As we got onto the Argo II, I couldn't help but gape. It was incredible. Everything was amazing, especially Festus, the bronze dragon that appeared to be flying the thing by itself. I vaguely heard Percy tell Liz to go rest, since she had just been stabbed and all. Then he turned to me and said, "Come on, I'll take you to the sickbay. You've been through a lot. Are you sure you don't need me to carry you? You look like you're gonna pass out on me here."

"I'm fine, Perseus," I said back, making to emphasize his name, knowing that he would hate it.

He replied dubiously, "Okay then." He dropped me off and was on his way to his room (probably to rest) when he turned and snapped, "And don't call me Perseus!"

"All right, Perseus," I whispered under my breath, knowing that he wouldn't be able to hear it.

I had stayed there for an hour or two when Leo and Carter came running in with Liz in their arms. She was all limp and pale and totally dead-looking. Not only that, but Leo looked like he was about to cry.

"Is she okay?" I half-screamed. I couldn't lose her once, much less twice.

"Abigail! What are you doing here?" I guess Leo hadn't seen me as he ran in. He dropped Liz. Oops.

"Well, Percy said I should stay here until I 'get better'."

"Okay, fine, whatever. Just, don't be so quiet and still. Holy Hephaestus, girl, are you always so sneaky?"

"Um, I'm not really sure..."

"Oh. Can you and Carter stay here with Liz while I get Percy?"

"Of course," Carter and I said at once.

After he left, I rounded on Carter. "Alright, tell me what happened. Now!"

"Um, well, Leo found her in her room (don't ask me what he was doing in there. I don't know and I don't want to know) and according to him she looked all dead and, well, a lot like this. So he got me and we came here. I'm sure he can tell you more."

"No, it's fine. Thanks though."

"No problem," he mumbled back in reply.

The silence that followed could only be described as awkward. Neither of us were talking, just staring at Liz, our surroundings, occasionally each other (that stopped really quick), until Carter eventually broke the silence.

"So...you're Abigail, huh?"

"Yeah, that would be me. I think. Unless you're talking about another Abigail." Long silence. "Are you?"

"No. Wait, am I?"

"I don't know. I think we've both confused the schist out of ourselves."

"Schist?"

"Sorry, inside-Percy-Jackson-joke. Long story."

"Okay then," he said, half-laughing. "So before we got on this...plane-ship-thing, it sounded like you understood what it was like having a difficult life. Even though you're mortal."

"Yeah, well, even mortals have tough lives," I muttered bitterly.

"Care to talk about it?"

"Not really. The last time I did that it all got thrown back in my face. Correction: that was 2 times ago. Andrew hasn't done anything to make me regret it. Yet."

"Well, maybe you should try opening up, it helped me, that's for sure."

"That's a really good idea. Thanks, Carter."

"Happy to help. Start wherever I guess."

"Okay. Well it all started when-" The door banged open, cutting me off. Percy and Leo came running in. I stepped back into the shadows as Percy and Carter began to examine her. I would too, but I tend to break things, especially complicated mechanics (which most definitely includes living organisms), as soon as I lay a finger on them.

Thankfully, Leo voiced my concern. "Is... Is she okay, Perce?" Poor guy, it looks like his heart's broken.

"Someone seems to have gotten centaur's blood in her wound. Whoever did had quite the touch of ice. It's like she got a quick shot of hypothermia and never quite heated back up," Percy said. He was clearly worried, and for good reason: Centaur's blood is pretty much acid, and you don't want to mess with hypothermia. Wait, did he say touch of ice?

"Khione!" Leo blurted. Apparently he had come to the same conclusion that I had. No wonder she was so pale. If she doesn't get healed properly...

I snuck out and tried to find my way to my room, Liz had said I was in Piper's old room. Great, I hope it isn't painted pink or anything. Thankfully, it looked like every other part of the ship. In other words, brown and gray. I put all my stuff away, then stood in the hallway for a few minutes, just standing there, with no real purpose. Then I went back into my room and sat down on the bed with my head in my hands.

"Why does it always end up like this? I try to help someone out and al it ends up doing is killing them." I sat there for a while before I realized I wasn't alone.

"Um, Abigail? What are you doing in my room?"

"What? This is...oh." Now I remember, when I was out in the hall, I went into the room across the hall and then...oops. "Sorry, I stepped into it by mistake. I thought it was mine, which is across the hall." I looked around and realized that this was Jason's old room. "Don't you think it's odd that they put Jason's and Piper's rooms right across from each other?"

"Um, no, not really."

"Oh, well, never mind."

"I don't mean to be nosy or anything, but were you crying?"

"No. It-it's nothing."

"So there is something. You can tell me, you know. 'I get that it isn't the easiest thing in the world.'"

I laughed. That brought all the courage I needed to tell my story. "Okay, I will."

"Great! Just start from wherever."

"Alright. So, it really all started when Liz was a new kid at mu school, in 7th grade..." I told him the whole thing, even all the parts about Alex. He had to restrain me from finding and hilling him when it came to that part. It took about an hour and a half to tell the whole thing.

After I was done, he asked, "Now isn't that better?"

"Yeah. Thanks! I'm going to go check on Liz now, if you don't mind."

"Okay, just remember one thing: it was never your fault."

I walked away, so very happy that I had found someone who could finally be a big brother to me. Growing up with only younger brothers, there were times when I wished I had a sister or an older brother, to help advise me with their all-knowing wisdom (not). And I think I've finally found just that very person.

As I walked into the sick bay, I saw that Leo was still there. I realized that he had probably never left. I decided to let him be aware of my presence. "Liz always said thinking causes too much stress on the brain. I didn't mean to disturb you, nut I wanted to check on her."

"Don't worry, Abigail, she's in good hands as long as I'm here. And I know, she tells me that all the time." As I got my first real look at him, I was so surprised to remember that Liz wasn't too much younger than him now. Oh, wait, well, she's actually a few thousand years older, but oh well.

Suddenly I asked, "If you're so in love with her, then why do you stay with Drew?" Then I realized the rudeness of the question and tried to apologize. "Sorry, I know I'm not supposed to be aware, but I get weird dreams concerning things I've never even considered."

"Drew has charmspeak. It makes it impossible to defy her. So every time she tells me to do something then I feel obliged." I could tell he didn't like her powers of governing him, but I knew how it felt to be under someone else's total control.

"Ah, I see. I've felt that way too." Nice loooong awkward pause. "She'll be okay you know," I said, gesturing to Liz. "She seems to enjoy almost dying and then being perfectly fine."

He shrugged, then said, "Usually her pulse isn't slowing and her temperature dropping. But I can see her making a dramatic comeback."

"Of course you can! It's Liz! Just be careful. She may decide to punch you just for kicks if you're too close to her."

"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised." He turned and looked at her, his love clear on his face. With my "new" thought-sharing powers, I could tell what he was thinking about, or at least the gist of it. I was surprised that it worked just as well, if not better, with someone I didn't know. But I guess I have known him for a while, reading his story for years.

At the moment, he was wondering who was making Liz happier, me (for finally being there) or him (for being there the whole time). "It's both," I said. "But more you than me. I just got here, but you've been loyally waiting by her side."

He looked really worried when I said that, saying, "How did you know that? Are you reading my mind?"

"I'm not sure. Liz never called it mind reading. More like thought-sharing. I was never able to before, but after her age switch some of her powers must have been suspended in time, and the Fates decided I should get them." I shrugged, I didn't really get it either.

"Oh," he said, clearly relieved. "So I don't' have to worry about her reading my mind?"

"Nah, just me. Mostly because I'm not sure how to control it. I can hardly control the things I was born capable of, like making prophetic theories or having dreams laced with messages of the future."

"Ah. You almost sound like an aspiring Oracle," he said.

'Here it goes again,' I thought.

"From what I've heard, Rachel Elizabeth Dare experienced similar things."

"I'm not an Oracle, trust me. That requires gibing up guys, which would just bring more crushes which would be more complicated and such. Although, it has gotten better," I added as an afterthought.

"Maybe after a while of considering making the change it would get easier?" I could tell how surprised he was, especially with how logical the advice was.

"You know what else seems logical? Food. Accompany me to the kitchen?"

"I haven't eaten since yesterday!" he said. "Food would be amazing. And it would only do Liz honor, she loves food."

"True true. Let's go!"

It was a little after 8, and I was starving. I ate a ton, and probably wouldn't have stopped if I hadn't talked to Leo a little, to make it a bit less awkward.

"This is definitely the best food I've had in weeks! So the boat, uh, flying-ship-thing, is being steered towards Roseville, Virginia, right?"

"Yep. I think it's Frank's shift for flying right now. Hazel has the next one, and I'm after that. Liz usually would be next after Percy, but in her sickness you could fill in," he suggested.

I was horrified at the thought of being in charge of something so magnificent. "I can't fly the Argo! There are way too many complicated controls and whatnot. Besides, Liz will be better by then," I told him stubbornly.

"Alright fine. But if you're going to be an official part of the crew, you need to learn to fly this baby." I nodded, trying to conceal my excitement at being an "official part of the crew". "So what's in Roseville anyways?"

"The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young People, formerly the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. They'll tell you many things about that school: that it's a prep school for bored rick kids or even a school for geniuses. But that's not true. It's a school for spies. My ex-boyfriend goes there, kind of."

Leo looked really confused and concerned, especially considering his past with the government. "Spies? Are they our next allies? What do the feds have to do with all this saving the world jumbo?"

"Um, they're spies," I pointed out. "So that's pretty much their intention too. It's difficult to explain. You'll understand once we're there that there's a purpose for all this," I promised, hoping that it would be true.

"Okay. I trust you, Abigail. Now you need a nickname...I say 'amazing mortal.' What do ya think?"

"I think I'm cool with it," I responded, trying, and failing, not to blush.

At about nine, we went back to the sickbay where Liz was sleeping peacefully, perfectly healthy again. A little while after, I left to go back to my room and to get some well-needed beauty sleep.