Hi guys! Long time, no AC! It's time for my 10th chapter! Party time! Dionysos has brought some balloons. :) Now, enjoy the chapter. I know you have waited for it!

Annabeth's POV

The days at camp passed. It was just the normal training, eating in the pavilion with the others, bonfire every evening at the amphitheater led by the Apollo cabin. But for me and Percy-pure Hades. Because we really sucked at everything. Percy would be defeated by a ten-year-old, to whom he was trying to teach the basics of swordplay. He'd started to avoid any place near water, because the water would always attack him and leave him soaking wet, his mouth full of seaweed and little fish. I couldn't concentrate on battle strategies. My work with my knife was useless. All of the knowledge in using a dagger as a weapon seemed to have run away of mu head, leaving me alone with random thoughts I couldn't gather. I was frustrated beyond measure and I had taken a manner of running to my cabin after every training session, lay on my bed and cry. Percy used to follow me, but my siblings never let him in, so he didn't even bother to try anymore.

"You've done enough damage to this cabin, Jackson," I'd heard my brother Malcolm say to him.

I didn't know why they acted so. Certainly not for my sake, I guess Jenny had told the others about what was going on between me and Percy, because their actions towards me had changed humongously. I ate at Athena's table, but no one ever spoke to me. It was like I was air to them. No, on the other hand, I was like a pile of dung. My sisters would scowl at me whenever they walked past me, like I was something really nasty and smelled like it too. My brothers just pretended I didn't exist. Percy and I hadn't told people about the visit of Athena and Poseidon. The only ones who knew the whole story were Thalia and Nico. Grover knew they'd visited, but he didn't exactly know what had happened. We wanted as few as possible to know about it, so we hadn't told Grover yet. He did suspect something, though, with his emotion reading and the empathy link between him and Percy. I supposed we'd need to tell him soon enough. His guesses had been quite close.

Of course, our not-so-good performances in training hadn't remained unnoticed – Percy, who'd already been unfriendly with Clarisse, got stupid comments from a sneering bunch of Ares' kids almost every hour. No one wanted him in their team in 'Capture the flag' anymore, so after a while, Chiron had to force the Hermes cabin to take him. Percy was always put on border patrol with many others, just so he had nothing to do.

Same things applied to me. I wasn't wanted. I ran border patrol with other lousy guys and beginners. Ugh. We both really started to hate friday nights. Even our favorite game had turned into a nightmare.

We didn't have much time for ourselves, just the two of us. Somehow things just went that way. There would always be someone or something, that kept us from being alone. I suppose our parents had something to do with it. The only time we had for ourselves was a ten minutes before lights out. Then we went through a pattern, that repeated itself every night – we told each other about our day (how it had pretty much sucked), asked some questions, like how the other was doing. The conversation was always the same. After the lame 'how's your day been'- convo, we only had a few minutes before lights out, so Percy would just hug me and we'd say goodnight. Then we would rush to our cabins and soon face another day of extreme irritation and humiliation.

Of course, Thalia and Nico were there if we ever wanted a break. Thalia and I took long walks around the camp and Percy and Nico did some guy stuff. I guessed Nico was trying to teach Percy how to shadow-travel, because he had mentioned something like it in one of our quick conversations and he was always bruised after his and Nico's guy sessions.

I was thankful to our couple therapists, as Thalia and Nico called themselves, but it still wasn't the same as to be with Percy. I found myself longing for his company, wanting to feel his arms around me, his voice in my ear. His smile, laughter, jokes – his goofy self. I missed my friend, which was what he'd been for me for many years. I also missed the feeling of his lips against mine. They'd been soft and careful, experimental. I knew we both were new in the kissing thing, bot in my opinion, Percy was a natural. I was eager for some more.

But even more than that, I wanted to sort things out with everybody – my siblings, other friends, Percy and our parents. Not in that particular order, but still. I knew that was a long shot, but life just wasn't as fun now, that I'd messed things up with everyone. The problem was, that I didn't regret a single moment I'd spent with Percy. I had realized, that he was too important for me to lose, even if there were consequences, and I hated the fact that we were been torn apart like this. I just hoped I could get my head work, because there was so much left on Daedalus' laptop for me to study and, although I wanted to be with Percy, I still had the ambition of becoming an architect. I wanted to study, get a college degree and then design something huge, just like the Gateway Arch or Hoover's dam. But there was no way, if I wouldn't get my head straight. I needed my power of wisdom.

Thalia's POV

The following weeks were heinous. It was so hard to be around Annabeth and Percy those days, but especially Annabeth needed me so much, that I couldn't possibly say no. Both of them were miserable. They tried to act normal, but you didn't need an empathy link to see something was dead wrong. Grover was getting suspicious. Only Nico and I knew the reason behind Poseidon and Athena's little visit at camp. Believe me, it was really hard to keep that from Grover.

I wished I could do something to help the poor lovebirds. I needed something to do. I still hadn't forgotten about the reminder Artemis had given me. So, I guess all of this had come in quite handy, because I had to be there for Annabeth, with whom I took long walks almost every day, and so I wasn't able to think about my own problems so often. I guess being a therapist did me some good.

But Annabeth wasn't there at night. Then, I lay on my bed and thought about Grover. What should I do? I didn't know. I had pledged myself to Artemis. She had made me her lieutenant. I didn't want to disappoint her. But then there was Grover. Grover with his reed pipes and huge appetite. And that silly bunny phobia of his. The way he loved nature above all else.

I was so fond of him. He'd been my friend since I was twelve. I owed him much.

So what should I do? Forget Grover or disappoint my lady Artemis? Because I didn't want to be in the middle for much longer. I felt like my heart was torn in two. Bigger part of me wanted to stay with Artemis, but the smaller part, the one, that wanted me to choose Grover, was getting angrier by the day.

Another question: who could I talk to? I couldn't dare to disturb Annabeth even more. She had too much in her mind already. Percy was in the same situation, so I didn't want to talk to him either. And, besides, he was a boy and this was definitely girl stuff. So that excluded Nico too. Grover himself? No way. So who? Sometimes I felt like I would explode any minute if I wouldn't talk to someone pretty soon. I knew I'd have to make the decision someday. I just could use a little advice first.

One day I wondered, what everyone I knew would say – Aphrodite would tell me to go for Grover, of course. She absolutely hated us hunters for letting go of men. My father, Zeus, would probably be okay with anything. I guessed he'd prefer me to stay with the hunters. After all, I'd achieved much. Nico knew nothing about love problems, so he'd tell me to stay with the hunters. He wasn't into love stuff that much. Percy would ask me, how I felt about it. He'd let me decide for myself. He wouldn't be any help. I thought Annabeth would do the same. Or maybe she'd say Grover. After all, she was about to join the Artemis, but wouldn't because she didn't want to leave Percy. She had a big heart, Annabeth.

A couple days later I was walking along the canoe lake. I was alone this time. I'd just had archery practice and I was waiting for the others to finish their activities. So, as you may guess, now that I was alone, I had time to think again. I really needed a holiday. The Bahamas or something. Somewhere I could just throw my worries away. I couldn't go back to Artemis before I'd made up my mind. Maybe Annabeth would come away with me if I asked? And Percy too, if we could work that out. Then I remembered: our camping out had been interrupted by the nasty Hundred-handed ones, who'd almost killed Percy. Perhaps we could carry on with the camping out? Grover had promised to see if there was some cool place where we could go. Shit, here came the problem again. What to do with Grover? It wouldn't be the same if he wouldn't come, but how could I be able not to think about him if he was right there?

Suddenly Annabeth was by my side.

"Hey Thals!" she said. Her hair was damp, so I supposed she'd just come from practice.

"Hey Annabeth," I greeted her and smiled. "Getting any better with your knife?" I asked.

Annabeth shook her head.

"No, I still suck. Every time I try to plan my moves my head goes all fuzzy. No use," she said.

I patted her shoulder.

"You'll figure it out sooner or later," I comforted her.

Since there was just the two of us there, I decided to ask Annabeth about my idea of continuing our camping out.

"That's a wonderful idea!" she shrieked when I explained my plan to her. "Who else is coming?" she asked then. Uh-oh.

"Yeah... That's the point. I don't know who I should invite, because I'd really want some time without constant worrying about the Grover-thing, you know," I said. Annabeth nodded.

"Yeah, I understand," she said. "Have you planned to ask anyone else?"

"Oooh, you mean anyone else, like Percy?" I teased. She elbowed my ribs, but I could see her blush.

"But just for you to know, I have thought about inviting Percy too. I'm just worried about hurting Grover's feelings," I said.

"Girls! Wait up!" I heard Grover yell behind us.

"Speaking of the goat..." I mumbled. Annabeth smiled encouragingly.

We turned to see Percy and Grover run/trot toward us. Percy's camp T-shirt had bad black spots on it. So, they'd been doing some wall climbing. About ten meters before reaching us, Percy stopped, eyeing the water of the lake suspiciously. Grover stopped between us and Percy, glanced behind him at Percy and then trotted back to him. Annabeth and I glanced at each other and then walked to them. Annabeth walked straight into Percy, buried her face in his neck and wrapped her arms around his waist. Percy rested his forehead on her head.

"Hey, Annabeth," he murmured.

"Hi," Annabeth said and looked up at Percy's face. Percy smiled and kissed the tip of her nose.

I glanced at Grover. As an emotion-reader, he was all fuzzy now, that so much emotion was going on right under his nose. He must've noticed I was looking at him, because he turned to watch me with a defensive expression on his face.

"What? Even you can't say, that these two aren't cute! I'm not Aphrodite, but I really think I'm going to cry," Grover said.

I turned to watch Annabeth and Percy. There was no one else in sight and these two were really taking the best of it. Percy was just stroking Annabeth's face, whispering something I couldn't hear clearly, but it sounded like Ancient Greek. As well I could see, Annabeth had turned into a human waterfall. Their gazes were locked, as if there were only them in the world. I understood them perfectly – they didn't get much time just for themselves.

"Oh, hey! Guess what, Thalia?" Grover said suddenly.

Not a minute too early. I was starting to drift in a dream, where I was doing stuff like these two lovebirds with Grover. The Grover-part of me was tugging in my stomach. I shuddered the disorienting thoughts away.

"What?" I asked and looked at Grover.

"Chiron has me a job. I'm needed in a school. There is some demigod, who needs to be transported safely here," he said, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.

Aww, crap. This would mean, that he wouldn't be able to come camping with... A-ha! Problem solved! Thanks, Chiron!

"That's great, Grover!" I shrieked. "You've been dying for a gig!"

Then I hesitated. How could I tell him we're going to go camping while he'll be working?

"There's something bothering you, I can tell," Grover said. "Mind telling me what it is?"

Annabeth and Percy saved me from the hot spot.

"You see, G-man," Percy said. "We've been acting a bit weird lately."

"Oh, I know," Grover said. "It's about your parents' visit the other day, right?" His tone was a bit bitter.

"Yeah, you see, we wanted as few as possible to know, but they were actually the ones who took our powers away," Annabeth said quickly.

"I see," said Grover. "You could've told me earlier, though. I was worried sick!" he bleated.

Percy patted Grover's back.

"I'm sorry, G-man. We just didn't want to draw extra attention on us," he said.

Grover went silent. I could tell he was thinking.

"You two really need a break," he said, looking at Annabeth and Percy.

"True," I went along. This was going better than I thought!

"Hey! How about we took a little holiday? When Grover leaves camp it wouldn't be the same anyway," Percy said. Wow, what a mind reader that boy is!

"That's a marvelous idea, Seaweed Brain!" I said. Percy, Annabeth and I eyed Grover. I prayed to my father, that this wouldn't hurt Grover's feelings.

My worries were unnecessary – soon Grover's smile grew even wider.

"You do that! You are really in a need of a holiday," he bleated.

"Wohoo!" Annabeth yelled. I felt a jolt of happiness in my stomach. I hadn't seen Annabeth get enthusiastic about anything since she and Percy had lost their powers. I hoped this would be a sign about things getting better.

"Okay, people. Let's ask Chiron!" I declared and so we darted towards the Big house. Grover came with us, just to give us some ideas of where to camp.

"Hey, what about Maine? Maine is very nice this time of the year," he blabbered.

"Why do I get the impression, that I have heard something like that before?" Percy asked. Annabeth chuckled. I looked at her interrogatively. She smiled at me.

"A private joke. I'll tell you the whole story someday," she whispered.

Chiron took our little plan quite well. He was all thumbs-up for us taking a little break. Apparently he had noticed Annabeth's and Percy's poor performances. Mr. D. on the other hand wasn't so pleased.

"This is against our camp rules and everything, although I couldn't care less about the rules. The rules of this camp are only made to protect these brats from harm. Bah! But this is not even a quest!"

"Now, now, Dionysos. They are not going that far. Nothing could possibly happen. Besides, Thalia will be there," Chiron soothed him.

Mr. D. mumbled something unintelligible about over-eager brats and suicide missions, but in the end, he let us go.

Percy's POV

Packing didn't take us long. I just rushed to my cabin, threw some clothes, my sleeping bag and a flask of nectar and some ambrosia cubes in my backpack. I tied a bandana around my head and I was ready for some hardcore camping. I tied my hiking boots loose on my feet and lulled outside, where Annabeth was already waiting for me by the hearth of Hestia. Thalia and Grover were kneeling on the ground, crouching over a map. Grover had convinced Thalia to take us to Sourland mountain, a ridge in New Jersey. Not too far away from camp, but still far enough to get that away-from-home-outdoors-feeling.

"Hi, Percy," Annabeth greeted me as I reached them.

Yet again, she was breathtakingly beautiful. She was wearing a pair of denim shorts (and when I say shorts, I mean really, really short shorts), which revealed her long and beautiful legs, and her camp T-shirt. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a pony tail, just like always. My gods, how beautiful can a girl be. I could just stand there and look at Annabeth the whole day. The most disturbing thing were those shorts. And her legs. Her beautiful, long, tanned legs. Whenever I caught a glimpse of them I got this feeling in my gut. Same sort of tugging as when I called the water to respond, but a bit different. I loved this girl. I wanted her.

"What are you ogling at, Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth asked. She tilted her head to the side a bit.

I couldn't answer. I was afraid I would say something unintelligible, like 'uhm gah' or something.

"Nothing," I finally managed to say. "You just look very nice."

Annabeth blushed and dropped her gaze to the ground.

"Errm... You too, Percy," she mumbled.

Thalia and Grover stood up from the ground.

"Okay, lovebirds," Thalia said, trying to use her lieutenant voice, but it was half-hearted. She glanced at Grover. Grover opened up his arms.

"Don't I get a goodbye hug?" he asked.

Ouch, I could see indecision in Thalia's eyes when she slowly walked to Grover and gave him a quick hug. After that, Grover pulled Annabeth into a hug and patted me on the shoulder and told to keep my eyes open. Then we lifted our backpacks on our backs and we were off. Grover walked with us up to the Half-Blood Hill, where Argus was waiting for us, ready to give us a ride to a bus station. When we climbed on top of the hill, we saw a shorter figure standing next to Peleus the dragon, who was guarding Thalia's pine tree and the golden fleece, that hung on its branch. In the afternoon sun the person's hair shimmered red like fire.

"Is that..." Annabeth started, but she never got to finish her question, because the red-haired person ran to meet us yelling:

"Percy! Annabeth!"

That's right. It was Rachel.

"Hey, Rachel!" I greeted her as she ran to us, pulling me into a big hug. I saw Annabeth's expression turn darker. She was so adorable when she was jealous. Man, I wanted to kiss her then, but I didn't have the guts. Not with everybody watching, especially Rachel. Rachel pulled away and moved to hug Annabeth, Thalia and Grover as well.

"How are you, guys?" she asked. "And where are you going?" She eyed our camping gear eagerly.

"We're... um..." I mumbled.

"We're just fine, thanks," said Annabeth.

"We're going camping," Thalia said happily. Annabeth glowered at her. I wondered what her problem was. It was just Rachel, after all. She should know better than to be jealous. My affection belonged to Annabeth and Annabeth only. She held my heart and her hold was permanent.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. "Having fun at the upper-class school?" I grinned at her. She stuck her tongue at me.

"You know how much I adore Clarion Academy, Percy," she said. "And why I'm here? I just felt like..." she couldn't finish her sentence. Instead she shuddered and her eyes turned a shocking shade of green.

"Oh, no! No, no, no!" Thalia yelled.

Rachel turned to face Thalia, opened her mouth and when she spoke, it was like five Rachels were speaking in a chorus.

"The journey with three heroes will start.
A quest, that will test brain, soul and heart.
The tough desicion must be made,
Power for love the gods will trade.
Yet again I'll speak a warning:
The quest will end with grief and mourning."

Rachel's knees buckled. I caught her just before her head hit the ground. I set her down on the grass. Soon Rachel partly opened her eyes. They weren't green anymore. Her breathing was feeble.

"We need to carry her somewhere to rest," I said.

No one made a move to help her. I dropped my backpack to the ground and pulled Rachel up. She couldn't stand on her own, so I scooped her up in my arms and started walking toward the Big house. Man, was she heavy! Behind us I heard the others drop their backpacks and run behind us.

"You need help, Perce?" Grover asked and trotted by my side.

"No, I'm fine," I said.

Thalia and Annabeth came to my other side. Annabeth quickly came really close to my side, so that her hand touched my body now and then. Wherever she touched me, those places left tingling, yearning for more of her touch.

I carried Rachel all the way to the Big house, where Chiron and Mr. D. were still sitting on the porch. When Chiron saw us, he stood up.

"Is that our young oracle miss Dare?" he asked as we arrived at the porch.

"It sure is," Grover said. "And she has given us another prophecy."

Chiron raised his eyebrows.

"Has she now? What did she say?" he asked.

We all turned to watch Thalia. For me, it was kinda difficult; I was still holding Rachel and there was still a very clinging Annabeth stuck to my side.

"She said something about a quest, that will test our mind, soul and heart. Then..." Thalia said, but paused then. She looked at me and Annabeth. She was about to reveal our secret. I nodded. Chiron had the right to know.

"Then she said, that the gods would trade Annabeth's and Percy's powers if they gave up their love for each other," Thalia continued, now talking to Chiron's front legs.

"I see," Chiron said. "So that's what has happened here." He looked at me and Annabeth.

"Yes, Chiron," Annabeth said.

"Was there something else, Thalia?" Chiron asked.

"Yes," Thalia said slowly. "She said, that this quest would end in grief and mourning."

I shuddered. What could possibly happen?

"I really hate to let you go now, that our friend miss Dare has spoken some words of the Spirit of Delphi," Chiron said. "You have been through so much. But a hero's fate is never happy and that's why I have to let you go."

Chiron took Rachel from my and carried her inside.

"Well, I suppose we'd better get going," Thalia mumbled.

"Yeah. Let's go," Annabeth said, though there was a frightened tone in her voice. A tone, which I hated. I hated to see her afraid of our fate. She was still stuck to my side, so I wrapped my arm around her waist and kissed the top of her head.

"It's gonna be okay, Annabeth. Don't worry too much," I said, though I wasn't quite confident.

Grover said he'd stay at the Big house, so Thalia, Annabeth and I started to walk back towards Half-Blood Hill.

Then we heard a voice coming from behind us:

"Not so fast, guys!"

We turned around. Rachel was running to us. How did she get well so fast?

"What now, Rachel?" Annabeth asked. Her tone was almost evil.

It took a while for Rachel to catch her breath, but eventually she was able so say:

"Can I come with you?"

No one could tell her no, so...

"That settles it then!" Thalia said again in her lieutenant voice, which sounded more convincing this time.

We walked on top of Half-Blood Hill, where Argus was still waiting. He was scratching Peleus' chin. Our backpacks were still lying on the ground.

"Hey, Rachel. You don't even have a backpack!" I said, when we Argus opened the white SUV's trunk for our luggage. Rachel winked. I peered inside the trunk. There was a big, black backpack inside.

"But how..." I started, but Rachel interrupted me.

"I had foreseen, that I'd come with you, so I might've as well been well prepared," she said and shrugged.

Thalia ran for the front seat of the car and Rachel, Annabeth and I climbed in the back. Annabeth made sure, that I she was in the middle, so that Rachel was nowhere near me. Rachel didn't seem to mind. I wasn't sure if she even noticed Annabeth's behavior. Argus started the engine and we were off. I couldn't help wandering, what kind of trip this would turn into. Prophecies never sounded good to me.

Ooh man, I'm going through some crazy time, 'cause my family (and obviously me too) is moving from Finland to the United Arab Emirates. I'm in the middle of packing here :) But hey, I hope you've enjoyed the chapter. Reviews are very much appreciated. Athena's cabin wishes you an awesome day!

Peace, love, PJO

Luv,

AC