Percy sat in his room, his mind wandering. He thought about how he had blown up Mt. St. Helens and displaced half a million people. He thought about Calypso and how he would never see her again. He thought about how miserable Annabeth had looked at his funeral, thinking he was dead. She had been so happy to see him, so glad he wasn't dead, but now she was mad at him again, and it just didn't seem like things were going to end up right for him. He stretched, and inhaled the cool sea breeze that always permeated his cabin.

He heard a faint clip-clopping, and he turned towards his cabin door to hear a familiar voice. "Perrcy! What's up, man?" bleated Grover. Grover wasn't wearing his traditional rasta cap, and his horns were visible, jutting out from above his curly brown hair.

"Hey, G-man!" Percy gave him a hi-five. Percy still hadn't recovered from his thoughts earlier, and Grover seemed to notice. "What's wrong, Perce? You don't look too good. And you don't feel so good either." He pointed to his head, reminding Percy of the empathy link he and Percy shared.

"It's nothing, just worried a little about the war." Percy shrugged, hoping he sounded okay. Grover gave him a sly smile. "Are you sure it's just the war?"

"Yeah, man. What else would it be?" The empathy link had really turned out to be handy a couple of years back, when Percy got to know that Grover was in danger and he went to save him. But now it was starting to become a giant pain in the butt.

"Oh, I don't know, Seaweed Brain." Grover smirked. Percy blushed involuntarily. "What do you mean, Grover?"

"Percy, I'm your satyr best friend who can also read your emotions. You'll have to try better than that." Percy realized that he wasn't going to get out of this any time soon. "It's the war, and just, that Annabeth is now mad at me. I mean, you'd expect her to be happy after realizing that I'd turned up okay after going missing for two weeks. Now she won't even tell me what I did. It doesn't make sense!" Percy sighed.

"Percy, you've got to give her a little time. You've no idea what she went through during those two weeks. I've never seen Annabeth cry that much over someone, not even Thalia. She said it was her fault that you died, that she left you to die. We tried asking her what she meant, but she just got a forlorn look in her eyes and wouldn't talk to us. You need to set things right with her, Perce."

Percy felt a lump rise in his throat. He thought about how Annabeth had thought he was going to die under Mt. St. Helens, and she'd kissed him. He felt his mouth struggling to break into a smile. He wasn't sure if she'd kissed him for luck, or if there was something more to it. There's nothing such as a friendly kiss, is there?

"Hello? Perseus Jackson? You there?" Grover waved a hand in front of him. Percy blinked. "Yeah?"

"Are you okay? You were just sitting there and smiling like an idiot, like I wasn't even here trying to talk to you."

"Oh. Um, I was just thinking about what I should say to her." Percy looked at Grover for help.

"Well, tell her how you feel, duh."

"Feel about what?" Percy asked, puzzled.

"How you feel about her, dude!" Grover smacked him on the head.

Percy rubbed his head where Grover had just smacked him. "We're just friends?" He offered.

Grover stared at him.

"Best friends?" Percy started rubbing the back of his neck, which is a telltale sign that he's nervous.

"Percy, I won't even care that you're the child of the prophecy. I swear I'm going to kill you if you don't tell Annabeth exactly how you feel about her. I can't stand to watch her suffer anymore. Or you, for that matter." Grover must have had a murderous look in his eyes, because Percy backed up a little.

"Listen, goat boy, I-" Grover brought out his reed pipes. "Alright, alright!" Percy raise his hands in surrender. "But what do I tell her? She'll think that I'm not right in the head after coming back from Og-um, what if she doesn't feel the same? I don't want to ruin our friendship, Grover."

"Percy, you really are an idiot if you think that." "Excuse me?" Grover ignored him and continued. "Just tell her what you think about her. It shouldn't be so hard."

"Um, I think that she's smart." Grover made a go on motion with his hands. "She's the smartest person I've ever met. And she's brave." Grover smiled to himself, listening to his best friend finally open up.

Percy took a deep breath. "And that she's the most beautiful girl I've ever laid my eyes on." He blushed and looked away, unable to meet Grover's eyes.

"Pan's pipes, dude, I never knew that you were that cheesy!" Grover chuckled.

"Shut up, G-man. It's hard enough for me already." Percy said, but Grover could see he was smiling.

"Well, the hardest part is yet to come." Grover smirked.

Percy raised his eyebrows quizzically.

"Because you're going to ask her out." Grover said, matter-of-factly.

"Oh, no. Oh, Gods, no. No, man, I can't-" Percy started to get up.

Grover pushed him down. "Yes you are, and I already brought someone in to help you."

"You told someone else?" Percy swatted Grover's hand away.

"It's not exactly a secret. I mean, everyone at camp knows." Grover was trying hard not to laugh.

"WHAT?!" Percy couldn't believe it. "But-"

"Except Annabeth." Silena stood at the cabin door, hands on her hips. "I mean, she's almost as clueless as you, a fact I find rather ironic, with her being the daughter of Athena and all." She continued.

"I'm not clue-"

"But it's even better this way, don't you see!" She rubbed her hands in delight. "This way, you get to tell her yourself!"