Percy and Annabeth's conversation after that revelation had been cut short by Chiron's return. The centaur appeared in the middle of the camp in a flash of pure speed, hoove tracks upturning the dirt he traveled. Before Annabeth could go to greet her old friend, the centaur had blown a conch shell, signaling a meeting for the camp counselors.

Percy had rarely seen him start meetings, the need for it was usually quite scarce. But over the past year, it had happened a few times. Usually, it was for camp activities or war games. But the look on Chiron's face was grim at best and it told Percy of a much less fun fate.

He heard plenty of the counselors complain as they made their way to the Big House, the meeting was going to cause them to miss dinner. Percy's stomach growled in unison with an Apollo camper as he passed them by, almost making him crack a smile despite the thick air that had suddenly surrounded the camp.

Annabeth had been reappointed as Athena counselor in the time since she had arrived, so they arrived at the house together. Percy led the way into the room, finding they were the last ones to get there.

Everyone looked annoyed in some capacity, while Chiron himself held himself with a withered gait. The lines on his face seemed deeper than normal, his eyes sunken into his skull.

"So, did you learn anything at the emergency meeting?" Percy asked Chiron as he settled into a chair. The centaur shook his head.

"No, the gods' attention had all been conveniently turned away from their children this morning, unfortunately." Chiron solemnly said. Percy and a few other campers looked at him disbelievingly.

"How can every god and goddess have just missed this!? The whole notion is absurd." The Apollo camper spat. Thunder rolled off in the distance in response, silencing the boy. Chiron cleared his throat.

"The Olympian gods had all been preoccupied, the minor deities have not been consulted."

"Wait wait wait, why not? That's the least wise thing I've heard all day!" Annabeth exclaimed, having shot up from her seat. Percy caught the back of the chair before it could get knocked over, carefully righting it behind the now standing girl.

"It sounds suspicious, but in character. If an Olympian god couldn't sense it, then a minor god definitely couldn't." Percy offered. Annabeth shot him a look that told him she knew he was right but still didn't agree. Before any bickering could start, Clarisse ground out a question.

"Even if the gods don't know what happened, that doesn't explain why you look like you've been through the wringer, Chiron. What happened up there?" Annabeth and Percy both looked at the bigger girl and then at their teacher, remembering his poor condition. The centaur massaged the back of his hand for a few moments, clearly unhappy with what he was about to say.

"While the gods weren't able to conclude who did it, they were able to pin the blame on me as the trainer of Heroes. Tomorrow morning, you will have a new camp director." Instantly, the room exploded into madness.

Practically everyone had shot out of their chairs, much like Annabeth had moments ago. Many different voices were clawing into the entire room's ears, trying to be heard over the others.

Clarisse had pulled out her spear from under the table and was slamming it into the floor to get attention, the Apollo camper was frantically waving his hands around as he talked, and the Stoll Brothers had stopped yelling at everyone and delved into a heated argument amongst themselves. The only campers not trying to yell over everyone was Percy and Beckendorf, who was stoic as usual.

Eventually, everyone was silenced by Annabeth, who had bided her time waiting for a collective break in the yelling for her to get everyone's attention.

"Enough!" Her shrill scream echoed around the room, everyone's attention now solely on her. Quickly composing herself, her cheeks flushed pink from her outburst, she continued.

"So what is going on? Are you like, collateral? Or do they genuinely think you have something to do with the poisoning?" She asked Chiron.

"Perhaps both. I'm the only centaur near the camp, thus the only source of Centaur Blood. However, I do hope most of them recognize that the likely hood of me being the culprit is low after thousands of years of service." Percy jutted in at this, trying to make his teacher feel better.

"So- all we have to do is find who did it, and save the tree. Seems doable to me." The mood quickly shifted at this claim from denial and outrage to a mix of optimism and skepticism. Clarisse leveled Percy a disgruntled look.

"Of course you would say that, Golden Boy. If it's so "doable" then what are we supposed to do?" The focus of the room landed on Percy, who metaphorically handed it off to Annabeth with a grand sweeping motion using his hands. Rolling her eyes, she answered for him.

"The answer is surprisingly simple, I understand if it went over your head though Clarisse. We get the Golden Fleece." Commotion almost erupted from the campers again, but Chiron put his foot down.

"Annabeth, I taught you better than that! It is far too dangerous, and we don't even know where it is." At that, Annabeth shook her head.

"No, Chiron. Not only do we know where it is, but we also have the perfect opportunity to get it." The centaur looked at her questioningly as she continued, mimicking Percy's grand sweeping motion right back at him.

"Everyone knows it's on Polyphemus's island, which is in the Sea of Monsters." She motioned once more to Percy, who she had told about this briefly already. "We have the son of the sea god; if he leads the quest, then we should be able to get it!" Only silence met Annabeth's proposal, Chiron unresponsive to her idea.

Percy knew the centaur was apprehensive about quests in the first place, let alone quests that weren't technically necessary. But Percy could see the gears turning in his brain.

"It's still dangerous, and we could be risking ourselves by overextending during this tough time." Percy saw the Demeter Counselor nodding at that. The girl- who looked a lot like Katie- spoke up in agreeance.

"It sounds dangerous and possibly unnecessary. And Percy's already gone on a quest, not only would I not want to force him to go on another for his safety, but other campers might want to go in his place. We have plenty of brave kids at camp." Immediately, Annabeth shot back her counter-argument before her point could root itself in the other's minds.

"Sure, we have plenty of brave kids. But none of those other kids thrive on the ocean as Percy does. I've never seen him fight in the water, but I've heard it. From miles away." Eyes that had been bouncing between the two girls settled on Percy, who looked up at the ceiling, ears a little pink. Clarisse snorted.

"Yeah right. Kid's good, but you're overselling it, Chase. But I do agree that we should get a quest. Chiron?" Annabeth cursed under her breath, and Percy could tell why. Clarisse had, in one move, undermined his worth and gave the floor to Chiron. The old centaur paused for a moment before deeply sighing.

"Percy, my boy?" Percy stood up a little straighter in attention, the man's tone had changed.

"Uhm, yeah?"

"If we are really considering this, I would trust you to do it. But before I put the camp on your shoulders, do you want this?" Percy opened his jaw and closed it. For a moment, he didn't feel sure. Not only was he not sure he wanted it, but he also wasn't quite sure he was up for the task that Annabeth had handed to him on a silver platter.

But he thought back to his quest last summer, the action-packed mess that it was, and tried to remember what it felt like. His mother had been kidnapped, his honor threatened, and he almost died plenty of times. He remembered his mission for his father mere months prior, the long time spent traveling in relative peace and boredom, and then the pressure put on him to hold the water walls up. Each adventure felt different, but impactful all the same.

The Quest for the Bolt had been a test of his mental fortitude and his Demigod strength, which he had been gathering for years. The Trojan Cetus had been a test of his growth while living the way he was meant to. Now a chance lay before him to save the home that had taken him in after he had been rejected from the mortal world.

"Yeah, I would love to help."

"Hold on, the Demeter chick is right. You've already been on a quest. I certainly object to just letting you go again. I say we vote, anybody with me?" Clarisse asked the group of kids, expecting several to agree with her, but found no one. Not even the Demeter counselor who brought it up in the first place.

"If he's willing to go, I admit he's best for the job. Give him the quest" The girl spoke up. She shrank away from Clarisse as the girl glared her down, annoyed that she had no support. When after a minute of general silence and no support, the girl angrily huffed and stomped out of the room.

"Sorry about her, kids. She just really wants a quest to honor her father." Chiron softly said to the remaining kids before turning to Percy, giving him a nod.

"If you're sure, Percy, you know where to go. We'll wait for you." Chiron's gaze swept across the room, making sure they all knew they weren't supposed to leave.

Percy nodded, and quickly left the room and made his way up to the rickety staircase on the other side of the Big House that leads to the Attic. It was time to see the Oracle of Delphi.

As he climbed the steps to the attic, he felt a wave of nostalgia wash over him from the last time he was here. Being with the corpse in the attic was never fun, and it had been a shock to his system the first time he had gone up. This time, however, he pushed back the cobwebs and marched straight up to the dead woman with his arms crossed with as much dignity one could muster when talking to a dead body.

"Alright, Oracle of Delphi, give me a prophecy to get the Golden Fleece, without the bullshit, please." For a moment nothing happened, almost as if the spirit was offended by the rude comment before it started spitting familiar green smoke.

With his now advanced control over the mist, he could now tell that the green gas was an illusion that the Oracle made. For what reason, he could not tell. As the gas built up around him and the Oracle in a smoky cocoon, he had a few seconds to admire the room around him. Hundreds of trophies littered the surrounding area, all with time labels for whenever they were acquired or the names of the people who gathered them.

As he was pondering a bent, but polished shield from a few hundred years ago, his attention was captured by the dry, raspy speech of the Oracle as it had built the necessary power to communicate with him.

"A single half-blood shall escape

To waters of mystery, blood awaits

Brothers clash in waves and hate

Sky meets ocean, rebirth contain"

Despite not having working neck muscles, or barely even any flesh on its neck period, Percy understood the words spoken and they chilled him to the bone.

Single half-blood? What, did that mean he was going to be alone? And if he did make it to the sea of monsters, he might die? Or get wounded? The thought was concerning, but the fourth line was what confused him the most.

He pondered the meanings of the prophecy as the green gas dissipated, leaving him to walk freely back to the meeting room of the campers, who looked more and more cross with not being able to eat.

As he entered the room, Annabeth perked up.

"So, what did she say?" She asked. Chiron quickly scolded her, telling her not to pry into other's prophecies. She scowled at him but rephrased her question.

"Is there anything we should know?" Percy thought about the Prophecy, trying to decide what parts of it were important enough that if he were to say now the whole camp would know. His first instinct was to just tell them what the prophecy was completely, but a second wave of thought hit him like a ton of bricks, making him gag at the thought of others knowing his fate.

"The first line, A single half-blood shall escape. I… I think I'm supposed to go alone." Several campers gave him a concerned looked, Annabeth just gave him a confused look. Chiron shook his head.

"Can't be, quests are traditionally three people." Percy hesitantly nodded, but then also shook his head.

"Well, not quests over the Sea of Monsters. The rules are backward there, right? Odysseus had an entire crew but ended up alone. The Argonauts had like fifty people, right? Maybe… it would be better." Annabeth aggressively disagreed however, her eyes alight with discontent.

"But we- you aren't a one-man army, Percy." She stumbled on her words before catching herself. When their eyes met, she looked like she had been slapped. Percy shook his head.

"Sure, of course I'm not. But if only a single half-blood can "escape", then if I bring more demigods they could either get stranded or die. That," his eyes swept around the room, looking for others to disagree. "Isn't worth it." He watched as Annabeth looked around, almost frantic for somebody to disagree with him, but like Clarisse, found no one.

"He makes a pretty good point, to be honest. I wouldn't want to get stranded in the middle of anywhere, let alone monster-infested waters. Count me out, I'm going to go get dinner." Connor Stoll called out before Percy and Annabeth could continue their argument. He saw several faces brighten considerably at the thought of food, and quickly, one by one the counselors left the meeting room; all of them were content with the outcome, besides Clarisse and Annabeth.

As Beckendorf passed, he lightly patted Percy's shoulder in sympathy, before also hurrying out the door. His head tracked the older teen as Annabeth's eyes bore into him without relent. Eventually, they were alone excluding Chiron, who had sat carefully rolled himself back into his place at the head of the table.

"Percy Jackson, how can you just- why are you so calm about this!?" Annabeth exclaimed, Percy shrugged.

"I guess it just hasn't clicked for me yet. Why are you getting so worked up?" Annabeth practically bared her teeth at him, uncharacteristically discomposed.

"Sea-Weed Brain! You know why I'm- gods you annoy me!" Percy found himself on his heels, hands in front of his body in an attempt to keep some distance.

"Uhm, excuse me but I haven't done anything wrong!" He pleaded with the angry girl, to no avail.

"Oh really, then what happened to Athena and Poseidon working together, huh? What about that-!" Percy looked at her incredulously.

"Uhm, we can't work together if you don't escape. What is so wrong with that!?" Annabeth looked away from him at that, no less annoyed or angry. She got up in his face and shoved a piece of paper she pulled from her pocket into his hands harshly, before backing back up and heading towards the door.

"Whatever, Jackson. Try not to die out there." The second she stepped out of the door to the rest of camp, she broke into a sprint. Surprised, he turned to Chiron, who just gave him a look with a shrug like he didn't know what to do either. Percy cursed to himself.

He tore out of the room and house after her, hot on her heels. His feet touched the grass without even hitting the stairs, softening his land into a roll. Instantly popping up with almost inhumane reflexes, he started sprinting at the girl again. She was still slightly taller than him, but he wasn't going to let that get away from him.

Wanting to catch her more than she wanted to get away from him made it easier as well because he was barely able to catch her shoulder as she got up to her cabin. If she had been running as fast as she could, he doubts he would have been able to catch her as easily.

He pulled her to face him, panting. Before she could pull herself free, he pulled her into a real hug, unlike the one she sort of gave him earlier.

Hurriedly pushing her away not wanting to completely overstep her boundaries, he spoke.

"I think I get it. You wanted to work together again, since it was you who thought of the Golden Fleece and you'd know I'd go, right?" She, still a little shocked from the hug, narrowed her eyes, and nodded.

"Yes, dumbass. But fate has other ideas." She spat sourly.

"C'mon, Wise-Girl, you of all people should be wise enough to know there are other ways of helping me other than actually being there. Clarisse needs another defense captain to help protect the camp, and you're really strong Annabeth. A perfect fit for the job." The ice in her eyes melted a little at that, but she shook off his hands on her shoulder.

"I guess so. It just sucks that you're going alone." Percy hastily nodded, also not really on board with going alone but knowing it might be for the best.

"Trust me, I wish it could be just you, me, and Grover. But he's been radio silent for over a year… and now this." Annabeth's upset gait melted on the spot at his last few words.

"Wait, Grover's disappeared?" Percy solemnly nodded.

"I guess. Ever since he got his searcher license, nobody's heard from him. Juniper hasn't gotten a call in months." Annabeth frowned deeply.

"Damn it all, Grover. Once we- yes we, clear Chiron's name and you get the Fleece, we need to find him." Annabeth said seriously. Percy hurriedly nodded his head, ignoring the "we" part of her sentence.

"One hundred percent." Percy pulled out the piece of paper Annabeth shoved in his face a few minutes ago, unfolding it to look at it for the first time. He looked up at Annabeth, a question on his face.

"What's this thing?" Annabeth shrugged.

"I was only able to get to camp so fast because I paid the Grey Sisters to take me here. They told the… original Perseus where Medusa's lair was, and they told me those numbers before dropping me off in front of camp earlier." Percy looked at her dumbly, before looking back down at the paper in his hands.

"30, 31, 75, 12… these are coordinates!" Annabeth nodded.

"Yeah, I figured that. I bartered for the information since I knew that they had buttloads of knowledge." Percy raised an eyebrow at the girl.

"Bartered? With what?" Annabeth smiled something fierce.

"Their eyes."

AN: So the REASON she kicked him out last chapter was because of the notion that campers don't mix normally. It was really weird to find a non- athena camper in the athena cabin, ESPECIALLY percy. Even though they're friends, she would like to take ship and return things to the established natural order it was before camp.

A lot of my ideas get lost in translation because 1: I'm an ameteur, and 2: there is no point 2.

So yeah, this is the thing I wasn't sure was the right move, but came to me more naturally than letting other people on the quest. They would honestly just be a hindrance, Percy doesn't need petty boats. I'll do my best to make it compelling, but there will probably be less dialogue on average until Polyphemus

Every chapter I have annabeth in, they just want to magnatize together for no reason. It makes it harder, because i want to push it farther down the line, and now that I'm going through with him going solo, it's gonna stay that way.

All I want is to make something as good as the Cruel Spider, but I'll never get there at this pace.

Review! Though if you're a guest, make an account first lol. I like replying with excuses to make me feel the more important person because im narcissistic.

These author notes get longer and longer every chapter lol