So, this chapter is mostly just a filler-you know, those things I can't really afford to use anymore since Blood of Olympus is only 40 days away from its release date? Yup. That.

But the next few chapters will make up for it-I'm about to cram a whole lot of action into a limited number of chapters. You guys are going to have aciton coming out your ears. Also, most of the chapters are going to be longer-like, ten to twenty pages long. The next one, for example. It's going to get through half the Eris trials in one chapter-something that sounds slightly impossible (at least to me) and that will leave me exhausted but proud of myself.

Oh, and the most reviews thing-that's just for the Percy Jackson fandom/section. Yeah, sorry I didn't specify that. We've got nothing on the HP and Twilight fanfics.

I really liked everyone's ideas-seriously. I'm going to write them all down so that I can just look at the list whenever I need fresh inspiration/ideas. Unfortunately, I will not be able to use all of the ideas, considering there's like a hundred of them, so sorry to those whose ideas don't get used.

This weekend is Labor Day Weekend-a three day weekend for my school. Which means it's also my family's annual camping trip to a State Park in northern Indiana that's absolutely awesome and beautiful and really close to this adorable antique tourist town that I love. I look forward to this trip all year. And it's basically the only actual vacation my family goes on each year, so I'm really, really excited.

But, I won't have the computer. So I'm going to have to try to write out bits and pieces of the next chapter and then string them together when I get back. The next update might not come for another week and a half. *winces* Sorry.

Here's the update before I leave for the weekend, though, and ENJOY IT! It's a little short, and a little fluffy, and definitely slightly a little bit of a filler, but I promise next chapter will make up for it! Promise!

Chapter CIII

Annabeth

"Do you think I should pack a bag?" Annabeth asks, her voice a little muffled since her head is in the closet.

"She didn't say we couldn't." Percy points out from his position on the bed. "She just said no armor."

"Yeah, but she also said we might not have another chance to eat something for a while." Annabeth counters, rifling through the piles of clothes on the floor of the closet for a suitable jacket.

"So? This test sounds a lot like a quest, and we always packed bags for those." He argues, staring at the ceiling thoughtfully.

"Yeah, but we also expected to be gone for longer than a day." Annabeth reminds him, and straightens, a jacket clutched triumphantly in her hands, even if it is inside out.

"True." He concedes. "I dunno, though. There's other stuff we ought to bring-ambrosia, and nectar, and bandages too, probably. Where are we gonna put that stuff except in a bag?"

"Pockets?" Annabeth suggests, turning the jacket outside in, the way it's supposed to go.

"You can't put all of that in a pocket." Percy protests. "Besides, what if it falls out while we're fighting something?"

"Bags can get lost too. Remember our first quest?" She says, and then leans back, blowing out a breath and tapping her fingers thoughtfully. "Okay." She finally continues, the jacket hanging from her hands, momentarily forgotten, as she thinks hard for a solution. "How about we each make sure to have a baggie of ambrosia and some nectar with us-yes, in pockets-but we bring a bag too, with more extensive supplies? More ambrosia and nectar, of course, and bandages-water bottles, since we're definitely going to need to stay hydrated, and-" She stops, looking to Percy. "What else do we need?"

"I think that covers it, if we're only going to be there for a day or so." He replies, rolling over and looking at her.

She puts on the jacket, pulling her hair out from under the collar before holding her arms out. "What do you think? How do I look?"

A smile tugs his lips. "Beautiful." He tells her.

She rolls her eyes, but she's smiling. "Come on, we better get to the others. It's almost time to go."

"Wait a sec." He says, and sits up, beckoning her over. "C'mere."

As soon as she gets within reach, he grabs her around the waist and pulls her down onto the bed next to him, growling playfully. She laughs, and tries to pry his arms from around her, but he won't give.

"Percy-" He kisses her neck, distracting her. "Percy, come on, we need to go."

"Stick in the mud." He grumbles, and then grins, trailing his fingers along the skin of her stomach exposed from her shirt riding up. She gasps and tries to wiggle out of his grasp, but he just smiles wider and does it again.

"Percy, quit it-" She starts, and then giggles when he reaches around and does the same thing to her lower back. "Percy, stop-that tickles!"

He finally stops, still grinning, and presses himself against her, covering her lips with his in a kiss so passionate that she feels her cheeks warming from a blush, even as she kisses him back.

When he pulls away, she sucks in a little gasp of breath and touches her lips, startled. "What was that for?"

"Well, we're probably not going to be doing a lot of kissing for the next few hours." He tells her. "So I figured I'd make up for it now."

Annabeth smiles, and kisses him just once more-just a peck on the lips compared to the kiss they just shared. Then she slides out of his arms and stands up, snagging the strap of a backpack slung across the desk chair, and opens the door, waiting for him.

They walk towards the mess hall hand in hand, pausing by Jason's room, where Piper's standing in the doorway in jeans and an oversized sweatshirt.

"Pipes, have you seen my sweatshirt?" Jason's voice calls from inside the room, where he's rummaging through his drawers and the clothes scattered across the floor, presumably looking for the lost sweatshirt.

"Yeah." She replies, smiling a little and wrapping her fingers around a mug Annabeth only now notices-it's filled with either hot chocolate or coffee. She can't tell which.

"Where?" Jason asks, and Piper's lips twist up into a half-grin.

"I'm wearing it." She tells him, and he looks up, noticing for the first time what she's wearing. He sighs a little-a little breath of exasperation-and then smiles, before holding his hand out for it.

"Can I have it?" He asks.

Piper sets her mug down carefully on the dresser, which is positioned to the left of the doorway, and then lifts the front of the sweatshirt as if to take it off. Instead, she raises it to her nose and breathes deeply, her eyes smiling mischeviously over the top of it.

"Nope." She tells him, her voice muffled. "Mine now."

Jason grins and takes a step forward. "Guess I'll just have to take it back myself, then."

Piper returns the grin, mockingly, and rolls her eyes at him. "You can try."

"Was that a challenge?" Jason demands, mock-offended. Piper rests her hands behind her on the doorframe, tilting her head down mysteriously, playing coy.

"Maybe." She replies, and he looks at her sideways for a second.

Then he jumps forward, reaching out to grab her and pull her to him, and she laughs and leaps away, taking off down the hallway with him close behind, leaving Annabeth and Percy to leap out of the way to avoid getting trampled.

Annabeth smiles and turns to Percy, who's eyes are following them down the hall, an affectionate smile on his lips. "It's good that they're having fun. They deserve it."

"They do." Annabeth agrees. "I just hope they don't forget that we only have twenty minutes before Eris starts the test."

Percy laces his fingers through hers, smiling reassuringly. "Let them have their fun. They might not get another chance."

His words remind Annabeth eerily of Aphrodite's last words to her, before the dream ended, and they echo in her head now, reminding her of all that she stands to lose when this test is over.

Don't forget to make the most of your time. Life is too short not to.

It sends a lance of pain through her heart, but it also helps her remember that she can't afford to spend the rest of her time constantly worrying about every little detail. She has to make the most of it, because after that test, when they confront Gaea...she might not get another chance either.

So she hikes the bag's strap higher on her shoulder and flashes Percy a grateful smile before leading the way to the infirmary, where she packs the bag with ambrosia, bottles of nectar, water, bandages, and a basic first-aid kit, covering all the bases. Then Percy helps her fill a few ziploc baggies with squares of ambrosia, enough for all of them to have one, and they head to the mess hall, where everyone had decided to meet.

Leo, of course, is already there, wearing cargo pants, worn brown combat boots, and his army jacket. There's still a smudge of pink on his left cheek where one of the flowers was, but for the most part, he's managed to erase all evidence that he was in a glittery pink dress less than an hour ago. You know, besides the glitter still sticking in his mess of black curls.

"Leo, come here." Annabeth says, swooping down on him and grabbing his chin firmly with one hand. He doesn't fight-he's too confused. She then licks her thumb and roughly wipes away the pink smudge, causing him to jerk out of her hold and swipe at his cheek, his nose wrinkled in obvious disgust.

"Ew! Gross!" He complains. "What'd you do that for?"

"You still had pink on your cheek." She explains, reaching out to try and smooth his curls into something presentable. He ducks out of her reach, holding out his hands.

"Whoa, Momma Bird, you can stop with the coddling. I'm not five." He protests, his whiny tone suggesting otherwise.

Annabeth just raises an eyebrow, and Percy laughs from the other side of the room. She turns to him, and he shakes his head at her with a grin, gesturing for her to join him.

"C'mon, Wise Girl, let's get something to eat." He suggests, pulling her chair back for her.

"We already ate." She protests, and he shakes his head.

"Cotton candy and Chips Ahoy M&M cookies do not count." He tells her sternly.

"Now who's coddling?" She mutters, but sits down and accepts a bagel with cream cheese.

At that moment, Frank chooses to stumble in with Hazel on his back, piggie-back style, both of them laughing and smiling like idiots. Idiots who are very obviously in love.

"Remember that time we started a mud-fight at camp?" She asks thoughtfully, and Percy, who'd been taking a sip of Coke, starts coughing and spluttering, obviously (to her, at least) from laughter.

"Yeah, what about it?" He finally asks, his voice tight from the coughing.

"It started a lot like that." She adds, nodding to Frank and Hazel.

"You think I could forget? You wouldn't let it go for weeks afterward!" Percy exclaims incredulously, raising his arm in an expansive gesture that almost knocks his cup of Coke over.

"Of course I wouldn't! You dropped me into a mud puddle!" She accuses, a part of her soaring with happiness at the return of their normal light bickering.

"I didn't drop you; I fell!" He says defensively. "And you should be proud that I managed not to land on top of you!"

"That was luck." Annabeth replies dismissively.

"Besides, you got me back when you smashed my face into the mud and rubbed it into my hair." He points out, ignoring her comment about luck.

"And you got me back when you nailed me in the back of the head with a mud ball later on." She counters.

"That was an accident!" He shouts, his face flustered.

Annabeth starts laughing, loving how nervous he can get when she starts arguing with him. "I'm messing with you, Seaweed Brain." She tells him, grinning, and he smiles wryly, reaching out to hold onto her hand.

"I knew that." He replies, and she just shakes her head at him.

Piper and Jason walk in then-Piper still wearing Jason's sweatshirt, grinning triumphantly, and Jason wearing a hoodie jacket that he doesn't seem particularly fond of. But he's still smiling, and Annabeth's glad he hasn't lost his good mood.

"Okay, now that everyone's here-time to remind you all of a few things." Annabeth starts briskly, and pulls out the Ziploc baggies full of ambrosia. "First, everyone gets one of these. Put it in a pocket, and try not to lose it. We're bringing a backpack, too, with more extensive medical supplies, but just in case we lose that, we should all have some ambrosia of our own."

Percy helps her hand them out-well, he throws them, but it's the same general idea, even if he does accidentally nail Jason in the side of the head with his bag.

"Oh, yikes." He says, wincing. "Sorry, man."

Annabeth hides a smile and continues. "Second, and most important-don't get separated. This is testing all of us, together, as a team, so we need to stay with each other. We're stronger together."

"Third, this isn't a game." Percy adds, taking the next words right out of her mouth. "Eris might've said the test won't be fatal, or cause us any permanent injury, but we can still get hurt, and I'd like us all to avoid that as much as possible. It might be our only chance to get the gods to take us seriously. And Eris is the goddess of strife, and the initial cause of the Trojan War-that practically guarantees that there will be fighting involved. When that happens, don't do anything stupid, don't be reckless, and do your best. Use every trick you've got, and don't be afraid to fight dirty if it's the only chance you have."

"Everybody ready?" Annabeth asks, looking around the table. A quick glance at the clock confirms that they have minutes left before it's time for the test to start.

Piper and Jason ate earlier, she knows, and Frank, Hazel, and Leo all finished eating before they came into the room, so everyone's eaten and drank something, which makes Annabeth feel a little more relaxed. They nod at her question, and she quickly leans over and slings the backpack across her shoulder, tightening her grip on Percy's hand.

He squeezes her hand reassuringly, meeting her eyes and grinning his trademark sarcastic half-grin.

"We've faced things more difficult than this before, Wise Girl." He reminds her. "Compared to those, this test will be a breeze."

She smiles up at him before glancing quickly around the room-one last check to make sure everyone has what they need. She doesn't see anything out of place-everyone has weapons, jackets, shoes on, and Piper has the cornucopia and Katoptris strapped to her belt along with her sword.

She takes a deep breath, releasing the tension in her shoulders as she exhales. She closes her eyes, trying to calm her nerves, and feels a strange sensation-like pins and needles all across her skin.

When she opens her eyes, she's not in the mess hall anymore.

And on that note, the week-long wait for the next chapter begins. :) Well, maybe longer than a week. I said that. Several times, I think. *Shrugs* Oh well.

I love you, Green Day is AWESOME (Thalia has really good taste), don't put your life in mortal peril and cause your dad to turn you into a tree to preserve your life, and ENJOY LABOR DAY WEEKEND! (sorry, non-American readers, or those who don't celebrate it. I just had to put that there)