"Hey, Wise Girl, wake up." Percy's voice woke her up, and she blearily looked up to see that they were passing over New York quickly. She tightened her hands around his waist when she looked down, and felt him drop the reigns and lace her fingers with his. Blackjack could fly on his own, Annabeth suspected the only reason Percy was holding the reigns was for fear that they'd fall off and Zeus would smite him (and probably Annabeth, too, in the process) as they plummeted to earth.

"How long did I sleep?" She asked.

"Only about forty-five minutes." Percy shrugged.

"Gods, I'm so sorry." She said.

"Ah, it's fine..." He paused, "You're cute when you're sleeping." It was Annabeth's turn to blush.

"Shut it." She said, shaking her head. Percy grinned.

"Never."

Camp was right below them, and Blackjack spiraled down quickly towards the Big House. For a terrifying moment, he was so close to the roof that he actually put his hoof down and pushed them in the opposite direction.

Chiron burst out of the door to the Big House at the sound of a hoof tearing several shingles off of the roof, and stood waiting for Blackjack to stop with his acrobatics and just land. Percy leaned back.

"I think Blackjack is trying to impress you, should I be jealous?" He asked. Annabeth chuckled, watching as Percy grinned, obviously happy to have made her laugh.

"Annabeth!" Chiron smiled, walking over to them. Percy hopped down first, turning to give Annabeth his hand again, but she'd already gotten down by herself.

"Hey, Chiron." She smiled at the centaur. But then, her eyebrows furrowed and she looked around. It was quiet and the air was filled with tension. No one was playing basketball or volleyball, instead almost everyone was sitting around silently, sharpening swords and talking in low voices, glancing at the Athena cabin as well as Annabeth's half siblings who sat huddled together and murmuring things. Malcolm looked up, saw her, and started jogging towards them.

Chiron sighed, "As you can see, everyone is melancholy about the disappearances. They are afraid of another war. Of more casualties." He explained, "Malcolm will explain." Then he smiled, "I'm glad you're back, Annabeth."

"I guess you're about to be dragged away from me." Percy sighed when Chiron turned away and headed back to the Big House. Annabeth didn't get a chance to respond as Malcolm ran up.

"Annabeth! Gods, it's good to see you." He sighed. The Daughter of Athena sent Percy an apologetic look as her half-brother linked arms with her and started dragging her to where all the other blonde haired and grey eyed kids were. Well, most of them had blonde hair and grey eyes. Genetics were random and weird, even for the gods.

Annabeth was immediately swarmed with hugs and relieved faces. She had no idea why they would be relieved that she was there, it wasn't like there was anything she could do that they couldn't. Well, James didn't like to wield knives (or any weapon, for that matter.) he'd rather tend to his secret olive trees....

Long story.

There weren't that many kids in the Athena cabin in the first place, but the group was obviously smaller than before. There were only four kids, not including Annabeth. There was James, their resident olive nut, Benjamin, Malcolm, and Katherine.

"We were just talking about the, uh, situation." Ben said, crossing his arms. He was probably the most muscular out of them all, even though he was only fifteen, and loved fighting and strategizing for Capture the Flag. He was cunning and brilliant, but relatively new to camp." Apparently, his dad was a general in the U.S. Army, and he had been trained ever since he was tiny. He used to have a buzz cut, but it had grown out slightly by now.

"Yes," Annabeth sighed, "So, tell me how it happened."

"There's not much to tell," Katherine said, "They just disappeared in the middle of the night. No scuffle or anything. But, Ellie screamed like she was being murdered and woke us all up. When we looked, she was gone."

"She can't just disappear." Annabeth protested.

"But she did. There was no trace of her anywhere." Malcolm looked down, "We searched all night. She was gone."

"But, there was the tracks." James reminded them.

"Oh, yeah," Katherine looked over, "It had been raining that night, and outside our cabin, in the mud, there was tracks leading around the back. But, when we looked, there was nothing." She said.

Annabeth shook her head, "What did the tracks look like? An animal? A monster?"

"Footprints. Big feet, maybe size nine or something like that." Malcolm said.

"So, it was a demigod?" Annabeth asked.

"Apparently."

"And you're sure it wasn't someone just heading to use the bathroom?"

"Positive." Ben nodded

Annabeth sighed, "I don't know what to tell you guys. I guess we just have to watch our backs." She said, but she knew it wouldn't be enough to calm their nerves. She was sure that none of them would be able to sleep that night, or at all for that matter.

"Yeah." James sounded disappointed. Annabeth looked down, silent. She was their counselor, she was supposed to be able to fix their problems quickly and without trouble.

The group started dispersing and Annabeth watched them go, biting her lip as she wondered if there really was a pattern that someone wanted the Athena kids and was going to kidnap them. She hoped not. She hoped it was only a coincidence that the two disappearances were children of Athena.

But, there wasn't much to go on for that. There were only two disappearances, and though most people assumed it was the Athena kids the kidnapper wanted, it could just as easily be any half-blood.

Really? There was no way to know until someone else disappeared. And, unknown to everyone else, it wouldn't be that long of a wait.