Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

I suppose I should start off by apologizing for not updating in what feels like years. I've been really busy with school and other things in life and everything just took over my attention and time.

This will be a short chapter, just to create some bridges in the plot.

I hope you all enjoy this chapter and I promise to do my best to update sooner.

Annabeth turned the page of her book and adjusted the position of her legs under the blanket.

Nights like these were rare. The girls were sleeping soundly in their beds and poor Percy was out cold in their own. After an intense evening of packing, making hotel reservations, and convincing Sarah that only taking a few of her stuffed animals with her wouldn't offend the rest, it was no wonder he went to bed so early.

She was tired as well, but Annabeth had found it impossible to fall asleep.

Her anxiety about tomorrow was too great and the still quiet of the night wasn't helping. It had given her time to think, and to be alone thinking was a dangerous thing.

She'd thought about who would be there, who wouldn't be there, what was going to happen, and what they were there for.

Annabeth already had an idea about what the gods needed from them, yet she hoped and prayed that she was wrong. Unfortunately, that was the only logical reason everyone was being summoned. Olympus didn't exactly throw annual family reunions.

She closed her book shut and rubbed the bridge of her nose, giving herself a headache wouldn't do any good.

Her cell phone on the table began to buzz. Annabeth picked it up and looked at the caller ID, smiling instantly when she saw the name. Answering, she made sure to keep her voice low so no one would wake up.

"Don't you think it's a bit late to be calling, Zeke?"

"Annabeth, you don't sound happy to hear from me at all. Honestly, I'm wounded."

She chuckled, "I'm sure you'll survive."

"Of course I will, I'm me, but what about you? You sound exhausted."

Annabeth felt herself deflate a bit and sighed, was it really that obvious? "Oh, it's nothing really. I guess I'm just tired from all the rushing around that went on today."

She heard Zeke shift on the other end of the line, "I'm guessing you got one of those letters too, huh?"

"Yeah…" Annabeth felt all the emotions she'd been holding in ever since they got the letter that afternoon begin to build up again. She pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath, trying to avoid overthinking everything.

"Annabeth, you okay?" Zeke's voice sounded from the phone, his tone etched with concern.

"Yes, it's just…I'm worried."

"Worried? About what?" He heard Annabeth sigh before she began to explain.

"Well, the gods obviously want our help with their little pest problem, and you and Percy are some most powerful half-bloods. Because of that, they're going to have you more involved than others."

"So?"

"It's just…if things get dangerous–"

"Hey, Annabeth, don't stress yourself out over all this. We've gone up against much worse, and we've been through enough to know what to do in almost every situation possible," Zeke's voice was sincere and made her relax a bit. She heard him chuckle, "You remember: 'There are lots of bizarre places out there and even more bizarre scenarios, might as well prepare for all of them. It's actually kind of fun'."

The quote was so familiar and brought back so many memories that Annabeth Jackson couldn't help but laugh a bit, "You guys were prepared alright."

"There, you see. No need to worry too much. We've got this, and we always have and we always will."

"I know, but…" Annabeth took a deep breath and sighed, "Promise me you'll keep your guard up, something about all this feels, I don't know…off."

"I promise, and I know how you feel. Something definitely isn't right." Zeke yawned, "I should probably go, tomorrow's going to be a long day."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "If anything, it'll be interesting. See you tomorrow."

"Oh, and Annabeth, you just let me worry about all this doomsday mess, 'kay? If there's one thing I know, it's that children of Athena overthink everything. So don't go off and fry your brain panicking over something that hasn't even happened yet."

"I do not overthink everything!"

"Yeah, right, I bet you organize your grocery list based on the location of each isle."

"…I've only done that twice."

"Hah! I'm right, you're wrong!"

"I'm not wrong about anything; you were only making an observation!"

Zeke snorted, "Sure."

Annabeth groaned, "You're not going to be like this tomorrow, are you?"

"No promises," he said and then snickered when she began to mutter into the phone, "Night, Annabeth."

"Goodnight, Zeke."

June: 15 years ago

Though people thought otherwise, Zeke could be very intuitive where his friends were concerned.

That didn't exclude his younger cousin, Nico, in the least.

Something was definitely up with the kid, he just didn't know what. Sure, it may look like he just had some bug that would go away on its own, but Zeke was positive that wasn't it.

"Y'know," Percy said from his spot under a tree, "if you keep staring at him like that, I'm going to start thinking you're trying to make him disappear."

Zeke blinked. He didn't realize that he'd been staring. His mind did tend to wander, though. He turned to Percy, "Hey, Aqualad, mind if I ask you something?"

Percy gave Zeke a brief withering look, obviously a bit miffed about being called Aqualad, "Shoot."

"What do think's bothering Nico?"

The son of Poseidon glanced at the undersized boy who lay sprawled out in his little corner of their campsite, immersed in a restless sleep evident by his tossing and turning.

Percy bit his lip, something he did whenever he was worried, "I don't know, but whatever it is, I wish he would tell us."

Zeke looked back over at Nico, who was now lying on his back with his hands positioned over his head. He would have looked peaceful, but the twisted expression on his face suggested discomfort.

"You think he's sick?"

Percy shrugged, "Maybe, but I don't think that's it. You saw how he was last night, the guy looked traumatized."

"Well, he just looks awful now," Zeke cast another glance at Nico. Unfortunately, everything they had just said was true. They came back that night to find their younger cousin on his knees in front of a dark crater staring blankly into it. He was paler than they had ever seen him and was shaking so violently Zeke almost thought he was vibrating. When they tried to talk to him, all Nico did was shake his head and say nothing was wrong.

Zeke could still see the son of Hades terrified expression.

He wasn't much better today. After Percy and Zeke's interrogation of him, Nico stumbled over to his sleeping bag and fell asleep so quickly it was scary. He was still asleep, but probably wouldn't be well rested when he woke up. Zeke wasn't sure when Nico had last eaten, not that it really mattered since the kid couldn't really keep anything down, which meant that he was dehydrated too.

The son of Zeus scratched the back of his head, "You think he needs a doctor?"

Percy sighed, "I'm sure Nico would tell us if he needed a doctor."

"Doctor or not, the kid still needs help."

"You're right, but we can't really do anything until we know what's wrong. We'll step in when we have to."

Zeke snorted and smirked, "Since when did you get so sensible?"

"It comes with experience," Percy paused when he earned a skeptical look from his cousin closest in age, "and I've been hanging around Annabeth a lot."

The son of Zeus settled back in his foldout chair and smiled, "Thought so."

"Hey, I can be pretty smart."

Zeke opened his mouth to engage in a nice secession of friendly banter when Nico groaned and sat up groggily. He rubbed his eyes and stretched, then examined his surroundings as if he wasn't quite sure where he was.

"Gods, what time is it?"

"Around three," Percy answered with his attention fully on Nico.

He moaned, "Ugh. Was I really asleep that long?"

"Yep, you rested up?"

"No," he answered flatly, "I kept waking up every hour and then falling back asleep, never really got any rest."

Zeke opened his mouth to ask why that was, but Nico cut him off.

"Oh, and I know where Acacia is."

Percy stood up, his relaxation forgotten, "Really, where?"

The son of Hades jerked a thumb backwards, "About 600 yards in that direction."

"Thanks kid," Zeke ran two fingers over his belt buckle and an assortment of knives appeared on the belt, "you coming this time?" When he didn't get a response, he looked up to see what was wrong, "Nico?"

The person in question had apparently fallen back asleep; he was now lying on his stomach with his head resting comfortably on his pillow.

"I guess he was still tired," Zeke said to himself as he began to walk after Percy, who had already started heading in the direction Nico had instructed.

Both had no idea how off they were about their younger cousin.

"Compassion is not weakness, and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism." – Hubert H. Humphrey

So, Happy New Year you guys! This is the first chapter of 2013, made ready especially for you.

I hope you all enjoyed it and my resolution for all my readers is to update more often with bigger and better chapters.

Ready for all that this year will bring,

~Fantasila~