Gods, she was going to have to face Percy Jackson, god of Cunning and Manipulation.

Annabeth and Thalia got back to Camp about two days after their little chit chat in Thalia's tent. It was a nice reunion. Everybody who saw them waved and smiled at them. The two hunters were a common and welcome sight at Camp Half Blood.

Walking past the Athena cabin was pure torture for Annabeth. She saw all the new campers, some were even younger than she was when she reached Camp Half Blood. And she was seven. It was most likely that their parents knew the story and dropped them there to be raised among understanding people. It didnt hurt Annabeths heart any less.

The new Athena campers, the youngest seemed to be maybe eight, were at Battle Strategy, and when Annabeth walked by they smiled. She felt a pang of saddness. She wouldnt be there for these new campers. She couldnt help them with their ADHD or Dtslexia. She couldnt support them.

Sometimes being a huntress was harder than being a demi god.

The two, Annabeth and Thalia, walked to the Big House. Annabeth took in the sight of the old home. She breathed in the farmiliar scent of the strawberry feilds. This camp had been her home for nine years. She knew it like the back of her hand.

She took one step up the creaky first step to the Big House. She kept going up the stairs, remembering how the fifth and eight steps creaked when you stepped in the wrong spot. Gods, she couldnt help the nostalgia.

She opened the front door, and it squeaked on its hinges. The doorknob wobbled, having worn away its place in the door. She knew all of these things. But she was afraid to forget them. Lose the little details. She was afraid she might never come back, so every time she visited, as though it was her last time being home.

They stepped inside. The house filled their noses with the smells of Diet Coke and strawberries. And a light hay scent, but that was just Chiron.

Speaking of their old mentor, he cantered in and hugged both of them.

"Girls, thank you for coming."

"'course Chiron. We wouldnt miss it." Thalia winked at Chiron. Annabeth got the feeling thwre was something they werent telling her.

Though Chiron looked somewhat happy, he did seem mostly worried. "Yes, well, Thalia, my dear. I did tell you the condition was worrisome. But it seems it was worse than we anticipated."

Thalias face drained of color. She could tell Chirom's concern was well placed. And Chron was almost never wrong in where to concern himself.

"Wh-whats going on?" Annabeth asked. "Condition of what? Is something wrong with Thalia's tree? The Golden Fleece? Did Kronos somehow reappear?" Annabeth spouted answers for a question she didnt know.

"No my dear. Nothing like that. But.." Chiron hsifted nervously from hoof to hoof. "Follow me."

Chiron led them down a corridor to a room in the very back of the Big House. He opened the door and it didnt squeak at all. Annabeth stepoed in behind Thalia, and examined the room.

Being a hunter had sharpned her senses so Annabeth was sure she had never seen this room before. The walls were a steril white, but with small blue ovals in an alternating pattern on them.

There were half book shelves on all the walls, filled with books. Colorful spines facing the inside of the room. Annabeth got excited. Boks were meant to be read. She wanted to read them. She almost grabbed three or four of them, but stopped herself.

She continued examining the room. The window had a view of the strawberry feilds and was cracked a little bit, causing the soft, white, curtains to flutter with the breeze.

She finally let her gaze drift to the centre of the room, where Thalia had been staring the whole time. There was a giant while bed, with a baby blue knit blanket over it.

The person laying in the bed had jet black hair and tan skin. Or at least he used to. Now his skin was fragil and think, with only hints of darker color throughout it. He was aleep and drooling, but it was hard to tell because he was hooked up to an oxegyn tank, and something monitoring his heartbeat.

Annabeth stared at the bed. She was shell shocked. She started crying but she didnt notice. Suddenly she was heaving with sobs. She ran to the bed and grabbed the hand of the frail boy laying in it.

"Percy..." She sobbed out.