Chapter 4

Hello! Did you miss me? I hope you did. If you didn't, then, oh well.

Sorry for the late update. I don't really have very much so say, and I don't want to hold you up with too many author's notes, but enjoy Annabeth's perspective about going to Camp Half Blood! Some unexpected events happen…

Annabeth stepped off the bus with a small duffel bag, wearing a Camp T-shirt, jean shorts, a silly hat that she had found for five dollars, Nike (the sneakers of victory) shoes, and a pair of cheap sunglasses that would probably scare any child of Aphrodite away.

She would need to walk about 10 to 15 minutes through the woods to get to camp half blood.

Not a bad way to begin her break, she supposed, but she was feeling a knot starting to form in her stomach.

The walk gave her a little bit too much time to think. What if half way there, she turned around and decided that it was too hard to continue. Maybe she was scared about what the campers would think of her after all this time. Maybe they had completely forgotten about her.

Annabeth took a deep breath and walked into the forest. How bad could it be?

The trip there went fine. Annabeth had actually felt relaxed while walking in the woods. It reminded her of better times, when she didn't always rush to places as fast as possible.

Camp Half Blood was her first true home. Of course they would accept her for who she was as they always had. And Annabeth lacked some life in her life, which didn't seem to make much sense, but it did if you thought about it (sort of).

The fresh air was really refreshing, and Annabeth couldn't remember the last time she was in such a peaceful environment. Her past life (meaning yesterday) seemed so very uptight and tense before, only she didn't seem to notice it.

Annabeth heard her phone ring. She didn't answer momentarily, stunned by the abrupt interruption from her promenade.

Then, slowly, she picked up her phone, and saw an alert.

"Shi… shoot!" Annabeth muttered.

She had one more week to submit her plans to the white house. Did she mention that she had barely started?

She was missing out on getting her dream job. Annabeth resisted the urge to run right back. She was almost at Camp Half Blood now, and she had gathered up all of her courage to do this.

Another day, she told herself. But she still had doubts. The white house would not be waiting for her, and she had tons of really talented and experienced competition.

And so Annabeth continued marching through the mass of trees, and soon camp half-blood came into sight.

It was just as she remembered it; the Golden Fleece hanging on Thalia's tree, the two columns marking the entrance with a stone slab on top reading Camp Half-Blood in Greek, and two smaller columns two the sides, each holding a bowl filled with flames.

Before she could change her mind, she jogged up the hill to her old home. Camp Half Blood was the safest place for demigods, right?

Annabeth saw no one as she walked through the entrance of camp. Then, she realized it was 10 in the morning, and everyone must be at their classes.

Perhaps I should settled in the Athena cabin, she thought, making her way towards the cabins. She was kind of glad that there was no one to greet her at the entrance so that she could think about what she would say. At the same time, she felt that there was nothing keeping her from leaving from what she had needed so much courage to do.

The Athena cabin was around in the middle of the cabins. Annabeth could now see just how much camp had changed since she left. The campfire and all was still there, but there were about three times more cabins. Minor gods, Annabeth assumed. Percy had requested this at the end of the titan war, Annabeth recalled, ignoring the tugging pain in her chest.

There must be some 200 kids at camp now, Annabeth thought, surprised. Before, at most, camp had 70 or so kids.

As she entered the Athena cabin, Annabeth felt the smell of organization overwhelm her nose; yes she could smell that. She looked around, and smiled to see that the Athena cabin didn't seem to have changed a bit. There were two lines of beds, a curtain separating them. Each line of beds had 6 beds. One line for the girls, one line for the boys. However, you wouldn't be able to guess which side was which, because they were all equally organized with equally bland colors.

The bed sheets were white, unless you were the head counselor, in which you got the owl bedsheet, which, by the way, was impossible to get dirty. Beside every bed was a desk with a lamp. Each desk had stacks of books and papers for whatever they were studying, and privacy curtains separated each bed.

At the very back for the room, though, was Annabeth's favorite place since she was seven; the library. Shelves and shelves of books covered the entire back wall.

In front of the shelves, were couches that Annabeth had often flopped on to read. Good times, those were.

Annabeth was so overwhelmed taking it all in, that she jumped when a voice behind her asked, "Are you new here?"

She turned around, and saw a girl who was about 13 or 14 standing in the doorway. She had short brown hair, and purple tinted glasses. Her eyes were a pale gray, and she wore a camp half-blood t-shirt, long jeans and combat boots, as if she couldn't quite decide whether it was winter or summer.

"Uh hi, I'm Annabeth Chase." Annabeth introduced herself. "I'm not new here, I'm just visiting for a while."

"Annabeth Chase? I think I've heard of you before. I think it was about the titan war or something…" She muttered.

"I used to be the counselor of the Athena cabin." Annabeth said, praying to her mother that the girl wouldn't say anything about Percy.

"Weren't you with that hero, Percy Jackson?" She asked.

Annabeth cursed under her breath. 3 years, and she was still known as Percy's girlfriend, even to someone who'd never met her before.

"Used to be." Annabeth said, trying to sound like it wasn't a big deal. "We broke up 3 years ago."

"Oh, sorry." She said, the look in her eyes not quite so sorry. "My name is Ashley."

"Cool." Annabeth said, feeling really uncool about how the whole situation was going. "Can you show me where Chiron is?"

"Sure. He's at the archery range right now, I think." Ashley muttered.

"Great." Annabeth tried for a smile. "Let's go find him."

Annabeth tried to make small talk while going to find Chiron.

"So, how long have you been here?" Annabeth asked.

"A year or so." Ashley replied. "I'm 14 now."

"Do you like camp?" Annabeth asked.

"I guess so." She answered. "I mean, if it weren't for Marilyn, it would be even more enjoyable."

"Marilyn?" Annabeth wondered aloud. "Who's that?"

"Our counselor." Ashley said. "She's really stuck up, but she's a pro with the bow and arrow – like as good as the Apollo children. She's also our main capture the flag strategist. She acts really nice on the outside, but she orders us around in the Athena cabin."

"That's terrible!" Annabeth exclaimed, outraged that her position had been taken by a person like that. "Stand up to her. Athena is a strong female figure in Greek mythology! Letting her treat you like this and not fighting it – that's a disgrace to our mother."

Ashley lowered her head shamefully, but shook her head. "She's got a whip by her bed, and if you try something, she'll be punishing you. Once, I tried to tell her to stop, and I got this."

Annabeth hadn't noticed before, but a long red mark went across Ashley's forearm, no doubt the doing of a strong whipping.

"Still, all of you guys working together can hold down one demigod. If you're all too scared, this will be the way the cabin will be forever." Annabeth insisted.

Ashley stayed silent.

They walked in silence until they arrived at the archery range.

There, sure enough, was Chiron the centaur.

Annabeth hesitated. How would Chiron greet her after all these years?

He had been like a father to her ever since she'd come to camp so many years ago, since she was 7. Then, he had trained her ex-boyfriend to save the world, and he was no doubt his favorite student, during that period of time, which meant he must have not taken sides when the two of them broke up – hopefully.

Annabeth took a risk. She was tired of living in fear, fearing that something might go wrong. Well now it was clear that whatever path she took had its risks, and she would just have to get used to it.

And so Annabeth took a deep breath, walked up as close to Chiron as possible, keeping personal space in mind, and cleared her throat.

As he turned around, Annabeth tried to follow his expressions the best she could. First he seemed confused, then shocked, and then finally (after a long and awkward while), a smile started to form on his face.

"Welcome home, Annabeth." He said, grinning. And I couldn't help but grin back.

The rest of the day went by in a blur.

Annabeth joined in in camp activities, which was a lot more fun than she remembered it being. Although she was out of practice with some of them, she still seemed pretty solid in my sword fighting and all. Chiron told her that she'd be up to speed again if she continued for a few weeks.

Annabeth felt an uncomfortable sensation in my stomach. It was just too bad that she couldn't stay a little longer. But there was something more to that sensation; for some reason she felt a sense of dread as well. Was something bad and horribly unexpected to come?

Annabeth was sitting on the rocks near the canoe lake and sighed deeply, unsure of what to do. The sky had started to darken even though it was only half past two, and she decided that she ought to go back to her cabin and meet some of her cabin mates if she were to spend the night here.

Just then, someone tapped her shoulder.

Annabeth spun her head around and saw a handsome, yet unfamiliar face. He had light brown hair, gelled back in an attractive way. He had the most amazing sea blue eyes ever, only second to a pair of sea green eyes glued in her mind. He had awesome eyebrows, a long, straight nose, and a winning smile. He had a lean frame, though he wasn't Mr. Muscles, he obviously had toned arm muscles from what Annabeth could see, like an archer, she decided.

"Hey," He said. Annabeth couldn't help but sigh contently. His voice was deep and rich, though not too deep. "Are you new here?"

Annabeth realized that she looked stupid staring. "Um, no. I'm not new here. I just left a while ago and came back. I'm Annabeth Chase, by the way."

"Oh, where are my manners? I'm Derek Levine." He frowned a bit. "Annabeth Chase? I've heard of you before. I was in the battle of Manhattan, actually, but you never noticed me, and I never talked to you because, well, you were dating Percy Jackson. But I heard you guys broke up a while ago. Oh sorry. Did I offend you? I didn't mean to."

Annabeth tried to keep her emotions under control. He was no doubt a son of Apollo. He had a big mouth, but Annabeth didn't really mind people with big mouths after all these years.

"Um, yeah. That's okay. I just don't like to talk about him, that's all. What can I help you with?" Annabeth asked.

"Sorry." He smiled sheepishly. "Mind if I sit with you for a while? Just to keep you company, if you feel like it."

"I suppose that would be nice." Annabeth smiled.

He grinned at her, and all of a sudden, the sun seemed brighter once again.

They talked about their interests in life, favorite animals, and worst habits. And before she knew it, it was four.

Annabeth stood up and stretched. "It was really nice talking to you. I should probably get going though."

"Um, that's fine, but can I ask you a question before you leave?" Derek asked, seeming a little nervous.

"Sure, just make it quick." Annabeth smiled reassuringly.

"Well, I was wondering if you could go to the KIG celebration with me."

"The what?"

"KIG stands for Kronos is gone. We've had a party for it each year. It's in two days." He said.

"I was only planning on staying one day, actually –" A little voice inside of Annabeth's mind said, take a break. You can do the blueprints whenever at camp. Just do this for him and yourself, and you might get a boyfriend.

"You were saying…" Derek said uncertainly.

"Yeah, sure. I'll go with you." Annabeth relented.

Derek smiled widely. "Great! See you!"

Annabeth watched him jog away from her stance on the shore of the lake. She had just gotten herself a date! In fact, as Annabeth walked back to her cabin, she was feeling pretty good until she saw him.

Who was him? He was the guy that Annabeth loved and hated beyond all reason.

Percy Jackson.

What was he doing at camp? With his… girlfriend?

Annabeth gulped and ran back to her cabin as fast as possible. Her plans for today were: Avoid Percy by going dress shopping for the party the rest of the day.

The sky agreed with her foul mood at seeing Percy by turning from a blue to a gray.

A/N: Really sorry for the late update. I'm updating Immortal soon, by the way. This is not the end of Annabeth's POV. I guess it's kind of like a part 1. We'll see. Anyhow… R&R!