Hey, guys. I'm sorry that this update is kind of late. I've been extremely busy lately, but I've found some time throughout the day to write so chapters should be a bit more frequent. Yay!

Also, thank you all for the reviews, favs, follows, and for just reading the story. :)

Here's chapter 6

Chapter 6

The camp was beautiful, absolutely breathtaking. Never in my life had I seen a place as extravagant as Camp Halfblood. Everything was perfect from the big, blue house-I'd later been told it was called the Big House, which I found fitting- to the succulent strawberry fields with strawberries so sweet and juicy, you can't help devouring them. It almost seemed too perfect. Like a dream, a soothing dream that I'd soon wake from only to return back to my living nightmare.

I pushed those thoughts away, not wanting to think of going back outside the camp's barrier, to not only having to fend for myself, but for four other people. To clear my head, I submerged into the clear lake water. Ever since the truth had come out about Annabeth, I'd ventured out to the lake to clear my head. The water always seemed to have a magic quality to it, taking my mind on a vacation far away from my problems. I knew I couldn't hide from them forever, but at the moment, I just couldn't deal with them. Pushing my troubles away, I let the cool water wash over my skin, refreshing my aching body.

One of my favorite things to do when I come to the lake is play with all the little fish swimming around my feet. I love to go under water and playfully chase them around like we're long lost friends enjoying a game of tag. They always greet me when I come by and every time they welcome me with open arms…er…fins. And as crazy as it sounds, they hold great conversation. The fish could be trying to encourage me to get munched on by a monster and I'd be so entranced by their interest in the topic that I wouldn't even realize what they were asking of me. They were just such interesting fish, but they were terrible gossips, discussions ranging from Poseidon's other son's new hairstyle to what Amphitrite was wearing. If I weren't looking at them, I'd think it was a bunch of girls from the Aphrodite cabin talking. But they were my only company, considering how I refused to talk to anyone except Grover who turned out be an awesome friend.

He seemed to understand my frustration towards Annabeth and my worries about losing someone important to me at the hands of Kronos. He was an avid listener, silent when need be, only adding comments when he deemed necessary. Never did he interrupt or somehow switch the conversation over to himself. It was him I enjoyed talking with the most. Granted, Nico was on my top ten talked to list, but as of recently, he's been spending the majority of his time with Travis and Connor Stoll from the Hermes cabin. No matter how much I wished he'd hang out with me for a change, I was happy for him. He finally had an actually friend excluding Thalia, Rachel, and myself. He'd met the Stolls on normal circumstances, not over some silly alliance that blossomed into a friendship.

I sighed as the conch horn blew, signaling dinner was beginning. Standing from my seat position on the lake's floor, I strode through the waves to the shore where my clothes were strewn haphazardly on the silky soft sand. I pulled my orange camp shirt over my head and shook my wet hair back and forth like a wet dog. Off to my right, the snapping of a twig caught my attention and jerked my head toward the noise, but my eyes found nothing. In an instant, I knew exactly who it was standing there. Before I had a chance to avoid her, she yanked off her Yankee's cap and materialized in front of me, blocking the way to my cabin.

"Percy, we need to talk."

I shook my head.

"Yes, we do."

"What's there to talk about?" I asked, trying to evade this unwanted conversation.

"Why have you been avoiding me? When are you going to get over this?"

"I need time, Annabeth, to process everything."

"It's been three days."

I shrugged, attempting to sidestep past her, but she mirrored my actions, once again blocking my path.

"If I knew you would act like this, I never would have agreed to Chiron's request. I would have let someone else take my place. You probably don't think so, but I'm still me, I'm still Annabeth. Remember? Your best friend since like forever, your girlfriend."

"I know. It's just this whole thing is overwhelming. Do you understand? Only a few weeks ago, I was in that hellhole of a prison, thinking about how you'd been the person to put me there. It made me feel like you didn't care enough and that really hurt."

"I really am sorry, Percy. I never meant to hurt you and if I'd have known that it would, then I would've said something, made Chiron choose someone else to go. But he trusted me to be the spy and I accept not only for you and me, but also to help all demigods. This can be the breakthrough we need to get rid of Lotus for good. No more cells, no more guards, no more Kronos. Can you imagine how much weight will be lifted off our shoulders once all that is behind us?" She gushed, wrapping her slender fingers around my wrists, her eyes filled with excitement for what the future could hold. "Everything will be as it should be, how it was before any of this happened. Isn't that what you want? To have everything go back to normal?"

She had a point. With Annabeth's new found knowledge of the facility, we stand a better chance at finding the chinks in its armor, the weak link that could cause the entire prison to crumble and Kronos's plans to obliterate. And how can I blame Annabeth for accepting the job; she'd be the best candidate for it. She's intelligent, clever, and can formulate a plan in record time. And she has some wicked skills with a knife. Anyone comes too close, they'll get skewered. Hell, no one in this entire camp would've been a better choice than Annabeth. She'd managed to fool not only me, but also an entire army who truly believed she was on their side. That girl really is remarkable.

"Of course, that's what I want. It's what I want more than anything, but I just wished you would have told me. If something went wrong, I could've been there to protect you. I could've helped you out, been back up if things didn't go as planned. So why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought you'd try to talk me out of it."

"Well, I probably would have tried at first, but once I saw how important this was to you, I would've been on board with it."

"Look, Percy, I'm sorry. I didn't like going behind your back, but this was something I just had to do, you know. And I really do hope that you can forgive me." She did look sorry, like she truly regretted it now that she knew I'd be so upset over it. The look I'd seen in Grover's eyes that night in the woods was now reflected in Annabeth's. It hurt me to see her so sad; it felt like tiny toothpicks were poking holes in my heart. That's when a thought struck me. Maybe I was overreacting, blowing this whole thing out of proportion. She did what she felt needed to do, what she felt was right, and again I thought of Biance di Angelo. She'd spent her last moments doing the right thing and how could I belittle such a sacrifice? I couldn't; it wasn't right. The same goes for Annabeth's case. In that moment, I decided to forgive her, grant her another chance. I mean, things won't be perfect. It will take time for things to return to how they were and even longer for me to be able to trust her again, but her intentions had been good.

"I forgive you." Her eyes widened, her mouth formed an "o". She seemed to be in absolute shock that I'd actually said those three, small words. Annabeth shook her head, wiping the expression off her face, before throwing her arms around me in a tight hug that brought butterflies to my stomach.

I'd forgotten what it's like to hug Annabeth, forgotten the feeling in my gut, forgotten the rapid thumping of my heart when her arms encircle me. I hadn't realized it in the months we'd been apart, but I really missed her hugs, her hair, her eyes, everything about her. Even the zesty fragrance from her lemon-scented shampoo that always wafted up my nose whenever she was near.

A few moments later, she loosened her death grip around my waist and stepped out of my arms. Annabeth opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the horn sounding in the distance, signaling it was time for dinner.

"Hungry?" Annabeth asked.

My stomach rumbled, answering her question before I even opened my mouth.

She giggled before grabbing my arm and leading me toward the pavilion.

We'd arrived a few short minutes later and were forced to split up as we were from different godly parents. Apparently, the camp has a strict rule that for breakfast, lunch, and dinner all campers are to sit at the table representing their godly parent along with their half-brothers and sisters. So I had to sit at the Poseidon table by myself while Annabeth chatted animatedly with her cabin mates.

I looked around the pavilion and caught sight of Thalia and Nico who were also sitting at their tables by themselves. Feeling a sense of empathy for them, I waved them over to sit at my table. At least then we wouldn't look like loners sitting all by ourselves.

As Thalia and Nico picked up their trays and stood up, about to walk over, Dionysus, the wine god, or Mr. D ,who I found out also helped run the camp as punishment for being caught pursuing an off-limits nymph, shot me a stern look. Taking notice of the exchange, Nico and Thalia both plopped themselves back into their seats, clearly as unhappy with eating by themselves as I was.

The duration of dinner was uneventful. It was spent absentmindedly chewing my food, zoning out in thought. Most of those thoughts consisted of me bashing Mr.D's head in a door, which admittedly, brought a smile to my face.

Once dinner ended, we were to throw on our armor and report to the woods for the weekly game of Capture the Flag, a game centered around two teams, red and blue, fighting for the other's flag. It sounded like a lot of fun so I hurriedly tossed on my armor and met up at the woods a bit earlier than Chiron had said to be there. But I wasn't the first one there; many other campers had arrived early, their excitement urging them to get here as soon as possible as mine was.

When all those who wished to participate were present, Chiron arranged the teams, dividing up the campers equally. I was placed on the blue team with Thalia while Nico and Annabeth were on red. Chiron then gave us a few minutes to get acquainted with our teams, allowing us time to form a strategy and decide who gets to do what.

My team included Travis and Connor Stoll from the Hermes cabin, Beckendorf from the Hephaestus cabin, Katie Gardener from the Demeter cabin, Will Solace from the Apollo cabin, Thalia, and a few others whose names I didn't know.

Annabeth's team, on the other hand, was loaded with burly campers who I immediately recognized to be the sons and daughters of Ares. Clarisse, the head of the Ares cabin and by far the meanest person I know, shot me a smug smile when she noticed me taking stock of our competition.

The blue team moved further away from the red so we could formulate a strategy without unwanted ears eavesdropping, gaining the advantage. Although, if they did overhear, I doubt it would do them much good considering that our plan was by far the worst I'd ever heard. Annabeth would no doubt create an elaborate tactic that'll be a sure fire win while we basically just wing it. All we were able to come up with was that Thalia and I would go for the flag while the others would protect our blind sides. Beckendorf and Connor Stoll will be guarding the flag while we make our mad dash to the opposing flag. In my opinion, this is the worst idea I've ever heard. Too many things could go wrong, but since I didn't have anything better, I didn't object.

We headed toward our side of the creek and hid the flag behind some brush, half hidden, half still visible. Beckendorf crouched down in a thicket of trees, obscuring him from view, while Connor scaled a tree, laying down flat on the branch, the leaves camouflaging him from sight. This way it appears that no one is protecting the flag; therefore, letting our opponents guard down when going to retrieve it, but before they'll be able to get it, Connor and Beckendorf will jump out and double team them. Simple, yet not fool proof.

I readied myself, preparing for the stealthy sprint that could leave us shouting triumphantly or drowning in defeat. Thalia was flanked on my left, her shield, Aegis, gripped in her hand. I have no idea how she plans to run with that heavy, bronze shield. It's hard enough running without stabbing yourself in the leg with your sword, let alone lugging around a huge metal contraption. But I didn't question it for two reasons: A) she'd probably beat me with Aegis until I minded my own business and B) I trusted Thalia and her decisions. If she believed running a dead sprint with a shiny shield will benefit us, who was I to doubt her?

The moment Chiron blew the horn, signaling the beginning of the game, our feet took off, kicking up clouds of dust. The wind whipped in my ears, silencing all other noise except the rapid beating of my heart as it pumped blood throughout my body. The world blurred past us and before I knew it, we'd already reached the creek, the line that separates our territory and theirs. We leapt over it without a moments hesitation and kicked in an extra burst of speed. I'd never run so fast before except maybe when we'd been running for our lives when Luke attacked us in the clearing.

It seemed odd that we hadn't run into anyone yet, but just as the thought struck me, a sharp battle cry sound to my right followed by thumping footsteps slapping the earth. Looking off to my right, I found an Ares camper whose name I didn't know barreling toward me, sword raised and ready to strike. When he was within an arm's length away, he swung, but I rolled beneath his outstretched arm just before I had my head cut off. I withdrew Riptide and met his next blow halfway, sparks flying off the connected blades.

Thalia, having noticed the fight raging between us, stopped and drew a shiny, bronze dagger I hadn't know she'd been carrying, preparing to jump into the brawl herself.

"No, Thals. I've got this; you go for the flag." I yelled to her, not taking my eyes off my opponent.

Thalia nodded before taking off in the direction she'd been heading.

The son of Ares swung again, narrowly missing my chest, slicing a thin slash into my brand new, camp t-shirt. I raised my sword, slashing and swinging like a whirlwind, but my adversary deflected and parried them all. We exchanged blows and jabs left and right, but not a single one met its mark. He was extremely good in battle as was expected of a son of Ares and I was out of practice, a bit rusty, after having not swung a sword for five long months. But I didn't let that stop me. I feigned a strike to his right flank and he directed his sword to block, but a moment before our swords collided, I drew back, delivering a sharp kick to his chest.

He stumbled backward, struggling to gain his balance, and righted himself, looking unbelievably peeved at my newfound advantage. Letting out an enraged cry, he charged me and thrust the sword at my gut. I would've been a Percy-kabob if I hadn't used the disarming maneuver I'd learned so many years ago. With a twist of my wrist, his sword went flipping through the air, out of his grasp, and landed a few feet away, skittering through the ground. A trail of dust left in its wake.

My opponent stiffened, eyes darting from me to the sword, and in an instant, I knew what he planned to do. But before I could stop him, he dove for the blade. Clasping his hand around the hilt, he rolled over on his back so quickly I'd have gotten whiplash if that were me and swung the sword at my legs. Taken by surprise, I didn't have any time to deflect the jab and as the razor sharp point lacerated my calves, pain exploded in my legs and I was swept off my feet. My head and back slammed into the ground, my skull rattling around in my head from the impact. Stars appeared in my vision and along with them, little black spots that I knew would expand into a sea of blackness, dark as night.

"No maiming." I said, reminding him of Chiron's rule, which he seemed to have forgotten, as unconsciousness slowly began to settle over me.

"What that old man doesn't know won't hurt him." He replied, standing over me threateningly, his eyes hard. "Besides, where's the fun if you have no scars to show for it? Hmm?"

He slammed his fist into my face, emitting a sickening crunch, which could only be my nose breaking. Blood spurted from my now broken nose and only decreased my odds of remaining conscious. The black dots became more intense, nearly consuming my vision. No, not now. Not now. I thought, fighting off the darkness slowly devouring me.

Once unconsciousness all but won out, a thought struck me. The lake. The water would no doubt replenish my strength and restore my health. If only I could get to the lake, I could end this once and for all. There's no way I could beat him in my state. The guy was a rock with tree trunks for arms. But how was I going to get there? The moment I tried to stand, he'd smash my head with his monstrous muscles. I could summon it. It was a long shot; with my energy so depleted, it'd be a miracle if I could move a rain drop.

Closing my eyes, I cleared my mind of anything not involving waves and water. I pictured the little creek a few feet away churning into a tsunami-like wave and crashing into Ares's son full force. A tug in my gut grew until it was tight as a wire and I let it snap, the waves rushing him and washing over me.

As I suspected, the water healed me, but did nothing for my opponent. He was completely submerged and struggling to break the surface, choking and gasping for breath. His arms flailed wildly in an attempt to propel him upward. Feeling he had enough, I withdrew the waves and watched as he inhaled oxygen like a man starved of it. And I guess he had been. He choked and wheezed as he gulped in air, but when he satisfied his starving organs, he set me up with a look of pure fury.

"Relax, man. It's just a game. I think you're taking this whole camp thing way too seriously." I told him, trying to calm him down, but only making him twice as angered.

In a flash, he launched himself off the ground and wrapping his hands around my neck, lifted me off the ground. He pressed his thumbs into my windpipe, cutting off my air supply just as I'd done to him.

"This isn't about some damn game at a summer camp. It's much, much more than that. You honestly don't think that I'd want to participate in a petty game for wannabe heroes, do you?" He sneered, teeth gritted and clipping away at each word. "I don't think my master would like that very much."

I opened my mouth to ask, but words wouldn't come out. Noticing my struggle, the Ares guy loosened his grip just enough for me to speak.

"Master?" I managed to choke out.

He chuckled. "Lord Kronos, of course. Oh, don't look so surprised. Your little girlfriend isn't the only spy around here. But the only difference between her and I is that we play for separate teams. You see, I came here about a month before you, awaiting you arrival." He explained, pausing for me to ask my question.

"How did you know I'd even be here?"

"It was foretold by the oracle….or at least someone like her."

"What do you mean?"

"The real oracle of Delphi is under lock and key in the attic of the Big House. After several failed attempts at stealing it, I figured it'd be easier to use your friend, especially because she can't control when the visions occur so it's not like she could hide them from us." Rachel. They'd used Rachel and her ability against us, all of us. "The girl totally zonks out when it happens so she probably doesn't even know that we know."

"So…what? You're here to kill me? Get in line." I rolled my eyes at just how many times I'd almost been killed in the span of a week.

"No. Unfortunately, someone already got dibs on that." I mentally smiled at the thought of a bunch of demigods and mortals gathered together, arguing over who gets the honor of sending me to Hades. "I'm here to make sure you can't pull anything when my boss comes to have a word with you."

He pulled out a vile filled with cobalt blue liquid and dumped it over a knife no bigger than a cell phone. Once every inch of it was soaked, he thrust it deep into my stomach and the most excruciating pain I'd felt in my entire life surged through me. It felt like fire was searing through every part of me and my organs were ripping themselves apart from the inside. Never had being stabbed been this painful and I should know. I'd been stabbed plenty of times.

"W-W-What did you do to me?" I stuttered, the sheer pain consuming my every thought and oozing off every word.

"Don't worry. It won't kill you, hurts like a bitch, but won't kill you. That's not its purpose."

Before I could respond, a thought struck me. Why hadn't anyone come to help me? Couldn't they see there was clearly something wrong here? Or are they so caught up in the game that they hadn't noticed my predicament?

My opponent opened his mouth to answer the question reflected on my features, but was cut off by another voice, gruff and filled with malice, a voice I'd know anywhere. Shivers ran over me as I twisted around, the pain increasing by the action, and saw Luke, staring smugly at the helpless heap that had become my body.

"Percy, good to see you again." He said, crouching down so he hovered over me. I cringed at his proximity, shying away from him no matter how much my body protested the sudden movement. "Ah, don't be alarmed; I mean you no harm….for now. I only wish to provide you with some advice, a forewarning if you will. Look around, Percy, and tell me what you see."

Doing as he said, I turned me head to the side and if it didn't hurt so much to move, my jaw would have dropped. No wonder no one came to help me; they were all frozen, every last one of them. Not a single one made even the slightest movement and gave no indication that they were even breathing. It seemed like time had frozen in place everywhere except around Luke, creepy traitor Ares guy, and myself. My eyes focused on a particular camper further away from me. She was locked in battle with Travis Stoll, arm poised and ready to strike. Her hair whipped around her head, frozen midair in a mane of blond hair. I'd seen Annabeth fight plenty of times, but not one of them had I noticed just how graceful she looked while she did it. Her nimble feet frozen one foot in front of the other and if she hadn't been holding a dangerous weapon, she'd have looked like a dancer.

Luke's next words threw me back into reality.

"We have more allies than you even know. And you have no idea how easy it was for them to do this to your friends. Imagine if this were a war, Percy, and this is the battle field. Do you have any idea how easy it would be for me to take the lives of every one of these campers? They wouldn't stand a chance, wouldn't be able to defend themselves. It would be a massacre, Percy. All of your friends dead, families without their children, demigods of all ages enslaved in the very prison you escaped from. Is that what you want? Because that's what's going to happen if you fail to bring Hades's Helm of Darkness to me at sundown in three days. Once the helm is retrieved, you'll drop it off at this address." He pulled out a filthy, yellow sticky note and slid into the pocket of my jeans. "Do you understand? Good." He said, not even waiting for me to respond.

Luke waved the Ares kid over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Good work, Marcus. You've done well." He told the burly boy, smiling proudly at him, before shouting his parting words to me. "See you around, Percy, and don't forget my helm. Oh, and one more thing. I heard how much you love surprises so I took the liberty to give you a little adrenaline rush." And with a poof of golden smoke, he was gone.

Swords clashing caught my attention, but I was unable to see through the suffocating smoke that clouded my eyes and scorched my throat. Pushing the bothersome smoke away, I saw that my friends and the others had been unfrozen, which was a relief. But before I could celebrate, more movement off to my left caught my eye. Turning my head in the general direction, my heart jumped into my throat, my heart rate spiking. When Luke had said an adrenaline rush, he hadn't been kidding. There, standing before me, were not one, not two, but three Laistrygonian giants standing in the very place Luke had been not a moment ago.

And to make matters worse, they were headed this way.

Dun. Dun. Duh. Poor Percy; he never gets a break. Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter!

Also, I've been debating if I should have other pairings in the story besides Percabeth so I thought I'd ask you all. Do you want Thalico to be together? Do you want them to be with other people or with no one at all? It's up to you guys. Let me know in a review along with your thoughts on the chapter. How about we try to get the review count up to 30 this time around. :)

Thanks,

~TwistedTrident~