So, it's been a while... I should call myself Rick Riordan because of the length between my last updates. *whispers* Now is when you guys laugh...

Sorry about that! I hope you like this chapter and please review.

Annabeth

The trio were late to breakfast. Figures. I watched them approach the dining pavilion with Chiron. The three were talking quietly, probably hoping Chiron couldn't hear them. Who the heck were they? Why was Chiron treating them like they belonged here? Hermione was a demigod, but Harry and Ron were obviously not. They were something not quite mortal, but not demigod. I couldn't put my finger on it. As they passed my table on the way to the Hades table, I heard them whisper "horcrux" and "dumbledore". I had no idea what either of those words meant. That was further proof that they weren't normal or demigod. I really needed to talk to Chiron later.

I waited patiently through the meal. For some reason, Chiron let Harry and Ron sit at the Hades table with Annabeth, Nico, and Hazel. I saw them introduce themselves to Hazel. I turned my attention back to my breakfast and didn't talk to anyone the rest of the meal. I thought about my recent quest. More like recent war, actually. I was reminded once again, of the loss of Leo. As much as he annoyed me, he was my friend. And he just disappeared. That poor kid. Why'd it have to end like that? The whole camp missed him- even those who didn't know him very well. I had to force myself not to break down like I had when Leo hadn't showed up. I had tried to keep it all together, but I broke. Leo had become the annoying little brother on the Argo II. I needed to think of something else. Anything else. I forced my thoughts to an idea I had for a house. I hadn't had the chance to sketch it out yet, but it was in my head.

After breakfast, when everyone else started on their daily activities, I hurried over to Chiron before he could talk to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"Chiron, we need to talk," I said. He nodded solemnly. "First of all," I began but was interrupted.

"Annabeth, I can only tell you so much. Some information is only for Harry, Ron, and Hermione to share. I'm sorry, but that's how it is." I sighed, a little surprised and hurt. Chiron rarely held information from me, so that meant it was important.

"Maybe if you tried to get along with them, they would tell you," Chiron suggested.

"It's hard to get along with them when something seems off. They're not normal, and they're awfully secretive."

"Probably because they're in a foreign place! You wouldn't spill out your entire life story to complete strangers would you?" I didn't answer, because the answer was no, I would not.

"I am sorry Annabeth. Try to get to know them," Chiron said.

"I'll try. I don't know how well that'll work, but I'll try."

"Chiron?" Harry said from behind me. "What are we supposed to do?"

"Come with me. Hermione, you should participate in the other camp activities, seeing as you are one of them," Chiron instructed. Hermione and her friends exchanged worried glances, and I could tell they were having a silent conversation.

"Annabeth, please show Hermione more of the camp," Chiron ordered. I sighed.

"Yes, sir." Hermione followed me as I walked away from the dining pavilion. Before we could get far, one of the younger campers came sprinting toward us.

"Anna-" he panted, "beth. Rachel- smoke- prophecy," he managed to get out. I paled and my eyes widened. No, no, no. Not another prophecy. With that came a quest. I hoped Percy and I wouldn't have to go on this quest. We've had too much lately. Could we ever get some peace and quiet? I swallowed and turned to Hermione.

"Our Oracle has just given us a prophecy-" She snorted. "What?"

"It's just, I've had bad experiences with prophecies and certain people giving those prophecies," she said.

"Well, here a prophecy means a quest. I could say I've had some trouble with prophecies as well," I told her. "Follow me." I ran up to the Big House with Hermione on my heals. Chiron, Harry, and Ron were already in the rec room where we held our camp counselor meetings. The head counselors were sitting around the table. Not all of them were there yet, but they all filed in eventually. I took a seat between Piper and Percy. Jason was on Piper's other side, and Nico and Hazel were next to him. Clarisse sat a few seats down from Percy, which was good, seeing as they didn't really get along. Rachel was right next to Percy, but she was in a daze. I didn't like her when I first met her because she was into Percy, but now she's one of my best friends. It's weird how that works.

Hermione joined Harry and Ron at the edge of the room. The room quieted down once everyone was in there.

"Why are they here?" Clarisse demanded, looking at the trio.

"They just are. Leave it Clarisse," Piper said. I could hear the charmspeak seeping into her words. Chiron cleared his throat and all talking ceased. Everyone looked at him expectantly. He held out his hand to Rachel, and she placed a piece of paper in it. I guess someone had written down the prophecy as Rachel had delivered it.

"Foreigners of three

Shall pass the sacred tree,

And enter a whole new world.

With help from the dark god's girl,

Foes and friends unite

To make two worlds right," he read.

"Well it doesn't take a genius to figure out who the 'foreigners of three' are," Percy stated into the silence. Harry, Ron, and Hermione glanced at each other. They did that a lot, I noticed.

"'With help from the dark god's girl'. Oooo that's a tough one," Clarisse said.

"It could also be Hazel," Jason pointed out. Clarisse crossed her arms and leaned back.

"We've heard the whole 'foes uniting' junk before, so it can't mean the Romans," Piper said.

"What 'two worlds' is it talking about?" Miranda Gardiner piped up. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other once again. They obviously knew something, but were choosing to keep it to themselves. I narrowed my eyes at them.

"What do you three know?" I asked, calling attention to them.

"Why would we listen to them?" Clarisse demanded.

"Because they are involved in the prophecy and they obviously know something," I shot back. "Do you three know anything that could help us with this quest?" I asked them. Hermione glanced at Chiron, who subtly nodded. She took a deep breath and spoke.

"You probably won't believe me," she began. Wasn't that a great start. "Harry, Ron, and I know of another world. But there are laws that prevent me from telling you too much. All I can say is, it's not normal, but it's not like the world of Greek gods."

"Wow," Clarisse said, "thank you for enlightening us. I appreciate how much information you gave us." Hermione glared at her.

"Well, the reason I can't say much is because present company can't be trusted," Hermione retorted. "There are more supernatural things going on in this world than you may think." Clarisse rolled her eyes but didn't say anything.

"What are we supposed to do with this?" Hazel asked. "What kind of quest can you send after that prophecy?" Chiron didn't say anything and the room remained silent.

"I need some time to think about this," he said after a while. "Please, go back to your normal activities." People groaned and stood up.

"Harry, Ron, Hermione, Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Hazel, Nico, please stay," Chiron instructed. Once the room emptied, Chiron glanced at the nine of us.

"Harry, Ron, and Hermione. This group of campers can be trusted. I'm not going to force you to share with them, but I think it would be beneficial to the quest at hand," he told the trio. They glanced at each other yet another time. They had another silent conversation. I bet it went something like this:

Hermione: Can we trust them?

Ron: I don't know. They still seem weird to me.

Harry: You heard Chiron, it could help. We have to tell them.

Ron: Are you sure about that?

Hermione: I'm really worried, but I guess if it will help, we should tell them.

Ron: You guys are crazy.

Harry: Let's tell them.

It was Harry who spoke up this time.

"We're wizards" he said bluntly. "We have magic, and we attended a school of magic in England. It's called Hogwarts. We started when we were eleven."

"Technically, it's in Scotland," Hermione informed. I rolled my eyes, even though I probably would have done the same thing.

But wizards? That's an interesting claim to make.

"Wizards?" Percy asked in disbelief. The trio nodded.

"Prove it," I said. The three of them each took out a stick. They were all a little less than a foot. Ron waved his slightly, which resulted in the table catching on fire. Hermione quickly waved hers as well, and the fire went out. Ron looked down sheepishly. Harry waved his wand and the prophecy that was still on the table flew into his outstretched hand. We looked at them in amazement. It was impressive, I grudgingly admitted.

"So why are you here?" Piper demanded.

"We don't really know," Harry said.

"How'd you get here?" Jason asked.

"We apparated," Ron replied.

"They don't know what that means Ron," Hermione pointed out. "Apparating is disappearing from one place and appearing in another. It takes a while to master it. You have to have a wand, and you have to envision the location you are apparating to in your head," she explained. It was a cool concept, but how did they get here? If you had to imagine the place you were going, then how did they show up on a continent they hadn't intended to travel to? Percy seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"How did you guys come here, though?" he inquired. The trio shrugged in unison.

"It was a bit odd," Hermione noted. "The image of the alleyway we apparated to just popped into my head. I'd never been to America before. As far as I know, that's not how apparation is supposed to work." I glanced at Chiron. He looked like he had a theory as to how they came here.

"Why'd you guys apparate in the first place?" Hazel asked.

"You'd better sit down," Harry suggested. "This is a long story." He looked at his friends before speaking again. "In our world, there is a war going on."

"You should start from the beginning," Ron said. Harry nodded.

"A little less than two decades ago, there was a different wizarding war going on. There was an evil dark wizard, by the name of Lord Voldemort. He had many followers, and he was very powerful. He had spies in the Ministry."

"The Ministry of Magic is the government in the wizard world," Hermione interjected.

"Voldemort was slowly taking over. He grew more and more powerful. However, one of his spies overheard a prophecy. The prophecy basically said that a child was going to born at the end of July. This child was said to have the power to 'vanquish the Dark Lord.' The prophecy stated that the child was born of parents who defied Voldemort three times. As it turns out, I am the child in that prophecy. One of the lines said that 'neither can live while the other survives.' But Voldemort didn't hear that line. He only heard that there was a possibility of a threat. He chose to eliminate the threat. When I was one year old, Voldemort came to my parent's house." Harry stopped for a moment. He took a deep breath. "He killed my parents so he could get to me. My parents tried to fight him, but my dad didn't have his wand with him. My mum sacrificed herself in hopes that I would live. Of course, Voldemort was sure that he would kill me. The fact that I survived has nothing to do with my magical power. I'm not any better than Hermione and Ron here."

"Oi, don't you start!" Ron exclaimed at the same time Hermione spoke.

"Come off it, Harry. He's just being modest," she said. Harry shook his head as he continued.

"When Voldemort cast the Killing Curse on me, it backfired on him. It gave me this scar." Harry lifted his bangs off of his forehead to reveal a lightning-shaped scar. "He basically became a hollow shell. The reason for that is because he created something called a horcrux. In fact, he created six of them. A horcrux ties a piece of the creator's soul to an object that is of importance or significance to them. In order to split one's soul, they must kill someone. Murdering literally rips your soul.

"After the curse backfired, he fled. He managed to survive for ten years by different methods. When I was eleven, he possessed my Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He lived through him. At the end of that school year, he tried to steal this thing called the Sorcerer's Stone. It had the power to create an elixir of life. That story, however, is for another time. The next year, he tried another way to return to full life. He didn't succeed that time either. During our third year, one of Voldemort's servants returned to him. At the time, we didn't see it as a huge threat. But in our fourth year, Voldemort succeeded. He used some ancient magic to do it. His servant, Peter Pettigrew, went through this unnerving ritual to bring Voldemort back." Harry swallowed. The memory was a painful one. "He… he had to use some of my blood. And he had to cut off his own hand." He closed his eyes for a moment. Hermione and Ron looked at him with sympathy.

"I watched Voldemort return. He tried to kill me again that night. I don't really know how I managed to escape. After that night, everything changed. It wasn't quick, but it was happening. People became more solemn and suspecting. Voldemort subtly began recruiting his followers again. Hermione, Ron, and I returned to school for our fifth year. Near the end of that year, we, er, went to the Ministry to save, erm, my godfather." Harry's voice broke for a moment. Hermione momentarily stepped in.

"We were sure that Sirius, Harry's godfather, was there. It turns out, he wasn't. Voldemort had tricked us into going there. He needed Harry to get something from there. He needed the prophecy. In the Ministry, there is this place called the Hall of Prophecy. The prophecy concerning Harry was there, and Voldemort needed it. Only Harry could retrieve it."

"So we fell into his trap," Harry spat bitterly. "We went to the Ministry and endangered our friends. Sirius died there. He died because of me." Hermione placed a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder. My heart softened for them. My original prejudice starting slipping slightly. I suddenly felt empathy for them. I didn't know exactly what they went through, but I understood much of what they felt. I'd been through similar, difficult experiences.

"The next year," Harry continued, "which was last year, I started searching for the horcruxes with our… old headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore had plenty of theories, which proved to be correct. He was truly brilliant. He and I found out more about Voldemort's past. He eventually discovered the place where one of the horcruxes resided. But, after we got back to our school, he was killed." Harry stopped once more. He had dealt with so much tragedy in his life. But I knew from past experience that he didn't need pity. He probably didn't want it either.

"The greatest wizard, in my opinion, was killed by his friend," Harry growled. He was becoming more and more angry. I looked at my friends to see their reactions. Percy had an empathetic expression on his face. Piper was scowling slightly. Jason looked concerned and deeply troubled. Hazel was a little shocked. Nico's expression was impossible to read, like normal.

"He was killed by a man he trusted," Harry snarled. Ron was visibly fuming behind him, and Hermione was equally as livid. "He wanted me to continue his search for the horcruxes so we can actually defeat Voldemort. So that's what Hermione, Ron, and I are doing."

"We know this is a lot to take in right now," Hermione said. "You guys probably need time to process all of this. Just like we need to process your world."

"Speaking of that," Ron added, "will we ever be able to get more information on your world?"

"You will," Chiron promised. "But first, let us talk about your world." Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at us, probably expecting questions. For a moment, none of us spoke. I couldn't find any words. There was a whole other supernatural world? How was so much going on, but people were so oblivious?

"Wow," Percy breathed eventually. "That is a lot."