that there are a lot of unfriendly beasties in the rainforest. But what happened here?"

Rachel walked into the room from her top secret oracle room in the back. "Grover, I'm sorry to have to tell you this- but your best friend is an insufferable jerk face." She said. She stood there with her arms crossed- probably just to add emphasis.

I sniffed.

"Well, I know that something happened. I'm just not sure what. That's why I'm here- What the fields of punishment happened!" Grover pushed further- it was almost as if he was trying to make me feel worse.

I sniffed again and tried to explain, "Well, um, it was *sniff* was 2 days ago *sniff* and um, uh, I….." I burst into tears. I fell back onto the couch and pulled the blanket back up under my chin.

Rachel glared at Grover. She grabbed him on the ear and pulled him into the other room while he was going, "Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow, OW! Cut it out!".

She talked quickly and quietly so that I couldn't hear what she was saying. But apparently Grover hadn't gotten the hint- I could hear every word he said loud and clear.

"Say what!" "How could?" "She did?" "What the?" and finally, "Oh, I get it now."

I rolled over, closed my eyes, and pretended to be asleep. I wanted to avoid Grover's "comforting" words for as long as possible.

"Annabeth?" he asked, coming back into the room."Um, I need to tell you something. I think I know why Percy has been acting so strangely. He is under a spell."

I turned over and pulled the pillow over my head. I had heard this theory before.

"Look," he continued, "I can feel the magic. The spell is messing with his mind. I can feel it with the empathy link. The longer Percy and I are apart, the stronger the link is. A few nights ago, I could sense that something was making him really, really happy; but then, the next day, he went into a kind of a trance, he's like a little robot. This is some serious magic. It's making my nose twitch. Someone did this to him. He can't help it. It's not his fault."

He didn't mention anything about what Percy had actually done. Possibly because he didn't want to hurt me, probably because he didn't understand it."

I kept my eyes closed. Grover put his hand on my shoulder.

"That is not the only reason I came here though." Said Grover, "I have heard that a certain daughter of Pan has been claimed. I must go and speak with her."

I heard him leave the cave. I wondered if what he said was really true.

Later that afternoon, Chiron came to see me. I heard his hooves clopping up the stone stairs. He rang the bell and I, because Rachel was still doing freaky Oracle stuff, had to get off my lazy butt and go let him in.

"Ah, Annabeth; I need to speak with you dearly."

He came into the cave and stood on the rug while I sat back down on the couch.

"Child, I know things are difficult for you back at camp, but you need to come back and talk."

"Talk? They think that I made Percy and Danny disappear. It's almost as if they all just randomly turned against me." I said.

"Actually, I have heard that they are saying that you took a leaf out of your mother's book and somehow turned Danny into a Gorgon."

"Ugh! I can't go back down there!"

"You need to come back and talk." Chiron insisted.

"Why? I know what you are going to say. It wasn't Percy's fault, he was under a spell, and he can't help it. Well I've already accepted that! I really wish that I hadn't, because now all I can think about is how I can do absolutely nothing about it! He's gone and no one knows where he is. It's just so frustrating!" I was on my feet now, tears were streaming down my face, and my breathing was ragged.

"I'm sorry Chiron, it's just been… really hard on me. I just, I, I, I, I don't know!" I fell back on the couch and buried my face in my hands.

Chiron put his hands on my shoulders, "Do not despair child. All will eventually fall into place. We have a plan."

"We? Who is we?" I asked.

"Like I said, you need to come with me."

And chapter 6 is finished. Sorry I kind of dropped off of the planet for a little while. I discovered Facebook.