Hmmm. I have noticed a severe decline in views over the past couple of days, and I'm a little confused. And by severe decline, I mean no views at all. I'm pretty sure that this is just a glitch but it's driving me crazy! If you know how to fix this "glitch," please, please, PLEASE, tell me! It would mean so much to me! I would be forever indebted to you! Also, I recently downloaded the Fanfiction app. Does anyone know how to use it? I have just been posting these on the website, but I thought that getting the app would be a good idea. And, does anyone know how to see how many views your story has on that app? I can't figure it out. Haha! Call me an amateur, but remember, this is my first fanfic! Anyways, review shout out to XXIVA for being amazing and putting such a sweet comment! It made my day! Guess who's in the lead for the poll? PREYNA. Surprising, right? Anyways, let's get to the chapter. Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HOO sadly! Oh, if you dislike death, feel free to not read this chapter. HINT: SOMEONE DIES.

Reyna's POV

Reyna had finally fallen asleep that night at around 3:30 AM. When she woke up, she had a throbbing headache pounding deep within her skull. Perhaps it was from sleep deprivation? She didn't know, but she wished that it would leave her alone. Reyna didn't often have headaches, but when she did, they were terrible.

Reyna glanced at her alarm clock. It read 6:37. She wisely decided that staying in her room wasn't going to make her migraine leave any faster, so she forced herself out of bed. Reyna realized that she was still in her jogging clothes from last night. She rubbed the remaining sleep out of her eyes and changed into some clean clothes. Afterward, she put on her praetor robe and cloak.

She stepped outside and headed toward the mess hall. Along with her headache was also that unmistakable feeling of dread, just like she had felt last night. Reyna was slightly afraid of what she might find when she arrived at the mess hall. Or more accurately, what she wouldn't find.

The mess hall was somewhat crowded, but not as it usually was. The area was almost always buzzing with movement and chatter. Reyna noticed that a large chunk of the Third Cohort was missing. Reyna immediately grew suspicious about why this was. Her dread started to make some sense now. She could only hope that her prediction was a false one.

Percy wasn't there, either. This could've been because he was attending to the problem, or sleeping in. Probably the latter of the two. Reyna scanned the room for Jason, but he wasn't present either. Okay, Reyna's suspicions were looking to be more and more correct.

"Praetor!" Reyna heard from behind her. She gulped, praying to the gods that it wouldn't be who she thought it was. She turned.

Her heart sank. It was Lucas, the head healer of Camp Jupiter. "Yes?" She asked warily, knowing far too well what he would say even before the words left his mouth. In fact, she was already moving ahead of Lucas before he spoke the words.

"It's Ezra. Come quick!"

Reyna followed Lucas to the infirmary where most of the Third Cohort was. Reyna could only hope against hope that Ezra wasn't yet dead. He's only terribly sick, she thought. There has to be some cure out there that we know of.

Of course, that's what it was: hoping against hope.

Reyna and Lucas pushed through the small-ish crowd and into one of the individual rooms. Percy and Jason were there as well. Now Reyna was certain that her suspicions were correct. "Is h-" She started to ask, looking at Ezra's still body.

"Dead," Lucas finished. "Well... almost dead, anyway. He's merely hanging on by a thread."

"Literally," Percy said. Reyna wanted to yell at him and say that this was not the time for cracking jokes. But alas, he was right, unfortunately. His string of life was merely a thread away from being cut by the Fates.

"Is there anything else you haven't tried yet? Anything else you can do?" A voice spoke from deeper within the room. Reyna hadn't seen anyone else in the room beside Ezra, Lucas, Percy, Jason, and herself. She craned her neck and found Reese, daughter of Ceres, standing in one corner of the room, her eyes red and puffy from crying. She stepped forward, luckily without a limp, which she had arrived with only a couple of days earlier. Reyna was glad that she had healed at least. The healers had fixed her leg, though the credit probably went towards a good amount of Ambrosia and nectar. That clearly wasn't the case for her brother.

Lucas sighed, his expression downcast. "I'm afraid we've tried nearly everything. Everything that we know of, anyway. Nothing in our ancient records speaks of a toxin like this. We've run several tests and nothing has come up as a direct match for where this poison came from, or from whom it came. Without knowing what the poison is, we can't give him the proper treatment."

Reese looked close to tears, again. Reyna had never seen a centurion look so upset and distraught. Of course, Reese was still a teenage girl, and teenage girls had feelings. Reyna of all people knew that, courtesy of Percy and Jason. "Can't you give him more Ambrosia or nectar?" Reese pleaded.

"I'm so sorry. We've already given him more than any demigod should have in one lifetime. I'm afraid we'll kill him," Lucas said sympathetically.

"He's already on his deathbed!" Reese yelled, throwing her hands up in the air. "I'm sorry," she mumbled into her palms.

Silence filled the room. Lucas put an arm on her shoulder. "We're doing all that we can. Unfortunately, we don't have a life-support machine like a regular mortal hospital, though I doubt that would work for Ezra's ailment anyway."

"I- I understand," Reese said. " Thank you."

Lucas smiled grimly. "We'll try our hardest to keep him alive."

The three praetors looked at each other with solemn expressions. It's not like they could do anything about Ezra. They wouldn't know any more than a healer did. If only they had a god to help them. Reyna wondered for nearly the thousandth time where Terminus was.

"If only Terminus were here. He might know what or who this poison is from, and how to treat it. He must be even older than your records, after all," Percy said, echoing Reyna's thoughts. "Where is that bust of a bust anyway?"

Lucas shrugged. "I wish he were here. I don't care that he's not Apollo or any healing god for that matter; his vast knowledge could help us right now."

"So, what do you want us to do?" Jason asked, changing the subject.

The healer sighed. "I'm not exactly sure. I just thought you would want to see Ezra for possibly the last time."

Reyna stared at Ezra's limp body on the cot. Reyna had to squint in order to see Ezra's chest rise and fall with his last breaths. He looked pale and sickly. Or as Reese had described it, "On his deathbed."

"Well, we'd better leave you be," Percy said. "Good luck."

Lucas and Reese nodded. "Thank you," the son of Apollo said.

The praetors walked away from the infirmary, and back to the mess hall. The small hoard that had originally been near the infirmary had dispersed, leaving no one. They must've either gotten bored or realized that Ezra was dead. He wasn't yet, but he was definitely close to crossing that line.

"That was... depressing," Percy said, fiddling with his praetor cape.

Jason and Reyna nodded in agreement. It wasn't like this was the first death that they had to deal with. All three of them had seen it happen before. Percy at Camp Half-Blood, and Jason and Reyna at Camp Jupiter. All of them had seen people die during quests or battles. This, however, felt different. Maybe because this war was so much bigger than any other war or battle that they had fought. It was so much more significant. And if Ezra died, which he would, then this would be the first casualty of the Giant War. These two things taken into consideration made this death-to-be so much worse.

"I would pray to my dad, though I doubt he could or would do anything about this," Percy said. "He's one of the only gods that hasn't gone wack."

"Neptune- or Poseidon is a generally kind god, but he couldn't do anything about this," Reyna said. "Not to mention that gods rarely help demigods who are their children, let alone kids who aren't." She thought it was sweet that Percy would think about it at least. This was one of the things that Reyna just loved about Percy. He was so caring and considerate, though he didn't always present it in the best way. He was clumsy with words at times, though he was still adorable.

By the time Reyna got the news, she was training new members of the legion.

"Alright, lunge!" Reyna yelled at the probatios as they held their gladii or spears gawkily. The teenagers rushed towards their practice dummies. Only half of them actually hit their target. Reyna sighed and rubbed her temples. "Again!" Her headache had long since left, but she feared that it might come back if she had to deal with these guys for much longer.

Some of the probatios flinched at Reyna's harsh commands. The group had soon come to find Reyna to be quite intimidating. That was exactly how Reyna liked it. She would teach the new recruits to respect their praetor, and she would offer it in return. (After they proved themselves worthy of her respect, anyway.)

A couple of people didn't reset themselves but were glancing to their left. Reyna turned to see what they were looking at. She saw Percy running towards the group. Bad time, Perseus, she thought.

Percy got closer, and Reyna could see a panicked look on his face. He soon reached Reyna and took her arm. Some of the probatios giggled. For teens, this batch sure giggled a lot. Maybe they were Venus's spawn. It was possible. They hadn't been claimed yet. Reyna even heard a girl say, "They're so cute together!"

Percy whispered into Reyna's ear. "He's dead," he said.

This didn't surprise Reyna in the least. She knew he would die today. If not today, then for sure tomorrow. Ezra was dead.

Reyna's shoulders slumped nevertheless. "Alright, we'll pick this up tomorrow!" Reyna shouted to her trainees. Some grumbled disappointingly, some cheered silently. Others stared at the two praetors and swooned. They must've thought that the two were off to do something romantic. As if Reyna would cancel training for that. A nice romantic date with Percy did sound appealing, though...

Percy led Reyna by the arm to the infirmary. The crowd had reappeared, and this time it wasn't just members of the third cohort. About a fourth of the camp was there. Reyna could spot several people crying. These people had also witnessed many deaths like Percy, Reyna, and Jason. They must've had the same reason for being so upset.

Two healers that Reyna didn't know the names of came up to her and Percy. The girl healer asked, "when would you like to begin the funeral ceremony?"

"How about the afternoon?" Reyna said. "After lunch possibly? Let's get this done with." The girl nodded and turned around. The boy followed and they returned to the room that they had come from.

"What do you guys do for funerals here?" Percy asked. At Long Island, we have shrouds made for each camper. We burn it when they die. I was claimed dead, once. They burned my shroud before realizing that I was alive.

"Well, our funeral services include an elephant, a temple, and a pyre," Reyna explained. "You'll see."

"Praetors," Reyna heard. She looked over Percy's shoulder to find Reese. She wasn't crying anymore, but her fists were clenched tightly. "May I say something at my brother's cremation?"

Reyna nodded. Reese thanked them and scurried away, probably trying to find her friends and a safe place to cry.

"You cremate your dead?" Percy asked. "And you use Hannibal the elephant?"

"Is that a bad thing?" Reyna asked skeptically. This had been a tradition at Camp Jupiter for nearly forever. "And as I said, you will see."

Percy's POV

The lunch hall was unusually silent for a sunny afternoon. The weather did not match the mood, however. Everyone was still and pensive. Everyone except Octavian and a few other people from the First Cohort. Of course, they were talking. They wouldn't mourn unless it was someone from their own cohort who had passed away. Or themselves for that matter.

After lunch, they wrapped up the body and placed it on a contraption that would be pulled by the camp's elephant, Hannibal. Percy always felt uneasy when honoring someone who had died. It only brought more painful memories of his friends who had passed on. Bianca, Zoe, Luke, Silena- the list went on. He could only hope that his friends, and Ezra with them, were in Elysium. (Luke was an exception. Who knew where he was?)

Hannibal pulled the body toward Ceres's temple. The rest of the legion followed closely behind with the centurions of the Third Cohort- Ezra's cohort- standing closest to the body.

When they arrived at their destination, they lifted the body and put it on the temple's pyre. The Third Cohort stepped in front of the rest of the legion as was the custom. The healers performed the cremation (which is a bit ironic), with Octavian supervising. Once the ceremony was complete, the legion still remained silent. Reyna stepped forward and stood at the front of the temple. "Reese, a centurion of the Third Cohort, and half-sister of the deceased demigod has some words that she would like to say.

Reese took Reyna's spot and began to say the typical things that you would hear at a funeral. Percy wondered how this would affect Frank. Would he think about his mom's funeral? Hopefully, this didn't bring back any unpleasant memories. Reliving a tragedy like that would be painful and difficult.

The whole ceremony soon ended, and the crowd dispersed quietly. The Third Cohort looked the worst, naturally. Several people had tears and others had a look in their eyes that spoke of one feeling: cold, hard anger. Percy couldn't blame them, though. He had been so hurt mentally that he had wanted to kill even the immortal gods themselves. It didn't matter at the time how strong and, well, immortal they were, he wanted to make sure that he couldn't be hurt again. Of course, the gods were not necessarily to blame. The Fates were more responsible. They always were.

Annabeth's POV

Annabeth approached Percy after the funeral. "The first casualty," was all she said.

"What?" Percy asked, looking at her.

"The first casualty of the war with Gaea."

Percy sighed. "And there's only going to be more of them. Especially with our quest and all. And we can only hope that the two camps don't start a war."

"Don't remind me," Annabeth groaned.

"You brought it up," Percy pointed out.

"Fair point," Annabeth smiled. Percy could usually find a way to turn a bad situation into something that could make her smile. Or at least something that could take her mind off of the present.

The two remained silent, staring off into the distance. The sound of weapons clashing could be heard, but overall the camp was quietly mourning.

"Hey, I was talking with Reyna early this morning," Annabeth said.

"Yeah, she told me," Percy said.

"What?" Annabeth asked. Did Reyna tell Percy everything?

"Sorry, continue," Percy gestured, an apologetic look on his face.

"Well," Annabeth began. "I was just pointing out how you two are hanging out a lot recently."

"Yeah, we work closely as praetors," Percy replied. Annabeth knew he would say this. It made sense. The only thing that didn't, however, was that Jason wasn't usually with the two. This is what made Annabeth suspicious. Perhaps it was just praetor stuff. Annabeth hated feeling like a jealous girlfriend, though. She knew Percy wouldn't cheat on her. His fatal flaw was loyalty, for Hades's sake! At least, that's what she hoped...

"That's what Reyna said as well. I just wanted your input," Annabeth said. She had secretly wondered if he would deny it. That no, they hadn't been spending that much time together. At least he was honest.

"Is there a problem?" Percy asked, looking genuinely worried.

"No, no," Annabeth said. "I'm glad that you two are good friends. Maybe some of her seriousness will rub off on you," she added, nudging him teasingly.

"Not likely," Percy said, grinning. "I don't think even Athena could whip me into shape."

Annabeth laughed. It was true. Her Seaweed Brain would always be her, well, Seaweed Brain.

"Ugh, today's been a long day," Annabeth said, brushing the hair out of her eyes. "I'm gonna get a bath."

"I'll come with you!" Percy said. His face immediately flushed. "I mean, I'll get a bath, too. Not with you of course."

Annabeth cringed. Percy was so awkward sometimes, though she would be lying if she said she didn't love it. She kissed him. "Let's go," she laughed.

Well, that was that! I hope you enjoyed it! It took me a little longer to get this one out because I didn't feel the best for the past couple of days and I've been super busy all the other days. I profusely apologize and I was going to make this chapter shorter, but I thought I owed it to you guys to make this one about the regular lengthed. Anyway, as you can see, Annabeth is becoming more and more suspicious, but she's trying to tell herself that Percy would never hurt her. And he wouldn't! Not intentionally anyway... It's hard to explain, but I hope you guys understand! Again, would someone please tell me how to get this glitch worked out, or even how to use the app as I mentioned in the Author's Note above? It would mean the world to me. Oh, and this is a bit random, but I realized that I have been doing the English spelling of the color, gray. I am American, so I should've been typing gray, not grey. I don't know why, I just thought I should point this out, haha! Please review! Reviews from you guys motivate me to write faster, so basically the more you guys review, the faster I write. I'm sure a lot of authors can say the same thing! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this update. Love you all!