AN: Fourteen days...yikes...and the only reason I actually got it done today is because I forgot that school never starts on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Brilliant. Bloody brilliant. Here's the next part, irene-I know something feels rushed, probably the whole war thing coming up, but it's just the initial panic of it coming I think. This part should help it feel better...sort of...

I pulled the comforter up, then put the photo up onto the wall. It was bright and colorful, which was what Eithne said was best for Aaron. Making sure things were colorful and bright. It helped that we were also decorating for Christmas, which would make it generally colorful and happy.

Nico stepped in. "Travis is still on the phone with Chiron. He thinks you should talk to Reyna. Allison said she'd be here tonight. She sounded…"

"Ridiculously calm?"

"Scared," Nico finished. "Very scared."

I didn't like the sound of that.

"When is Aaron getting here?"

"An hour or so. Eithne had to help him pack, just in case he had to stay here for a while. She's worried about him. She's just helped him into a good place, moving him away from it…"

"Could completely upset him again, put them back at square one." Nico sat in the chair by the window. "You sure about him having this room? About moving into your mom's room?"

I nodded. "It's time. I want to be able to use the space in this house to help my friends. Especially if there is a war coming." I handed him the last stack of books. "That should finish it all. This place look neutral enough while also being cheerful?"

Nico smiled. "Yeah, it's great. And it has a great view. Relax, you make everyone who stays with you feel welcome and comfortable."

"Whatever you say. I should call Reyna."

"And what are we doing with Rachel?"

"She said she'd be fine staying in the other bedroom in the basement. Warned me that she might end up painting one of the walls. I figure it's just paint and if I hate it I can paint over it if I hate it." I fiddled with the curtains, making sure they were laying straight. A stupid thing to fuss over given the impending war, but a welcome distraction. "It's only for the weekend."

"She thinks it really was a prophecy of sorts?"

I hadn't filled them in on all of the details of what happened on our trip and wasn't sure I could handle recounting it. "Possibly. It definitely struck her as important. That's why she's here." I grabbed the stray pen off of the floor. "I'll call Reyna. Can you just set those on the table by the window? I'll put them away after I finish my call."

He nodded and left with the stack of books.

I took a deep breath and then grabbed the prism off my keychain and made sure the light made a rainbow. "Oh goddess, accept my offering, Preator Reyna, New Rome, California."

The rainbow shifted and then Reyna came into view…well, I could see her, but her back was to me.

Ria was there, looking somewhat defiant, but she noticed me and her demeanor changed to surprise.

We had a bit of a history. On her first day in camp, she had been disappointed to be placed in the Hermes cabin until she was claimed, and looked down on me as someone who was weaker because of my arm. After that it was a matter of keeping ahead of her strategic mind and warring countenance. Honestly, it was sort of a relief when she was claimed by Mars, because at least it explained why she was the way she was. Don't get me wrong, she's brilliant, but her need to prove herself in battle and ruthless moves when in battle made a dangerous combination without stronger discipline which would be readily supplied at Camp Jupiter. We'd traveled together after the initial group from Camp Half-blood had left since I had to finish judging the competitions and because she had been in the infirmary with a fractured leg. We'd met with a fight at the airport and had to rescue our Roman escorts, take our enemy hostage, hot-wire a van, and somehow make it to New Rome with only two more skirmishes. After that, it had been a matter of mutual respect between us.

Reyna turned around, looking a little surprised to see me.

I blinked then flinched. "Hi, sorry, um, should I call back later?"

Reyna glanced at Ria, then shook her head. "No, we were almost done here anyway. You look worried."

I looked at Ria, who was examining me from over Reyna's shoulder, then back to Reyna. "Our efforts were not sufficient."

She looked slightly puzzled, then her eyes widened. "With…Eithne's people?"

I nodded. Then looked at the ground. "The quest earlier this summer, your quest Ria, you fought a diobhal. A Celtic demon or devil. Eithne thinks that it's mistress made sure that the Celts became aware of our continued existence." I was afraid to look back up. I didn't want to see the anger, shock, sadness, or any of the other emotions that might greet me.

It was quiet for a few moments.

"And we're certain that it's war that will come?" Reyna's voice was calm, calculating.

I nodded, finally looked up.

Ria's face was red and she was staring at the ground.

Reyna looked cool and collected, regal. "How much time do I have to prepare?"

"I don't know. Not yet. Rachel is here to consult with Allison and Eithne when they arrive. Eithne's going to try and delay, try to prevent it…but I know that it cannot be prevented. Only delayed. We've just been buying time. Travis is talking to Chiron right now," I finished quietly. I felt even worse telling them.

Reyna nodded sharply, a determined look on her face. "Update me when you know more. I'll coordinate with Chiron after we have an idea of when we might expect the first attack. I know we were hoping to prevent war, but if one is coming we'll just have to be prepared. It'll be alright, Cassie. I know you were hoping we could prevent this war."

The image of Percy and Annabeth finding out another war was coming flashed through my mind, the looks on their faces similar to the ones Travis and Nico had when they found out.

I thought I might be sick. "Alright, I'll talk to you later."

She nodded and terminated our conversation.

I stood there for a few minutes, just feeling sick to my stomach with dread. I just wanted to hide in the closet and write and pretend that none of this was real.

So, of course, my cell phone rang.

I sat down in the chair and stared at Malcolm's name and picture, then finally answered with a soft, "Hello?"

"Hey, you okay?"

"Tired, I didn't get any sleep last night and it's been a busy day." Oh gods, would I have to tell him about the war?

"Yikes," He responded, then he hesitated.

I waited a moment, then cleared my throat. "Yeah. What's up? I wasn't expecting a call."

"Yeah, I know. Um, but I needed to talk to you about…well…something that might affect us."

I cringed. "Oh gods, hang on. I need to lay down for this conversation."

"Okay."

I let the phone drop from my ear and went across to the master bedroom and climbed onto the bed curling up among the pillows and grabbing the stuffed animal that I was too distressed to care about being too old for right now. "Okay. I'm good."

"I got accepted to Oxford."

"Oxford? England Oxford?"

"That would be the one, yes. Chiron thinks it might be safe enough. Not quite the old world, but still some Greek and Roman influence as we both know. The offer is…really good. But…it would make our long-distance relationship just that much more difficult."

Nico strode in. "Hey Cassie—"

"Not now, Nico," I said shortly, trying to stay calm.

He looked at me with some concern, but vacated after I didn't say anything else. He said something once he was back out there, but I couldn't make it out.

"Cass?" Malcolm prompted gently.

"So you want to go to Oxford, it's no big deal. I told you, you should take the opportunities that come to you."

"Cass, they want me to start in the next semester. I have to answer them tomorrow and be out there by January second."

My heart dropped. "Oh."

"Look, I like you. I really do. You are so special to me. But it wouldn't be fair for you to still be stuck to me."

"I wouldn't be stuck to you," I murmured.

"I know." He was equally quiet. "But you should have a date to your prom. You should experience actually having a boyfriend around. If we decide later that we want to be together, then we will. But for now…"

"You should go," I said, choking up. "Oxford is an amazing university and you'll get to go someplace new and exciting."

He was really quiet. "Yeah, it is. I still want to spend Christmas with you."

I nodded, then remembered he couldn't see me. "Yeah," My voice broke. "Of course."

"I'll talk to you later, Cass."

"Yeah, bye." I waited until he said bye and hung up before taking in a shaky breath and trying to calm myself.

We both knew this would probably happen. We'd both agreed that we wouldn't be dating during the school year in the first place. We both had known that having a long-distance relationship was difficult and that we would probably stop dating when we both came to the agreement that it might be best for us to not be dating.

I just hadn't been expecting it so soon.

Someone hesitantly knocked on the door.

I took a couple deep breaths, then managed to set aside my poor stuffed dog and drag my feet over to the door and open it.

Nico looked at me blankly. "Everything okay?"

I shook my head. "No. What's up?" I gently pushed past him and headed downstairs.

"Rachel wants to know if you found that extra bit of your writing, Travis needs to talk to you about Camp, I wanted to know if you would rather have chinese food or pizza since none of us want to make food."

"Chinese, definitely. Who's going to get it?"

"Rachel, but I was fighting to not have pizza again." He caught up to me and stopped me. "Were you talking to Reyna?"

I shook my head. "Malcolm."

He took my hand. "So, I take it Will's ship sank?"

I cracked a pained smile. "We're taking on water. We'll sink after Christmas."

He just waited while I regained control.

"He got accepted to the University of Oxford."

He looked at me blankly.

"In England."

His eyes widened ever so slightly and he looked a little shocked. "Do you want to go back to bed?"

"Yes, but I won't be able to."

He looked awkward for a moment, then he hesitantly hugged me.

I leaned into him a little, hugging back.

He finally pulled away after a few moments. "I hope that helped."

I nodded and sighed a bit. It had helped me relax a bit. I was still upset, but I was a little more relaxed.

Travis looked like he had a headache.

Rachel already had new paint splotches on her face, and she looked troubled. "Did you find it?"

I held up my iPod. "I want to listen with you, I just need to talk to Travis really quickly."

She nodded. "Are we doing Pizza or Chinese?"

"Chinese." Nico answered.

Travis hadn't even moved.

I hooked my arm around his and leaned against him. "What's up?"

"Chiron wants me there to help with war preparations. If I'm going to be one of the heads of camp, I need to know what it entails." He was speaking softly, eyes still closed.

"Okay."

"No, it's not. I'm supposed to be here with you and Nico," Travis growled, starting to rub his forehead.

I looked at him hard, trying to see through him. I knew he had been stretching himself thin just staying with us and doing his schoolwork, he had to commute four out of five days of the week and he was still arranging my affairs. With the war coming now…unless we knew that the first of the battles wouldn't hit until after finals he would be so stressed.

I hugged him, ducking under his arm so I could reach his waist. "When are finals?"

"The week after this coming week."

I didn't respond. I knew he didn't need words. He just needed to know that someone was there and understood his stress and frustration.

He sighed after a little while and straightened up so he could actually hug me back. "You talked to Reyna?"

"They're starting preparations."

"And Malcolm?"

I glanced up at him.

He nodded behind me. "Rachel said you were talking to Malcolm. Had the freaky, Oracle of Delphi glow in her eyes. Figured she was probably right."

I buried my face in his shoulder. "He was just telling me that he got accepted at Oxford. I couldn't bring myself to tell him about the war. He'll find out soon enough. Better to address it when we actually have details about what's coming and when it will be coming."

He kissed my forehead, lingering there for a moment in a very protective gesture. "You're getting better at lying. What did you leave out?"

"We agreed to break up after Christmas."

He held me tighter. "Have you managed to even get a nap yet?"

I shook my head, fighting something that was either a sob or a yawn. I couldn't even tell at this point.

He kissed the top of my head. "Cass, you know you're more prone to anxiety attacks when you're tired."

"I do know, but…I'm afraid that this will be one of the times when I have a half-blood dream instead of a meddler dream."

He murmured something I didn't understand, then said, "As soon as we're done listening to the recording, and discussing it, then you're taking a nap."

"Food too. I'm starving. And Aaron will be here with Eithne soon."

He grunted, but didn't fight me. Maybe he realized it was futile.

We walked over to Rachel, an arm still wrapped around the other.

She nodded and pressed play.

Listening to a private note I recorded with a bunch of people. That wasn't at all embarrassing.

"Alright, it's about one in the morning and I'm in New Rome. Yay. Anyway, I couldn't get some new lines for that poemish-prose thing I wrote for the Breach story." A pause. "Foresight and friendship, bound in chains; the ancient cities, wracking their brains; the wilderness calls, and troublemakers fight; worlds collide, and meet death's bite; the shining sun, and the full moon; must be in sight, and it will be soon; a choice once made, cannot be changed; and will decide how the worlds will be arranged."

Some noise on the recording.

"So, yeah. I'll edit later. I mean, I'm pretty sure that it won't work for my story, but I couldn't get those lines out of my head, so there they are. Maybe I can forget them now." The recording ended.

Rachel had written it down as I last-summer me had recited or read it aloud. I couldn't even remember which it was. "A Troubled Time: Flowers bloom, and hammers strike; we cherish youth, and life alike; we fight and live, our words so strong; but grow so silent, when we hear a song; We find meaning, in life so small; and answer swiftly, to nature's call; the veil tears away, will worlds unite? Will we preserve, what's wrong and right? Will we continue, will life go on? Once the words are all but gone? Foresight and friendship, bound in chains; the ancient cities, wracking their brains; the wilderness calls, and troublemakers fight; worlds collide, and meet death's bite; the shining sun, and the full moon; must be in sight, and it will be soon; a choice once made, cannot be changed; and will decide how the worlds will be arranged. Cryptic and gloomy, definitely a prophecy."

I grabbed my iPod and shoved it in my pocket.

"Anything that's been bugging you that you want to add to this?" Rachel's eyes seemed to cut through me like butter.

"Um…no. I really didn't want to…wait…the next full moon…is tomorrow…but…" My blood ran cold. "New Years Eve…it's going to be a Super moon and a Wolf moon."

Nico gave me a lost look.

"A super moon is when the moon is full and closest to the earth making it look a whole lot brighter and larger than regular full moons. A wolf moon is technically just the first full moon of the year. But what are the odds? Plus, the full moon after that is supposed to be a blue moon…and an eclipse…so it's going to be a red blue moon…and almost a super moon." I felt a little dizzy and short of breath. "January will also have a micro new moon."

"How do you know this?"

"I'm a dork who researches stuff when I'm bored! I like full moons! And Astronomy! And I was researching it Thursday night."

Rachel was staring at the notebook. "There hasn't been much leading up to today, so I'd say we're safe from it being tomorrow. But you're right, it's too much of a coincidence that all three of those things should be happening in January."

"No such thing as a coincidence. Not in our lives." Travis held me tighter.

I had a weird sense of deja vu and Travis had frozen next to me.

But the next moment Rachel—who hadn't seemed to notice how Travis and I had frozen—let out a frustrated groan. "Everything has been so messed up since the Giants! It's like someone is trying to make sure everything important happens around the same time while there's peace, like they see no alternative, so HERE! Have another problem!" She started pacing slightly.

I waited a moment, then cleared my throat slightly. "Paints are in the box closest to the door in the storage room, consider the room you're staying in your canvas, there might also be an extra sketchbook here somewhere."

The doorbell rang.

"That's probably Eithne and Aaron," I said, ducking out of Travis' arms and heading for the door.

I heard Rachel hurry toward the basement to find the tools of her trade, then reached the door and opened it.

Johnny waved. "Hey, ready to work on our history project?" Then he frowned. "Are you okay? You look pale, and…well…"

I arched an eyebrow as he shied away from finishing his sentence.

"Like…you've been crying."

I saw Eithne and Aaron arriving behind him and gestured for him to come in. "It's been a long forty-two hours."

His eyes widened slightly. "You haven't slept yet?!"

"That's my fault," Eithne piped up as they reached us. "She was helping me investigate and it took longer than we thought."

Johnny's jaw went slightly rigid, and his gaze sharpened, but whatever he had been about to say didn't come out.

My gaze shifted to Aaron who looked a lot different from the last time I had seen him. His dark hair was still long, and hung in his eyes, but he stood up straight and seemed a lot less fidgety and nervous, and a whole lot annoyed—at least toward Eithne. He didn't have a trace of black or gray clothing on, and the clothes he was wearing emphasized the fact that he was actually quite handsome.

The moment he noticed me staring at him he shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away with a blush. "Hello again."

"Hi, Aaron. Did you get taller?" He had to have.

Eithne grinned and nodded.

He shook his head. "Not really."

I shrugged, then gestured for all of them to come in.

Johnny was the last and he gave me a meaningful look as he whispered, "I can do our project, but you're sleeping as soon as you're done greeting your guests."

"Yes, mum."

"Cassie, you're fantastic caretaker for everyone but yourself." Johnny gently stopped me so that he could keep talking to me. "What is going on?"

I shook my head, shrugging. "Do you want it alphabetically, or in order of appearance?"

"Let's start with why you were crying?"

I froze and stared silently at the floor. "Malcolm and I are breaking up after Christmas. He's going to be in England next semester."

"Whoa," Johnny let out a sympathetic sound.

"Um, I actually talked to my father and of course it was just sort of the vague conversation one might have with a freakin deity, I didn't get any sleep, I've been to Connecticut and Boston today, we're now preparing for a war…" I shook my head, unable to continue as I felt panic rising up in me.

He pulled me into a hug. "Whoa, slow down. A war doesn't start in a day. Sometimes it takes years to build up to it, sometimes weeks. But always more than a day. I'm sorry about Malcolm." His voice was gentle, and oddly calming. He gave me another squeeze, then released and stepped back, looking at my face. "I'm guessing you already have everything ready for whatever else needs to happen. Just go sleep. I'm sure Nico and Travis can handle whatever is left."

"If I go now, I'll have nightmares. There are a couple things I have left to do. Then I promise I will sleep." I pushed away the pesky realization that he had just calmed me in less than a minute.

"Fine, but if you spiral that quickly into a panic attack again, I don't care what's left to be done, you're sleeping." He looked toward the kitchen. "Keeping you out all night." He huffed and then shook his head and went in as well.

I waited a moment, feeling like I had just seen something I wasn't supposed to without knowing what it was that I saw that I shouldn't have seen. I shook my head again, confusing myself, and hurried after them. "We're ordering chinese food, just so y'all know. I have a room ready for you, Aaron. Eithne?"

She flashed a quick smile. "We should wait for Allison to get here. Besides, your Rachel friend is nowhere in sight."

"She's painting downstairs," Nico replied, giving Johnny a confused look.

Johnny just held up our history textbook in response and sat at a bar stool.

Travis groaned slightly and cracked his neck. "Okay, Nico, you go get Rachel's order. I'll make the order and pick it up. Cass, what do you want. Allison is about forty minutes out."

"Sounds like enough time for a power nap," Johnny said pointedly.

I rolled my eyes. "Sweet and sour chicken, crab cheese rangoons, and mild mongolian beef."

Travis jotted it down, then waved me off. "Johnny's right. Go take a nap. You look dead on your feet."

So, knowing I would have nightmares, I went to take a nap.