Yeah, I'm not doing the three chapters at a time thing 😝

Annabeth was sitting on the seats of the Amphitheater when Percy showed up, sitting beside her quietly.

"Are you okay?" He asked, taking her hand. She looked over at him. His eyes were dark and worried, and his eyebrows were scrunched up.

"Yeah, I am." She squeezed his hand reassuringly, but he didn't look convinced. Thankfully, he let it slide.

"So, some things have obviously happened whilst you were gone." He sighed, "Including, probably the most annoying person in the world showed up."

"I thought that was Ares." Annabeth cracked a smile.

"Not this time." Percy grimaced, "A new Apollo camper. Well, I say new..." He trailed off.

"Oh. So, he left and then came back?" Annabeth asked. She felt kind of bad for the guy, if that was the case. He would really be hated.

"Yeah. His name is Justin." Percy said. Annabeth paused.

"Justin?" She asked hesitantly. Percy looked back over at her, raising his eyebrows, "Justin McDonald?"

"Yeah. You know him?" Percy asked.

"Kind of. He went to Kronos' side earlier than the others." Annabeth shook her head, "He was always nice to me. I don't see why he would want to go with Kronos. He was all for the gods."

"So?" Percy shook his head, "He's still a traitor." Annabeth couldn't exactly agree or disagree with him, at the moment, and thankfully she didn't have to. Because everyone else in the almost empty Amphitheater started standing, chattering about dinner. The two stood, Percy hugging her quickly, "We can talk more after dinner?" He said it like a question, and she nodded.

They parted ways, heading for their cabins.

///

As the Athena cabin was walking towards the dining pavilion, Annabeth felt a hand on her elbow. She stopped in her tracks, looking to see that someone had moved over to them from the Apollo cabin.

Justin had ruffled blonde hair and was tall and muscular. But he looked tired, his brown eyes having rings underneath them and his shoulders slightly slumped. Yet, he still grinned at her.

"Hey," He said. Annabeth glanced at her siblings, who were all glaring at Justin with the heat of a thousand suns.

"I'll meet up with you guys. Go on." Annabeth stepped to the side, next to Justin, so they could walk past. They did so, if not reluctantly, trekking to the pavilion quickly, "What are you doing here?" Annabeth turned back to Justin, crossing her arms.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you." He smiled.

"You know what I mean. You were on Kronos' side." She said. His expression hardened.

"You know, I expected this from everyone else. But not you, Annabeth." He swallowed, looking away. She felt slightly guilty for saying that, but didn't let it show.

"Look, you betrayed us when you went to Kronos. You betrayed all of us." Annabeth gestured around, "And that includes me."

Justin shook his head, looking back at her, "It's not like that. And I seriously don't want to explain it right now." He sighed, "All I wanted to do was say hi to my friend."

They weren't good friends, per se, but had talked some at camp. He was a year younger than her, and had arrived at camp about two years after she did, and he had kept her from being lonely when Luke was so distant. Then there was the thing with Kronos and Percy and the quests and she didn't talk to him as much. Then he disappeared, and everyone knew he'd gone to Kronos.

But, that wasn't like him. He was usually so fun-loving and happy and laid-back, that the behavior he was putting on now was foreign and strange. But then, he wiped his face clean of any negative emotion and smiled.

"Hey, it's okay though, right? We can still be friends." Annabeth hesitated at that, but nodded. He hadn't fought for Kronos, really, right? And what harm was there in talking to him? He was harmless.

"Thanks, Annabeth." He sighed with relief, giving her a grateful look, "Want to walk to dinner?"

"I guess..." She said hesitantly, starting off towards the pavilion. Justin trudged along beside her, arms crossed. Before she step into view, she wondered if it would look weird for her to walk into the pavilion late with a traitor on her heels, but pushed the thought away.

And then every single head snapped towards them.

Annabeth went straight for the Athena table, trying to ignore how people were split between looking at her and looking at Justin. She glanced over to the Apollo table to see every single camper glaring at Justin.

Then she looked over to Percy, who looked confused, and raised his eyebrows at her. She shrugged and before turning away, caught a glimpse of his eyes narrow slightly.

"What in Mom's name were you doing with that one?" Katherine leaned forward, practically hissing. Annabeth sighed.

"Talking." She said simply.

"Why?" Malcolm scrunched his nose up. She glanced around the table.

"Because he used to be my friend."

"He betrayed us."

"I know that!" Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Does that mean he hasn't changed his ways? Do you think Mr. D would let a traitor into camp if it was more than just a misunderstanding?" Her siblings went quiet, glancing around.

"Annabeth..." Ben started.

"Just eat, guys." She threw her hands up slightly, "I don't know why everyone is overreacting to this!" Katherine chewed on her finger nail, her eyes scanning the room.

"Percy is staring."

"Let him." Annabeth huffed.

"Look, Annabeth. We're sorry, aren't we?" James looked around the table, raising his eyebrows. No one said anything, but there were some dispersed nods, "But we're just trying to keep you safe."

"I can keep myself safe."

"We know that, but haven't you noticed that things have started going bad ever since that-" He glanced at Justin, "Ever since Justin arrived?"

Annabeth picked at the table cloth, noticing that people were starting to get up to burn an offering for the gods. Justin got up as well, scraping a large piece of chicken off into the fire. You could hear his voice say "Dad" from across the otherwise quiet room, which made no sense. The people who fought with Kronos all hated the gods. But Justin still called Apollo his dad. He still sacrificed food to him.

"It doesn't make sense." Malcolm complained, grabbing tufts of his hair and squeezing his eyes shut. Apparently, he'd come to the same conclusion as Annabeth.

Ben loaded his plate the rest of the way and started off towards the fire, dropping a roll into the roaring flames. Everyone else at the table followed his lead.

Dinner was almost over when it happened. Annabeth and the rest of her cabin were almost ready to leave, but still sat in silence as they waited for Katherine to finish her meal. They exchanged small words and smiles, but tension was still present in the air.

Then, every single bit of noise died down. Percy, who had turned in his seat suddenly, looked back at Annabeth with wide eyes. She mouthed "What?" back to him, but by then she had seen a blur of red sprinting towards the pavilion.

Rachel was panting by the time she stepped onto the stone floor, her feet bare and covered in dirt. She blinked rapidly as she looked around at all of the shocked faces.

Then, her eyes glowed and green mist seeped from her mouth, spreading out over the floor. Someone screamed, and Rachel's head snapped straight toward Annabeth, her eyes fixated on the girl.

"Three shall journey to lands unknown
A daughter, a son, a pawn shall roam.
Secrets and darkness to break the stone
For a final quest to bring lost ones home."

A daughter of Hephaestus, who was the closest, barely managed to catch Rachel before she slammed her head on the stone. An uproar began, one that Chiron was barely able to calm. Everyone screamed that they had just finished a war, why couldn't they get some peace for once?

"Silence!" Chiron stomped his hoof against the pavilion floor. After a few seconds, everyone calmed slightly. People had stood up, going to different tables and chattering to their friends excitedly. Justin had stood, and was pushing through the crowd towards Annabeth.

"What was that?" He asked, grabbing her arm. She shook her head, still waiting for Chiron to speak.

"A prophecy." She said quietly. Percy emerged from the crowd, walking to her side quickly. He looked at Justin with distaste, and the son of Apollo removed his hand from Annabeth's arm with the corner of his mouth twitching slightly and humor sparking in his eyes.

"Annabeth," Percy said, "Do you have-"

"I don't know, I just heard it Percy." She bit her lip, "But I think I know what it's about." She glanced around for her siblings, who were all trying to calm everyone down.

"This prophecy will be discussed at a later time!" Chiron said loudly once he had almost everyone quiet. A few people still chattered excitedly, however, about what was going on. Demigods hurriedly slapped their hands over the kids' mouths, "For now, everyone is to go to their cabin! We have a long day tomorrow!"

There were some grunts of annoyance but many people obeyed and headed straight to their cabins. Annabeth made to go, but then stopped and turned to where Justin and Percy still stood.

"I'll talk to you later." She said, to who it wasn't clear.