Okay, so it's been a long time
Please forgive me, and maybe enjoy this chapter?
I love you all.

Aleka

"Ma'am?"

"Enter!"

A tall, skinny boy with dark hair entered the tent. He was grinning.

"Make it quick," Aleka said. "I am not in a good mood."

The boy bowed his head, and then straightened up. "Commander, one of our spies has contacted us through Iris-message."

Aleka waited for more, pulling some of her hair from her face.

"It appears that Annabeth Chase boarded a train for New York this morning."

Aleka sat up straighter and raised her eyebrow. "New York?"

"Yes, ma'am." The boy said, whose name Aleka could not remember. "We don't know exactly where she's headed, but-"

"Contact one of the spies in the city," Aleka ordered, an air of urgent power around her. "Station someone at the train station. Have them tell us immediately when they figure out where she's going."

The boy bowed his head again. "Yes, ma'am. I'm on it."

He left the tent, and Aleka stood up. After a moment of speculation, she walked out of her tent. In the large clearing there were many tents, and people milled around. Aleka walked to the edge of the clearing, right before the underbrush became very thick, and turned back into woods. There stood a tent that was very old, worn in places. Aleka walked in without asking permission.

There sat Pearl, her dark hair obscuring her face as she wrote in a small journal. Realizing someone had come in, she looked up and closed the book.

"Commander Aleka," she said, standing. "Hello."

Aleka nodded. "What has the progress been like with your mother?"

Pearl smiled slightly. "More monsters will be sent from the underworld in a few days' time."

Aleka thought for a moment. "We're going to need to dispatch some to New York once they arrive. Of course, a few halfbloods will accompany them. Would you like to be one of them?"

Pearl said she would, so Aleka gave her permission. That's how you run a revolution, Aleka thought. Firm, but caring. If you give your followers what they want, they'll continue to follow you.

Then Aleka went back to her tent. She took out a small crystal prism from her bag and set it in the sun that shone through her sunlight. Small rainbows ricocheted everywhere. Reaching into her duffel bag and taking out a drachma, she threw it into the rainbow in front of her and requested Iris's assistance. The rainbow turned into a reflective surface, and slowly a picture formed.

A boy with blonde hair and blue eyes stood there. He looked around him a few times, and then smiled into the portal. "Aleka. Nice to see you."

"As always, Aaron." She replied. "Give me an update."

"Weapons are being made in excess, mostly because of our invasion. We've been able to steal a good amount. Those Hephaestus kids aren't too smart-they aren't noticing. I'll send Alice to you with the weapons once we've gotten a few more. It still won't be enough, though."

Aleka sighed. "Thank you, Aaron. You know I'd only trust you to do this. Now…some of the followers already have weapons, but it appears that I'll have to arm some of them with less conventional arms…but I suppose a kitchen knife will hurt just as much as a celestial bronze dagger."

Aaron nodded. "Good luck, Al. You'll pull something together. They're kind of freaking out here. Most of the campers were pretty young when Kronos attacked, so they don't have much experience in real-life combat."

"I know," Aleka replied. "I'll see you soon, hopefully."

"You'll see Alice sooner," he told her.

Smiling wearily, Aleka broke the connection before someone saw him. If Aaron were to get caught as a spy inside the camp, they would be in big trouble. It was one of the largest accomplishments of her operation, that she had someone right under Chiron's nose and he didn't have a clue. Just the thought made her grin.

She turned and walked out of her tent, ready to rally the troops. They were going to have to steal some weapons.

Annabeth

Stepping off the train, Annabeth looked around the huge station. She'd missed the city a little, the hustle and bustle and the beautiful architecture and, most importantly, the memories it held for her. She held her duffel bag over her shoulder as she headed for the exit. She glanced around outside, trying to get her bearings and remember where she was, and how to get to the college. Percy had offered to meet her at the station, but she wanted to find her way by herself. So she'd been attacked-that was nothing new, and she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself.

She began down the busy street heading the way she was pretty sure was right. She was rather preoccupied however, so she didn't notice the seventeen-year-old boy, tall, lanky and mischievous-looking, who was walking a safe distance behind her, hands in his pockets. He was good at not being noticed-a life of pranks and practical jokes had set him up to work as a perfect spy for Aleka. He wasn't interested so much in the 'halfbloods are superior' spiel she went off on, but he enjoyed the action.

Annabeth turned around momentarily, but the boy was simply glancing at a newspaper stand, and Annabeth had no reason to think anything was wrong.

The boy grinned slyly.

Chad

"I see her."

I looked up. Percy was leaning against the wall, while I sat next to him, my Psych textbook open in my lap. Our dormitory was located closest to the main entrance, so we were waiting outside to find her.

"Why is she walking all the way here?" I'd asked Percy before.

"She wanted to get here by herself."

"But it'll take way longer than if you just went and got her. She doesn't know the way very well." I argued.

Percy shrugged. "It's an Annabeth thing. She's really…prideful."

I decided not to go into it anymore.

Now I could see a girl with a duffel bag walking across the grass to our dorm. Percy had straightened up, and started towards her. I sighed and closed my book, watching them. They were too far for me to hear when they met each other, but I saw them hug, and then Percy took her bag. They started towards the entrance to our dorm building.

A few minutes after they'd disappeared into the double doors, I got up and went in. If you hadn't picked this up already, I was really not looking forward to Annabeth staying with us. We'd managed to get a futon that we'd brought into the room for Percy to sleep on(he was giving her his miniscule bed, of course). Annabeth hadn't liked me the other time we'd met, and she didn't seem like the kind of person who gave second chances. Then there was the fact that pretty much whenever I was in my own dorm room, I'd be a third wheel. Gah.

Oh, and there was the fact that having outsiders stay in our dorms was against the school rules. But then again, Percy and I had sneaked outside and ridden a pegasus off-campus, so obviously security was not top-notch here.

I got to our floor. Percy was standing partway in our room, with the door open. I came up behind him.

Annabeth was in the room, looking around. Her bag was now sitting on Percy's bed.

"This isn't so bad." She said.

"Thanks," I replied sarcastically.

She turned around and looked at me. "Oh. Hi, Chad."

I nodded in reply. Then, before things got awkward and/or strained, I announced, "I'm gonna go see if Jenna's up for ice cream. I'll be back later."

As I turned to go down the hall, I saw Percy shoot me a look. It was partly annoyed, but party apologetic. I figured that that was the best I'd get from him.

Jenna was, in fact, up for ice cream. So I managed to get rid of two hours I might have otherwise had to spend in Annabeth's proximity.

So, I'm going to use the school excuse. School began mid-August, and man is it a pain. For example, chemistry? No one understnads it. And I've already been out sick for a day, and it's only been three weeks. This is why I despise high school. It's a breeding place for germs. *Shudder*

Anyway, today I got this email that Oh, Baby!, a fanfic that hadn't been updated in ages, had a new chapter. This inspired me to update Freshman Year because I really, really want to finish it.

Review, PLEASE! Then I'll write more often, I promise.

Loooooooove, Jenna.