I was brooding in the strawberry fields, away from the rest of the campers to prevent myself from strangling Tantalus to death again with my bare hands.

The revived spirit wasn't all that intimidating – taut flesh over his thin frame, dark, sunken eyes, and a mop of oily gray hair on his head. His fingernails were dirty crescents, his smile a cruel sneer. To top it all off, he was stuck wearing an orange prison jumpsuit with the number 0001 stitched onto the front pocket and on his back. Combine that with the fact that food attempts suicide every time he tries to reach for it, all in all, the new activities director was more of a nuisance than anything else.

I'd gotten a chance to say goodbye to Chiron before he left, purposely ignoring the satchel that he had across his chest. He had dark half circles under his eyes, letting me know that he was stressed out about his leaving.

"Where will you go?" I'd asked him, the two of us ambling towards the border. "The Party Ponies?"

"I'm afraid so," Chiron had sighed, wiping a tired hand across his face. "However, if I am right, I will be stationed with my brethren in Miami for the time being."

"Be safe," I told him, giving him a hug as we reached the poisoned pine tree. "I'll clear your name, I promise."

"Don't you worry about that," Chiron said, waving a finger at me. "I'm more than capable of taking care of myself, Andy. Keep an eye on Annabeth and Percy, will you?"

"Of course, sir."

After Chiron took off, galloping at the supersonic speed that all centaurs could achieve, I sat myself down in the strawberry fields, hearing some campers screaming in fright at the sight of Tyson.

I felt bad for the big guy. From the little conversation and interaction I had with him, I pegged him as a big teddy bear, the kind of guy who wouldn't even hurt a fly unless seriously provoked. Plus, he was going to get picked on even more after Poseidon claimed him.

Behind me, satyrs played their reed pipes, sending ants running out of the strawberry fields like refugees from a fire. I smiled wistfully at one of them, reminding myself of Grover. Then my smiled dissipated as I remembered where Grover was at the moment, stuck on the island of Polyphemus in the middle of the Sea of Monsters.

What would Hermes say when he saw me here? I know he was going to ask Percy for help to save Kyle, but even that turned out sourly last time. Kyle was beyond any of our help, sad as it may seem. He was stuck under the pretenses of my father's promises and would stop at nothing to see Olympus burned to the ground brick by brick.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt someone put a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to find a smirking Cleo, her gold hair glowing like it was on fire in the summer sunlight.

"Ha, I finally got you!" she cheered as I got up, rolling my eyes at her.

"Won't happen again," I promised, dusting the dirt off my pants. We'd had a running joke about scaring each other for the past few months or whenever we saw each other.

"Five drachmas that it will."

"Since when did you bet?" I laughed, agreeing to the bet with a shake of our hands.

"Since you left me alone with the Stoll brothers." Cleo was pouting at the reminder that I'd left for the year, as she was a year rounder alongside the Stoll brothers, Clarisse, Will, Michael, and a handful of other demigods. I guess it made sense that she would hang out with them as they were all around the same age.

The two of walked back to camp, our arms slung around each other shoulders while we talked and laughed as we caught up. I'd visited camp three months ago during my spring break, so there hadn't been too much that I'd missed, other than the sudden arrival of Tantalus.

There mere thought of Tantalus made me angry. How dare the gods accuse Chiron for treason! He's literally been training their children for over three thousand years, creating heroes like Jason (the original), Theseus, and Hercules (ugh), not to mention the fact that he was the one that brought Percy to camp to return Zeus' Master Bolt. Zeus had really gone off his rocker to blame the old centaur for the poisoning of his daughter's tree.

We disentangled ourselves as we approached the dining hall, not wanting to send the wrong impression. Personally, I didn't care what anyone thought about me anymore. Spending time with the Olympians forced me to increase my self-confidence, or else I'd be a sniveling mess from the amount of insults and harassment I've suffered at their hands. Cleo, on the other hand, cared what people thought, and especially after learning about the kind of trauma she'd gone through, she didn't want anyone to think she was in a relationship.

I took a seat at the Poseidon table with Percy, who was silently glaring at Mr. D and Tantalus. Tyson had been forced to stand next to the duo, fear rolling off of him in waves. The satyrs next to Mr. D weren't too happy about their current situation, either, staying on the side of the god that Tyson wasn't on.

"I can't believe it," Percy muttered, his fingers incessantly tapping on the marble countertop. "I've known him for the entire school year and never saw a thing."

"It's the Mist," I replied, watching as a nymph set down a plate of grilled chicken tacos in front of me. I thanked her as she set down a plate of steak tacos in front of Percy before moving onto the Ares table. "Don't feel bad that you're still learning how it works."

Percy nodded glumly, standing up and making his way over to the bathtub sized brazier. We both threw in some of our tacos before returning to the table, chowing down on our lunch. Hey, I hadn't eaten breakfast this morning, so I was going to enjoy my tacos.

Over at the head table, Tantalus was trying to corner a chocolate frosted doughnut, which flew off the table, knocking over a couple glasses as it flung itself to the floor. Tantalus scowled at the dessert while I snickered softly, glad that my back was to the head table. He deserved his punishment for killing his children and feeding the gods with their bodies.

"Campers!" Tantalus announced, raising an empty hand like he was expecting it to be holding a golden goblet. "A toast to the brave Clarisse for slaying those dreadful Colchis bulls!"

The kids at the Ares table shouted obnoxiously loud, pounding Clarisse on the back in excitement. Clarisse seemed uncomfortable by the attention, which was a first, but I guess I understood. No one wanted to be favored by creepy, old Tantalus.

"What about that?" one of the Apollo boys asked, gesturing towards Tyson.

"He's not a that," Percy growled lowly, his posture tense even though he was sitting. It was a miracle that he hadn't lashed out. Fatal flaw, after all.

"Ah, yes, the Cyclops," Mr. D said tiredly, taking a swig out of his can of Diet Coke before passing off the empty can to one of the satyrs. "What ever shall we do with him?"

"I wanted to let him loose into the forest and have you all hunted down, but apparently I can't." Tantalus gave Mr. D a stink eye, the wine god not aware of the look of disgust on the newcomer's face.

"Does the Hermes cabin have any room?" Mr. D asked. Connor and Travis shook their heads back and forth so quickly, it's a miracle they didn't suffer whiplash. The other Hermes kids didn't look too thrilled about having a Cyclops in their cabin either. Plus, it's not like they had the room, especially during the summer session.

Then a bright sea green light began glowing above Tyson's head, a light I'd only ever seen once before. Percy's jaw dropped, the taco he'd been eating sliding out of his hand and onto his plate. Because glowing above Tyson's head was a sea green trident, the same symbol that had appeared over Percy's head when he was claimed – the sign of Poseidon.

The entire dining pavilion burst out into laughter, pointing to Tyson while clutching at their stomachs. Tyson was swatting at the holographic light above his head, not understanding what was going on.

Beside me, Percy was scowling at the other campers, knowing that they were being cruel beyond measure. I grit my teeth, hating how people laughed at things they didn't understand, even if the thing in this case turned out to be a Cyclops. Annabeth, Charles Beckendorf, Silena Beauregard, and a few other of Percy's friends stayed silent, glaring at Tantalus.

"I can see the family resemblance!" Tantalus howled.

I grabbed a little pebble from the ground with a shadow and chucked it at Tantalus, biting back a laugh when it brained him right in the center of the forehead. The rest of the campers' laughter died down as Tantalus turned to glare at all of us.

"Who threw that?" Tantalus demanded, crossing his bony arms over his chest.

Not a single soul said a thing.

"Well, I'm waiting!"

Silence.

I stood up in annoyance, catching Tantalus' attention. "You, girl," he snapped. "You seem like an attentive one. Can you tell me who threw this infernal stone at me?"

"I can," I said with a shrug. "Doesn't mean I will."

"Oh, snap!" Connor shouted behind me. I turned around and gave him a thumbs up.

Some campers nodded their head in approval, others shook their head like I'd just signed my own death certificate. Which, in all honesty, I could see Hades doing.

"Off to your campfire, now!" Tantalus snapped, causing for kids to practically trample each other as they ran out of the dining pavilion. "Except for you, girl."

I turned around, cracking my knuckles out of sheer boredom. Annabeth was dragging Percy out of the dining pavilion, telling him, "She can handle herself." Tyson trailed behind them, looking like a lost puppy, if a puppy was six-foot-three and was strong enough to crush metal with his bare hands.

"I don't want trouble here, honey," Tantalus sneered, waggling a crooked finger at me.

"Neither do I," I spat, disdain clear in my voice. "And there wasn't any trouble while Chiron was around."

"Ah, the previous activities director. Well, if this is a case of missing your friend, I'll let your insolence slide this once."

"Gee thanks." I rolled my eyes.

"Was that sarcasm, young lady?"

"No, of course not." My voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Tantalus squinted at me, his addled brain trying to detect my sarcasm. He then sighed, and I swear, I could see his lungs moving through his ribs. He pinched the bridge of his crooked nose and waved me off, muttering curses in Ancient Greek under his breath.

I smirked at his annoyance, skipping my way to the campfire like a kindergartner hopped up on sugar during recess.

Over the next couple of days, I tagged along with Percy, more as an emotional support for him than anything else. Whenever someone would ask Percy how he felt about having a monster for a brother, he'd grit his teeth and say, "It's not that simple."

"Yeah, uh huh, right," people would reply.

One time, when Percy, Annabeth, and I had been down by the canoe lake sketching designs for the upcoming chariot race, an Aphrodite girl, Drew Tanaka, asked Percy if he wanted eyeliner for his eye, "Sorry, eyes."

"Go play dress up, Drew," I told her, waving her off as she turned red and stormed off. I really had a knack for pissing people off.

"Just ignore them, Percy," Annabeth said, flipping to a new page in her sketchbook. She pulled a pencil out of the spiral and began to sketch. "It's not your fault you have a monster for a brother."

"He's not my brother!" Percy snapped, his fingers tight around the pencil. If he squeezed any tighter, the pencil was going to snap in half. "And he's not a monster, either!"

"Don't get mad at me! And technically, he is."

"Yeah, because you gave him permission to enter camp!"

"I did it to save your life!"

"Okay, enough, you two," I said, stopping the two thirteen-year-olds before they ripped each other's heads off. "Let's get back to work on this axle."

"I don't understand. You treat Tyson like this big, scary monster when he hasn't done anything but save my life! What do you have against Cyclopes anyways?"

Annabeth's face turned red, the steam practically pouring from her ears. She stood up, tucking her pencil into her ponytail. "Maybe you should build this chariot with him, then!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose and shook my head as Annabeth stomped off, hitting a tether ball so hard that it curled around the metal pole with her one hit. Percy set his own notepad down, miserably staring down at the lake. The naiads were glancing up at us, whispering silently amongst themselves before dissolving into the water within the lake.

"Don't be too hard on her," I told Percy, continuing to sketch absentmindedly. I hadn't planned to join the chariot race, but Cleo really wanted to, so I had agreed to be her partner. "She doesn't have the best experiences with Cyclopes. I haven't either."

"At least you treat him like a normal person," Percy said glumly. "I wish Annabeth would, too."

"It'll take time, but I'm sure she'll come around. Now, let's go find Tyson. You've got a chariot to build."

Percy walked off to find Tyson in the forges with the Hephaestus kids, leaving me to keep working on my own chariot. I was going for sleek and light, choosing birch wood that would be painted a shade of light blue with gold and bronze highlights. I kept sketching the silhouette of the body and adding spokes on the wheels when I felt the beginning of a major headache.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," I thought, setting my stuff down as my vision started to go fuzzy.

Oh, so now the Fates decided to show me something? After three years of silence?

I shut my eyes, allowing myself to get consumed by the darkness.

I was in an extremely elegant room, furnished with lavish couches and mahogany tables. Gold statues of the gods rested on marble pedestals, shining as brightly as they must've been during the time of the Ancient Greeks. In the corner of the room was a bubbling fountain, illuminated with a faint blue light, reminding me of the new saltwater fountain that Poseidon had added to his cabin at camp. In the far corner were two maroon curtains, the tassels shimmering with gold accents.

Whoever's house I was in had expensive taste and really, really liked gold.

I pushed the curtains aside, greeted by a soft yellow light which contrasted greatly to the Green Day that was blaring from two speakers that were mounted from the speakers. There were Wii and Xbox consoles set up underneath an eighty-inch TV, a myriad of games stacked neatly into the little cubbies under the TV.

"Get out!" someone shouted, a spear landing in the wall millimeters from my head.

I raised my eyebrows and ducked under the spear's shaft, looking around for who could've thrown that. No one was visibly in the room, but I knew people had been here recently from the way that the game was paused on the TV and the fact that the American Idiot album was only halfway through.

Not wanting to risk the chance of the spear actually piercing me, I made a fist out in front of me and pulled my hand closer to my chest, forcing the darkness to coalesce around me. The little light that the lamp gave off revealed two shadows above me, their bodies pressed tightly against the wall.

I debated on summoning Epithymia but decided against it, wanting to find out more about this place without hurting anyone inside. I walked around the room until I found the stairs, slowly climbing up, keeping my footsteps as light as possible.

However, all subtlety went out the door when I heard people running away. I chased after the footsteps, stopping outside the door I'd seen get pulled shut. The two people who'd ran away were whispering frantically to one another, probably trying to board up the door.

Pulling out a bobby pin from my messy hair, I crouched down to the lock and began picking it. After a couple tries, the lock clicked open, and knowing that the door would be boarded up, I slammed into it with my shoulder, feeling resistance instantly.

I backed up and slammed into the door again, calling on the shadows to aid me in breaking the door down. Sure enough, third time was a charm as whatever was blocking the door gave way. I burst into the room, rubbing my now sore shoulder as I looked around.

A second later, I felt a blade pressed against my throat. "Move, and you die," a familiar voice hissed, their hand steady on the hilt of the blade.

"Luke?" I asked, careful to keep my voice low, so I didn't accidentally slit my own throat.

"How do you know my name?" he demanded, pressing down on the blade slightly, causing for me to begin bleeding.

"I'm Andy Collins. You know, your friend?"

"Lies! She is fourteen; you're much older."

"It's been six years since I turned you into a tree."

He pressed harder, and I felt my pulse roaring in my ears. I could shadow-travel away, sure, but that wasn't going to help my case any, especially if Thalia was nearby.

"Tell me something only Andy would know," Luke demanded.

"I met you guys defeating that Cyclops in Brooklyn. On the way to camp, we stopped at Sweet on America for a break, because you were going to pass out again from the wound you got from a dracaena. During our first Capture the Flag game, I became the Human Torch in front of everyone. I gave you money for your Golden Apples quest," I rattled off, listing everything I could off the top of my head. "It's me, Luke."

The pressure of the blade pulled away from my neck, causing me to wince at the abruptness of the action. I pressed my hand against the cut, using the water in the air to heal myself.

"Thalia, it's her," Luke called out into the darkness.

The daughter of Zeus walked forward, Aegis out in its full glory around her wrist. She tapped the shield twice, Aegis collapsing back into her bracelet. Thalia then cocked her head to the side, sizing me up like we'd never met before.

"Andy?" she asked, her voice perfectly calm. "Is it really you?"

"In the flesh," I replied with a smile. "What is this place?" I asked, gesturing around me.

"We don't really know," Luke answered, reaching over and turning on the light for the room. "We figured that this was your doing, but I guess not."

The room we were in was very clearly Thalia's room. Posters for Green Day, Blink-182, Nirvana, and Fall Out Boy covered the black painted walls. On a rack in the corner, there were spare spears, one missing from the rack as it was impaled into the wall downstairs. Thalia also had a collection of CDs, a few of them resting on top of a wooden trunk at the foot of her bed.

"Nice theme you've got going on here, Thalia," I said, feeling right at home amongst the posters. I loved all of these bands deeply but was never able to buy anything due to lack of money.

"Thanks," she smiled. "Glad to know someone has good taste around here."

Luke held up his hands in surrender. "I'm sorry for liking Guns 'N' Roses and Michael Jackson!"

"Also great musicians," I agreed, earning a, "Traitor!" from Thalia.

The three of us laughed at that, feeling surprisingly at ease with each other. I'd been expecting the tension between Thalia and me to be thicker after the mess that had happened while she was alive, but I guess some time as a pine tree mellowed her out a bit.

"So, what's happened since we've become a tree?" Luke asked, motioning for us to follow him.

He gestured to the couches and told me to take a seat and that he'd come back with refreshments. Luke disappeared behind some more maroon curtains before returning with three glasses of lemonade. I raised an eyebrow at the lemonade but accepted a glass anyways, deciding that there were more important things to discuss than to ask how the heck they had lemonade inside a pine tree.

I gave Thalia and Luke the watered down version of everything major that was going on in the outside world, cutting out a lot of my own adventures as they were still kinda forbidden. Plus, I didn't need the two of them worrying about children of Hades and the Great Prophecy just yet.

I faltered at the end when I realized I was going to have to tell them about the elder python venom. They noticed my hesitation and gave each other a look that said, This can't be good. Suddenly the lemonade I drank felt like wet cement in my stomach.

"Andy, what aren't you telling us?" Thalia asked, setting down her mostly full glass of lemonade onto a wooden coaster on the coffee table in front of us.

"Have you guys been feeling any severe pain recently? Not like training pain, I mean feeling like you're dying."

"Not really." Thalia shrugged and placed her arms behind her head, kicking her feet up onto the coffee table. "I've been fine ever since we've lived here. The worst pain I ever felt was when I accidentally cut my hand when helping Luke make dinner."

"And that is why I keep you out of the kitchen," Luke reminded her with a teasing smile, which widened when she blushed a little. "But I haven't felt any pain, either. Only the normal soreness that comes with training with this one," – he jabbed a thumb at Thalia – "every day."

"That's good," I muttered, my fingers fidgeting with the tassels on the throw pillow in my lap. I set my glass down, afraid I was going to break it from how badly I was shaking. "Because there really isn't an easy way to say this."

"You can tell us, Andy. We'll be fine." Luke sounded so sure that it made my heart ache. This tree had been made as a way to keep them alive, not to kill them, which was exactly what was happening.

"Kyle Martin poisoned your guys' pine tree with elder python venom. To us in the mortal world, the tree is slowly dying, and with it, the camp's magical borders," I explained solemnly, forcing my hands to still as they clutched at the pillow.

"How lovely," Luke sighed, placing his head in his hands. When he looked up again, I found myself staring at the scar that ran down the length of the left side of his face, a wound he'd received on our mad dash back from Grand Central Station.

"I never trusted the guy," Thalia said, standing up from the couch and beginning to pace, little volts of electricity flaring up between her fingers. "He always gave me the heebie-jeebies."

"With good reason," I agreed, breathing a deep sigh of relief. They were taking the news much better than I thought.

"What did the little monster do?"

"Other than poison your tree? He stole the Master Bolt and the Helm of Darkness, which almost caused a civil war between the Olympians last summer. He also used to abuse the kids in the Hermes cabin until I beat him in battle, taking the title of head counselor from him."

Luke looked downright murderous, his jaw clenched and his knuckles white around his empty glass of lemonade. He was making this growling noise in the back of his throat, like he was debating the best way on how to punch his brother's lights out. Thalia's electric blue eyes swirled in anger, like I was watching a supercell form right in her irises. The sparks between her fingers grew bigger and stronger, giving off the smell of ozone.

"Thank you for defeating that bastard," Thalia spat. "Who is he to get off on beating innocent children? He better have a damn good reason, and even that wouldn't be enough."

"If his stupid venom doesn't kill us first, I'm going to tear him to pieces," Luke threatened, the soft light glowing on his scar giving him an almost evil expression. I could imagine him in Kyle's place, and now I knew why Percy had always been so nervous about facing the guy. Like it or not, Luke was extremely intimidating when he was angry.

"I refuse to let you guys die. There's something that can help you heal, but Tantalus is being a first rate jerk at the moment." I gritted my teeth in anger at the thought of the easily ticked off activities director. "I don't care about my punishment. I'll make sure you guys are healed."

"You don't have to do that," Thalia said, her anger starting to fade out of her voice.

"You've done more than enough for us," Luke agreed, standing up and wrapping an arm around Thalia's waist. She leaned into Luke's shoulder, exhaling deeply through her nose. "If the Fates will our strings to be cut, we can live with that."

Too long, I heard the Fates whisper in my head, causing me to scowl at the pressure I was feeling behind my eyes. Seriously, as some of the most ancient and powerful beings in existence, you'd think they could find a better form of communication that didn't involve headaches, but no-o-o.

She has said too much.

Nothing that will change the outcome.

Still, it is time for her to go.

"For the love of Olympus, argue outside of my mind. Please and thank you," I said, pressing my palms against my eyes in an attempt to alleviate the pressure. It helped. When I saw Luke and Thalia looking at me weirdly, I said, "The Fates are using my mind as a debate stage. It's not the most pleasant of feelings."

"The Fates speak to you?" Luke asked curiously.

"Sometimes. Gives me a headache every time."

We're sorry about that.

"No, you're not."

It's the most efficient way, however.

I sighed. "Whatever you say, Clotho."

Hey, what about me?

And me?

"Yes, you're both as annoying as your sister, Atropos and Lachesis. Now, if you could either do something or leave, much appreciated."

Say goodbye to your friends. I'm afraid you won't be seeing them for a few more weeks.

"I know, I know." I turned to Luke and Thalia, giving them a warm smile. "It's time for me to go. Duty calls and all that."

A very important duty.

Ignoring Atropos, I waved at my friends as I felt my vision begin to fade, letting me know I was getting pulled out of the vision. Sometimes I really hate the Fates.

The feeling's mutual.

Hey!