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Tori's POV

I felt like a pot of boiling acid had just dropped on my foot. Fire didn't hurt that bad, did it? At least, I didn't remember it hurting like that.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't mad at Leo. Even if it was an accident, it hurt pretty badly. The top of my foot was black, like a big lump of charcoal. As Haley and I walked to the Apollo cabin, it felt like a lump of charcoal, too.

I was relieved to finally reach the porch. I sat down on the second step and stared at the sky, which was now lit up with stars. It was perfect. (And no, as much as my description sounds like it, I was not dying!) Haley excused herself and walked into the cabin. So I sat there doing nothing.

I was bored. And in pain. There is no better blend. Across the green, Leo was returning to Cabin nine with a gloomy expression. I felt sorry for him. I watched him enter his cabin and shut the door.

My eyes were still on that door when a girl's voice beside me said, "You okay?"

I was expecting Haley to be back, so I was surprised when I whirled around to see Annabeth Chase on the steps beside me. I immediately felt bad. Her condition was a whole lot worse than mine. Her best friend and boyfriend had been missing for four months now, and the only thing that we could figure was that he was at that place where Jason came from, which none of the camp councilors would tell anyone about except Haley and I, just because we had councilor boyfriends.

But anyway, she was staring at me with worry in her eyes, like she truly cared about how I was feeling. But I couldn't understand why she would be more worried about my issues than her own.

"I'm...cool, I guess. Why?"

She stared at the horizon. "I know what you're thinking."

My eyebrows scrunched together. "What?"

She sighed in an extremely unhappy way. "Well, since Percy disappeared, people don't treat me like a useful person. More like a giant ragdoll or something. Like a person without any life inside." Her eyes dropped to the grass at the foot of the steps. "I'm still useful."

I opened my mouth to say something, but the words wouldn't come out. What would I say?

"Annabeth...we know where Percy is. And Leo is almost done with the Argo II! It's gonna work out just fine."

She shook her head in disagreement. "Percy will be alright at the Roman camp, he's not dumb. He's an excellent fighter and he doesn't show weakness. But— it's not that I'm worried about. I mean, what if he's not Percy anymore?"

I didn't have an answer, but it didn't matter because her eyes dropped to my forgotten foot and her eyes widened.

"Are you okay? Let me get that." Annabeth stood up and walked over to the Apollo's cabin door. She reached her hand out to knock, but before her knuckles could reach it swung open and Will and Haley came out with supplies. When they saw Annabeth, they stopped abruptly.

"Oh. Hi...Annabeth," Haley stuttered out. Annabeth had a tear running down her cheek and so she just reached out to Haley for a hug. I knew they had a history and all, but my foot still felt like a giant rat was gnawing on it. (A/N- If you wanna hear the history, read AthenaKidd's story, The Time of Our Lives.)

"Hey, um...?" I said.

Haley looked at me and pushed away from her. Her eyes switched from me to Annabeth, until she finally decided my case was more important. She took Will's hand and tried to pull him down at my level, but he slipped his hand out of hers.

"Annabeth needs some comfort, too," Will said. "I'm going to stay with her while you heal Tori."

"Will, please stay," Haley said with more emotion in her voice. "I don't know how to work this!"

His face tightened up a little like he was getting frustrated. "Tori isn't the only one who's hurt. Look at Annabeth. She's my friend and I'm going to help her, too."

Haley took Will's hand again. "Please. I can't do this. I don't know how to heal."

"You should learn some time."

That one caught us both by surprise. "What?" we said in harmony.

"You heard me! I'm sick of you relying on me for everything. I'm sick of it, okay?"

"Will, what are you talking about?" I yelled at him.

"You need to just let me have my space! You two aren't my only friends! And right now, a friend that I haven't talked to in forever who is hurting because another friend I haven't talked to in forever is gone! Now I need space!"

Annabeth grabbed his shoulder and flipped him around.

"I don't need extra care, okay? You're my friend, don't get me wrong, but I can care for myself." she flipped back around dramatically and stomped back to cabin six.

Will looked at us with an expression that showed blankness, guilt, I'm in trouble, and a million other things.

Haley shook her head at him like she couldn't believe it. But the words wouldn't come out of her mouth. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then opened.

"We need to take a break."

Will was obviously expecting it, though it still looked like someone had just taken a dagger to his heart. "O-Okay..." he whispered, his soft voice trailing off. He took two steps backwards and then called for somebody from inside his cabin.

Kylie McCarthy, an Apollo girl with ear buds hanging around her neck and one red streak running thru her amber-colored hair, walked out. Will gave her a quick explanation of what was going on, and then she took the supplies from him. She took a seat beside Haley and me and examined the burn. She grimaced, but she explained it was just a first degree burn and that she'd got it plenty times with the flat iron. Haley was bored with her diagnosis until she compared it to her flat iron burns. Then she went into the zone as Kylie cleaned the burn with nectar.

"Oh...Give it a day, I guess. It'll be gone by this time tomorrow with the nectar."

I nodded at her. "Thanks, Kylie.

She stood up a dusted off her torn, faded black jeans. "No prob'. Hope you feel better."

Haley led me back to cabin eleven, where Travis picked me up and laid me down on the fifth bunk. He did the 'guy nod' at Haley and thanked her. Haley went back to cabin ten next door while Connor called lights out.

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