PERCY:

He woke up the next morning to an I-M of Beckendorf hovering next to his bed.

Percy yelped in surprise, got tangled in the sheets, fell out of bed, and hit the floor, hard.

Somehow Beckendorf kept a straight face, though it appeared to be taking a lot of effort. "Rise and shine, man. Training exercise. Meet us at the dockyards in Jersey in an hour."

Groaning, Percy gave a thumbs up to show he'd understood, then swiped through the image. It was not, he decided, a great way to start the day.

After snagging a quick breakfast, Percy told his mom good-bye and that he'd probably head straight back to camp after training. "And, uh, thanks for the cocoa last night. And everything else."

"Anytime, dear." She kissed his cheek. "Stay safe."

"I'll do my best."

Blackjack didn't respond when he whistled, so Percy was forced to take public transportation. It took longer than he'd planned, so it was more like an hour and a half after Beckendorf's call when he finally arrived at the dockyards in New Jersey. It really wasn't a place where a bunch of teenagers should be hanging out, but it was a perfect place to do training runs for the Princess Andromeda mission.

Beckendorf was already there, along with Silena and Annabeth. Percy's heart did a strange little tap dance when he saw Annabeth, even though her arms were crossed and her lips were pursed. She greeted him with, "You're half an hour late, Seaweed Brain."

Annoyance flickered through him, but it was extinguished by a sudden pang of missing her. "Sorry. Blackjack didn't answer my whistle, so I had to take the subway. And a ferry. And then a bus. Luckily I didn't blow it up."

Annabeth's lips twitched like she'd almost smiled. "That is always a possibility with you."

He met her eyes and offered an apologetic smile, which she returned. Beckendorf and Silena strolled over before they could say anything else. Percy noticed they didn't seem too bothered by the half hour delay.

"Ready to make a few more practice runs?" Beckendorf asked.

"Let's do it," Percy replied. He looked at the two pegasi and realized something. "Where's Blackjack? When he didn't answer me, I figured he was already here."

"Annabeth and I were talking," Silena said, "and we thought it made sense to practice with a couple of the other pegasi, too, so there are backups in case Blackjack is gone or, I don't know, gets sick or something."

"It's always good to have a backup plan," Annabeth added. "Or two. So we brought Guido and Porkpie."

Percy nodded slowly, turning the idea over. "Makes sense. Let's try it out."

"Good luck, Charlie." Silena kissed him on the lips. Annabeth was studiously focused on the abandoned ships and Percy took the opportunity to toss his duffel bag down next to a streetlight. Becknedorf cleared his throat when he and Silena broke apart, then said, "Alright then. Let's go."

They practiced for several hours, running different possible scenarios with both pegasi. Percy realized quickly that it had been a good idea to practice with different horses because they definitely needed coaching on the combat situations. It also helped to have the girls there. Silena had great suggestions for how to best utilize the pegasi's maneuverability and what might push their limits too far. She also offered suggestions for what to do if an animal was injured midflight. Meanwhile, Annabeth made some helpful points about stealth, their best advantage on this particular mission. With everything, Percy was feeling pretty good, surprisingly, by the time they called it a day around noon. He was also really hot and thirsty. The summer sun was brutal today.

"Any idea yet when this is going down?" he asked before taking a swig from Annabeth's water bottle, since he hadn't thought to bring his own.

Beckendorf shook his head. "Could be any time. We just have to stand ready and wait for our opportunity."

"The ship moves around constantly," Annabeth said. She held out her hand and Percy passed her water back. After taking a drink, she continued, "And it travels faster than a ship that large should be able to go. We noticed that before, remember?"

"Yeah." Percy stole the water bottle again. "It's got to be magically enhanced somehow."

"Point is," Beckendorf said, "it's nearly impossible to pin down. By the time we get a report on a location, it's too late."

"We just have to keep trying," Silena offered. "I'm sure an opportunity will turn up."

"Here's hoping." Percy took another drink of water, then handed the bottle back to Annabeth. "Thanks."

"No problem." Annabeth tipped the bottle back and Percy found his eyes drawn to her throat. When he realized he was staring, he blinked and tried to look at something else, but all he found himself doing was noticing that the humid air had made her hair extra curly today.

He suddenly realized Beckendorf had said something. "Huh, what?"

"I said, we should get back to camp so we can grab lunch." Beckendorf was fighting a smile. Silena was openly smirking. Thankfully Annabeth was turned around putting her water bottle away in her backpack, oblivious to the whole thing. Beckendorf shook his head, then asked, "Are you coming back with us?"

"Yeah," Percy said. "That's where I want to be right now."

"Really?" Annabeth spun to face him. The hopeful sparkle in her eyes made everything inside him feel light as air. In that moment, he would have promised almost anything to keep her looking at him like that.

"Really."

"Cool," Beckendorf said. He threw Percy his duffel bag. "Then let's get out of here before the security guys show up again."

ANNABETH:

After dinner, Annabeth went back to her cabin to dive into Daedalus's laptop again. She'd spent most of the afternoon sitting cross-legged on her bunk, scanning through programs and files, searching for anything that might be useful for the battle everyone knew was coming. It was important work that needed to be done. She definitely wasn't just using it as an excuse to avoid a certain kelp-headed son of Poseidon.

The day had been going well, even after Percy showed up half an hour late in New Jersey. Which wouldn't have been such a huge issue, but it had meant Annabeth was left alone for an extra half hour with Silena and Beckendorf. They were cute together, and she was glad they were happy, but she had not been in the mood this morning to play third wheel on their impromptu date time.

However, things had improved from there. The training runs had gone smoothly, she and Percy were getting along, and, best of all, he said he wanted to come back to camp. They only had two pegasi, which meant Beckendorf and Silena taking one, leaving the other for her and Percy. There were definitely butterflies in her stomach as she wrapped her arms around his waist. The back of his t-shirt was a little bit sweaty, but he smelled like fresh sea air.

"You ready?" he asked. When she nodded, he told Guido to take off. The ascent was steep and Annabeth tightened her arms around Percy's waist. He was holding onto Guido's mane with one hand, but with the other he gripped her arm. The butterflies fluttered a little more wildly. It was a small gesture, but she appreciated it, and was a tiny bit disappointed when he let go once Guido leveled out.

"That went well today, right?" Percy turned slightly so he could look at her.

"I think so. Do you feel good about the plan?"

"Definitely. I think it's solid. I mean, no surprise, since you came up with it." He flashed her a grin and the butterflies danced. The grin faded, though, as he said, "I just wish we knew when it'll be. I hate waiting."

"Me too." Without thinking about it, she rested her chin on his shoulder. Trying to track the cruise ship's movements and pin down its precise location was making her crazy. "The good news is it hasn't left the East Coast in a while. It's staying close, which helps. But Malcolm pointed out the other day that there's something disturbing about all its stops and about the reports we're getting on monster locations."

"Oh goody," Percy said. "Do I even want to know?"

"Probably not. It looks like the Titans are pulling their troops into a tighter and tighter circle, like they're really positioning them to be ready for a battle. With a clear central point."

"Bet I can guess. Manhattan."

"Bingo."

They were quiet for a minute. Annabeth suddenly realized just how much she was leaning on Percy and sat up straighter. He didn't seem to notice as he said, "If we could take out that ship it'll cripple Kronos. He'll lose transportation and a literal boatload of monsters."

"That's the idea, Seaweed Brain."

She should have known, in that moment, that everything was going too well. It felt so easy for a change. Percy was coming back to camp, they were having a comfortable conversation, and it was kind of nice to be sitting so close to him. Basically, everything was good.

And then naturally, he had to go and ruin it.

"I was talking to, um, Rachel yesterday. She asked if we do quests like the Labyrinth a lot, so I was telling her about all the different quests we've been on together."

"Um, okay." Annabeth leaned back. She wanted to slide away and cross her arms, but she also didn't want to fall off a pegasus a thousand feet above Long Island.

Percy's shoulders twitched like he'd winced. He seemed to realize he'd messed up. "I mean, she just asked what your story was, so I told her how you'd been at camp since you were seven and how you volunteered for my first quest and how we tracked down the master bolt and the Fleece and—"

"And how is any of that Rachel's business?" Annabeth fought to keep her voice even, but she didn't think she'd succeeded. How could he, though? Those were their stories. If he wanted to spend time reminiscing with somebody, why hadn't he come to her?

"She wasn't prying or being nosy. She went into the Labyrinth with us last year, Annabeth—"

"Yeah, I remember."

The muscles in his jaw clenched. "—so she knows a little bit about demigod stuff and she just wanted to know about other quests I'd done. That's all."

"Uh-huh."

"Gods, you're so hard to talk to sometimes!"

"Then maybe you just shouldn't talk to me," she snapped, stung by his words.

"Maybe I won't."

"Fine."

"Fine."

They flew for a few miles in silence. Annabeth was barely holding onto Percy's waist with her fingertips, doing the bare minimum to keep from falling off Guido's back. The butterflies in her stomach had all flown away. She tried to convince herself it was just the wind making her eyes water.

They were nearly to camp when Percy sighed. "Look, just so you know, I only gave Rachel like the broad strokes of our quests. There were a lot of things I didn't tell her." He paused, but when she said nothing, he continued. "Like about how you ran away and that's why you ended up at camp when you were seven. Or about the spiders at Waterland. Or the zoo truck, or…well, there were a lot of things I didn't tell her." Percy glanced back at her and Annabeth reluctantly met his eyes. Well, eye, really, since she could only see one with his head turned. "I would never break your confidence, Annabeth. I hope you know that."

She wet her lips, which had dried out in the wind. "Did you—did you tell her about the Sirens?"

"No way." Percy shook his head vehemently. "I would never tell anyone about that. It's just between you and me. I promise."

"Okay then." The butterflies cautiously swooped back at the words "just between you and me" and suddenly things didn't seem so bad.

"Although…" Percy tilted his head and she thought, Oh no. "There were some fish staring at us while we were underwater. I told them to get lost, but there's a strong possibility they spread rumors about us all over the ocean. Marlin love to gossip."

Annabeth couldn't help it. She laughed. Then she smacked his shoulder. "You're such an idiot, sometimes." But there was no bite to her words and the answering grin he threw her made it clear he knew that.

So they'd parted at camp on decent terms and Annabeth hadn't wanted to risk messing up the afternoon with another argument, so she'd avoided him by throwing herself into Daedalus's laptop and battle strategy.

It had been like this between them all summer, an exhausting pendulum of emotions swinging from wanting to strangle each other to, well, definitely not wanting to strangle each other. The stress of the war wasn't helping anything either. They'd been running so many raids that everyone, most especially the senior counselors, was exhausted and overwhelmed. But there had been a few little moments here and there where she could almost let herself hope that maybe, if there was ever time to breathe, they could figure things out.

Like last week, when the head counselors had been meeting to decide what to do about a report of an empousai coven in Boston. Annabeth had discovered the satyr Myron's report that morning while sorting through Chiron's correspondence. She'd been walking around with Percy while he inspected the cabins. He was way too generous on acceptable cleanliness, but she hadn't bugged him about it today, especially not after she read the report. Once everyone was gathered in the Big House rec room, she slapped the crumbling leaf with its message onto the ping pong table. "Empousai. A whole squad of them. In Boston."

"And Myron is sure?" Chiron asked.

"Positive," Annabeth replied. "He stumbled on them while his summer school group was taking a field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts, then went back and did some reconnaissance later. At least a dozen, he said." Annabeth pressed her fingers hard against the edge of the table. "And they're…they're feeding."

Winces and disgusted groans broke out around the table. Empousai were essentially vampires, after all.

"You got all that from a little leaf?" Connor Stoll asked skeptically, eyeing the snippet of greenery.

"Of course not," Annabeth said. "Percy and I sent him an I-M to confirm."

"Which is why I say this raid is a bad idea." Percy was slouched in his chair, hands gripping his armrests. "Were you listening when he described what they did to that one guy? Like sharks in a feeding frenzy."

"Which is why I said it should be female heroes only," Annabeth shot back. "Empousai tricks are most effective on males."

"I'll go," Clarisse volunteered immediately. "Kick those she-devils straight back to Tartarus."

"I'll go too," Katie Gardiner spoke up. When everyone looked at her in surprise, she added quietly, "An empousa got a friend of mine this spring. They need to be stopped."

Annabeth nodded. "So Clarisse, Katie, me, and…Silena? Will you come too? Children of Aphrodite have a natural immunity to the type of sorcery the empousai use."

Silena bit her lip, tugging at her silver bracelet, but she nodded.

"You also might want to talk to Nyssa," Beckendorf suggested. "I don't want to volunteer her, but I know she's been experimenting with different types of grenades—smoke bombs, Celestial bronze shrapnel, things like that. Could be helpful."

"Great." Annabeth's eyes flicked to the leopard-patterned clock on the wall. It was barely 10am. "Be ready to leave after lunch."

They all agreed and shortly after that the meeting broke up. Annabeth walked down the porch steps with her mind racing. Gods, she hadn't thought about Boston in years, not since that Thanksgiving when her father, aunt, and uncle had that huge fight. Not that she was going to have time for a family reunion now. Focus, she scolded herself. She need to check her laptop for any useful information on Boston, the museum, or empousai. She needed to pack. She needed to strategize. She needed—

"Annabeth, wait!"

Percy jumped three steps to land beside her in the grass. For a moment her heart fluttered at the idea that he was so eager to talk to her, but it flopped when he said, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Annabeth was instantly irritated. What did he even know? He'd been gone, back in the mortal world, for almost a week and only returned to camp yesterday. She doubted he'd even heard some of the recent news about increased monster attacks and demigods lost to either the Titan lord's army or the monsters. "Of course I'm sure. You heard what Myron said. We can't let them keep murdering innocent people."

"I guess." Percy fidgeted, rubbing the back of his neck. "But he also said there were at least a dozen empousai. Do you really think five demigods is enough? I mean, there were only two in my school last year and I barely survived, even with Rachel's help."

"Well you're a guy and Rachel's a mortal," Annabeth said icily. Clearly he'd forgotten who stabbed Kelli in the back last summer and kept his stupid face from being bitten off. "So yes, I think five female demigods can handle it. Plus we can use stealth to our advantage, so hopefully it won't even come to full combat."

Percy raised his hands in surrender. "Look, I'm not trying to have an argument here. I'm just saying, you know, make sure to consider all the angles."

"Seriously? Wow, that never came up in my years of studying strategy."

Percy exhaled heavily. "Forget it. I'll see you later, Annabeth."

Annoyance and guilt swirled in her chest as she watched him walk away, hands shoved in his pockets. It would be so easy to stand here and say nothing. To let him go. A single choice shall end his days.

It was the end of July. His birthday was in less than three weeks.

"Percy, wait!" He stopped and slowly looked up as she jogged the few steps towards him. "I'm sorry. I know you're just trying to help. But it's been a hard week." She hated the tears pricking her eyes. "A hard summer."

"It's been hard on me, too," he said in a low voice.

"I know."

Their eyes met. Then, unexpectedly, he stepped forward and hugged her. A jolt went through Annabeth at the contact, especially when Percy whispered, "Just be careful, okay?" When she nodded, he stepped back, a small smile on his face. "We need you here at camp."

Annabeth's head was still buzzing from the hug, but she kept her eyes locked on his as she said quietly, "We need you here, too."

Percy dropped his eyes, the smile fading. He shoved his hands in his pockets again. "I know. I'm doing my best."

"I believe you." And she did, deep down. He might not know the full prophecy yet, but he knew the deadline. It wasn't that he didn't deserve a break. She just wished…well, she wasn't sure exactly what she wished.

Are you sure you don't know? said an obnoxious little voice in the back of her mind.

Percy glanced up and managed a small smile again. "I'll come say good-bye before you guys leave. Promise."

"Okay."

He wandered off towards Cabin Three, leaving Annabeth to make her plans alone.

Of course, then the raid had been a disaster. They'd eventually managed to destroy the half dozen empousai there, way less than they'd expected, but not without sustaining some injuries. Annabeth's side still ached when she twisted the wrong way, even after nearly a week. Then she'd gone immediately on that other epic fail of a raid, then she and Percy had that huge blow up, then he'd left again, and she hadn't seen him until today. Meanwhile, the calendar had turned from July to August, inching closer to Percy's sixteenth birthday.

Annabeth sighed as she tried again to focus her attention on her laptop and the mountain of files it contained. It was important work and needed to get done. But she'd been working all afternoon. Her mind was starting to rebel, wandering off in different directions. A couple of times she found herself staring into space, hearing Percy's voice again: I would never break your confidence, Annabeth…it's just between you and me. She appreciated that at least he'd been honest with her about talking to Rachel. And she could admit, grudgingly, that part of her understood Rachel's curiosity about their other quests. She had been with them in the Labyrinth last year. It was natural to want to know more about this world of gods and monsters.

Just between you and me. Percy's words also made Annabeth think, a little guiltily, of the things she hadn't told him. Like about Luke's visit last year. Or the full prophecy, which Chiron still insisted Percy wasn't ready to hear yet. Annabeth wasn't sure she agreed with that. It was now August, after all. They were running out of time.

She shook her head. With a serious amount of determination, she focused her attention back on the laptop screen and her pile of notes.

Plan 23 caught her eye again. It gave instructions for activating a secret army of automatons in multiple cities spread across the country. She shuddered at the thought. It wasn't quite as intense as Plan 42, which involved demolition with controlled explosives (she and Beckendorf had referenced that one when working out the Princess Andromeda logistics), but it was still incredibly risky. Of course, all of it was risky. Wars were risky.

Annabeth sat back, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose. Her head was swimming with complex schematics and blueprints. There was so much on Daedalus's laptop she wondered if she'd ever be able to make sense of it all.

"Knock knock."

Annabeth opened her eyes to see Percy standing in the cabin doorway. "Hi," she said, slightly surprised, but pleased that he'd sought her out.

"Hey." Percy stayed in the doorway, since none of the other Athena kids were in the cabin right now and camp rules dictated that a non-related boy and girl couldn't be alone together in a cabin. Chiron was cracking down hard on that rule this summer after several, ahem, incidents with Silena and Beckendorf. Percy tapped his fingers against his leg and glanced at her laptop. "I was just checking to see if maybe you wanted a break."

"Actually, I would love one." Annabeth shut her laptop and stood up, stretching to get the kinks out of her back. "What did you have in mind?"

Percy shrugged. "Want to make a run on the lava wall? Just for fun?"

"Sure." She smiled at him as she gathered her hair into a quick messy bun. She'd discovered the hard way that this was the safest option for the lava-spewing climbing wall.

"Cool." Percy's troublemaker smile lit up his face, making Annabeth's heart do cartwheels. "Unless, you know, you're afraid of getting beat."

"Not a chance, Jackson." She shoved his chest lightly as she passed him in the doorway.

He raised his eyebrows. "We'll see."

No one else was at the climbing wall this evening. It was late enough that most of the other campers were already heading to the amphitheater for the campfire and singalong. But the sun hadn't completely set yet, because summer, so there was plenty of light for climbing. They set the wall on level 8—challenging but not totally deadly. This was for fun, after all.

"Ready…" Annabeth said, "…set…go!"

They took off up the wall.

Percy had the longer reach, so he took an early lead, but Annabeth was quicker. By the time they were halfway up, she'd closed the gap. By three-quarters, she'd pulled a couple feet ahead. It probably helped that Percy lost precious seconds dodging a sudden lava waterfall.

Earthquake mode kicked in, making the wall tremble and shake. Staying on now took extra concentration, but Annabeth enjoyed the challenge. She was only three feet from the top when she heard Percy yelp. When she looked down, her heart constricted. He was dangling by one hand from a narrow ledge. Judging from his smoking sneaker, he'd slipped on a lava flow and lost his footing.

"Hold on!" She scrambled diagonally down the wall. Bracing herself as firmly as possible against the shaking rock, she reached toward him. "Take my hand."

Percy managed to swing himself around and grab her outstretched hand. She gripped his fingers, trying to support at least some of his weight as he struggled and finally managed to get his feet back under him. This was made more difficult by the fact that the wall was now in full-on earthquake mode.

"I'm good," he finally shouted over the rumbling. He squeezed her fingers and she let go.

They climbed the last few feet together, making it to the top at the same time. The wall gave a final rumble, then stilled. They sat side by side, perched on the top with their legs dangling over the side, a little out of breath. Their clothes might have been slightly charred too.

"I guess it was a tie," Annabeth said finally.

Percy shook his head. "Nah, I would have fallen off if you hadn't come back to help me. Technically, I think that means you won."

"Alright." She agreed so easily Percy looked startled. Then she laughed and, after a moment, he did too. She nudged him with her shoulder. "Good race, though."

"Definitely." He grinned. "And thanks for giving me a hand."

"Anytime."

They sat in companionable silence, watching the sunset paint the sky over the Sound. Their hands were so close that Percy's pinkie finger just lightly brushed hers. Annabeth wasn't inclined to move. It reminded her of the Fourth of July fireworks, when he'd actually taken the plunge and reached for her hand about halfway through the show. When he walked her back to her cabin that night, she'd kissed him on the cheek, and for a few hours she'd thought maybe…. But they'd gone on a messy raid the next day and basically everything got complicated again. That pretty much just seemed to be their luck.

Now, Percy moved his hand and Annabeth's heart dropped. But he was just pointing out at the Sound. "Look, hippocampi."

Her eyes followed where he was pointing. Sure enough, a pair of hippocampi were leaping out of the water and splashing back down, their rainbow tails sparkling.

"Oh wow," Annabeth breathed. "They're beautiful."

"Yeah," Percy agreed.

Then she thought of how they often came to Percy for help. "Do they need something?"

"Nah, they're just playing." He dropped his hand so it was resting beside hers once more. With the breeze ruffling his dark hair and his eyes bright as he gazed out to sea, Percy looked so relaxed. And really, really cute.

Gods, she wanted to kiss him.

Annabeth nervously licked her lips and started to say, "Percy," but then she stopped. The hero's soul cursed blade shall reap. Percy turned to her, his green eyes practically glowing in the sunset. A single choice shall end his days. Her courage failed her. Instead, she said, "Thanks for asking me to come out here. I needed the break."

Was that a flicker of disappointment she saw in his eyes? But then he smiled and said, "No problem. I needed it too." He looked down, as if thinking about what to say next. Their hands were just barely touching again. "Listen, Annabeth," her heart started to race as he paused, then blurted out, "are we okay?"

She knit her brow. "What do you mean?"

He gulped, then said, "I just know this summer's been hard and things are complicated or whatever, but I just want to make sure…I mean…"

Spit it out, Seaweed Brain, she wanted to say, but she kept quiet and waited as he took a deep breath and said, very fast, "We're still friends, right?"

Friends. Her heart thudded at the word. It took all her willpower to clamp her lips shut over the frustration and hurt. But she managed because she understood what he was asking. It felt like they'd spent half the summer arguing with each other. And as the war ramped up, moments like this had become more and more rare. It didn't help that Percy kept running back to the city. But she pushed that particular strain of bitterness away. Because all that really mattered, at the core of everything, was the truth she told him now. "Of course we're still friends, Seaweed Brain. That never changes."

His sudden smile made her feel light-headed. "Good. Because I can't do this without you. Uh, I mean, fight the war and stuff. And I wouldn't want to."

She slipped her hand into his. It felt easy and natural, like on Charon's ferry or when they'd first fallen into the Labyrinth. They were once again facing something frightening and unknown. They both knew what might happen in the next couple weeks before August eighteenth. But at least they could face it together, like they had everything else. "We're a team, Percy. You know I've always got your back." Even when you're infuriating, she thought but didn't say.

She was glad she'd kept that thought to herself when he squeezed her hand and said, "Ditto."

An ocean breeze cut through the humid air. Sunset tinted Long Island Sound orange. Strains of music drifted over from the amphitheater, where the campfire was starting. Annabeth met Percy's eyes as they sat there alone on the top of the climbing wall, holding hands. For one moment, it wasn't complicated at all.

Then the wall rumbled and shook. Percy let go of her hand to grab the edge and keep from tumbling off. Shouting and squeals rang out from the amphitheater, briefly drowning the music. Percy met her eyes again, but obviously the moment was gone. He grinned apologetically. "Sounds like a marshmallow fight breaking out over there."

"We should probably join them. Race you to the bottom?"

"You're on, Wise Girl."

And she laughed because he hadn't called her that in years, but she didn't mind. She swung off the ledge and started climbing down, getting a tiny head start.

"Hey!" Percy protested, then scrambled after her.

Annabeth won, barely.

"Cheater," Percy grumbled, but he didn't look mad.

"Strategy," she corrected. "You have to know your opponent's weakness."

"Oh yeah?" His sarcastic smirk was almost endearing. "So what's my weakness?"

"You assumed I wouldn't cheat."

"So you admit it!" he said triumphantly.

"What? Can't hear you!" She took off running toward the campfire.

"Annabeth!" Percy came after her, but didn't catch her until they reached the tunnel into the amphitheater. She shrieked when he grabbed her around the waist from behind, but he let go quickly when they were both pelted with marshmallows thrown with deadly accuracy by Michael Yew.

"New targets!" the Apollo counselor shouted. After that, Annabeth lost track of pretty much everything except dodging sticky projectiles while scooping up marshmallows to chuck at people.

But when things settled down, Percy sat beside her for the singalong. Her s'more had never tasted so good.

Maybe things weren't easy and maybe they still had a long way to go before this war was over. But tonight, Annabeth let herself relax. For the moment, life was good at Camp Half-Blood.

***Because there had to be some moments where it looked like maybe they'd get past the strangling each other phase, right? Hope you enjoyed the story! Thanks for reading!***