Harry

"Percy Jackson, I swear to all the gods I am going to kill you!"

Admittedly, waking up to Thalia's shrieking at Percy was a familiar, if unpleasant, experience at this point. Her voice echoed through the entire dorm. I couldn't help but wonder if one of her Zeus-given powers was the power to project her voice much farther and more shrilly than was really necessary.

Ron groaned in the next bed. "Bloody hell," he mumbled. "We almost went four days without being woken up by her."

I yawned, stretched, and sat up, knowing trying to return to sleep was pointless. When Thalia and Percy began fighting, everyone suffered. "Yeah, well, we knew it was too good to be true." With that I stood up and got dressed before walking tiredly down to the common room. There, Percy was sitting in an armchair by the fire, working on what seemed to be homework. Or at least, he had been working before. Now he was practically on the floor laughing. In front of him, Thalia stood fuming, something clutched tightly in her fist. Looking closer, Harry realized it was an arrow, on the end of which was a boxing glove.

I stepped closer, trying to assess the situation. Had Percy just messed with her arrows? That was easily fixed. But no, he wouldn't be laughing so hard for that. Besides, in the short time I'd know him, he didn't seem to be one for a stupid prank like that. He seemed to be more of a "go big or go home" sort of guy.

I was cautious of how near I got to them. My eyebrows still hadn't completely grown back from last time. However, once I got within a distance where I could see Thalia's face clearly, I understood. Her left eye was swollen shut and black.

Percy was still laughing. "I didn't do that one, but I applaud whoever did. What exactly happened?" he gasped out once he caught his breath a bit.

"You know full well what happened!" Thalia shouted. By now the common room was full, though there was still a wide ring around the two. I hadn't been the only one who got in Thalia's way last time. "I went out early for some shooting practice, but the moment I shot an arrow it turned back and punched me in the face! This is a new level of childish, even for you!"

"I told you I didn't do it!" Percy responded in a voice that was clearly supposed to be a bit intimidating, but it was slightly hampered by the fact that he was still biting back laughter.

"Like Hades you didn't! Who else would be so petty?"

Percy rolled his eyes. "Have you talked to literally any of the Hermes cabin yet? Or maybe one of the students? Believe it or not, Thals, not everyone likes you!"

This was quickly turning from a petty argument to a full-blown fight between the two. I felt the air crackling around me as Thalia's anger grew. At the same time a harsh, cold wind swept through the room, though none of the windows were open and the fire was still crackling merrily. Percy's face had turned hard.

I couldn't seem to figure out what the deal was with these two. One moment they're the best of friends, sparring on the training field and laughing over dinner, and the next they are preparing to kill each other... quite literally. And from what I'd seen, Annabeth was the only one who ever dared to even attempt to settle them down. Unfortunately, she was currently far away in the Ravenclaw dorms.

I looked around and caught Ron's eye. He looked both amused and nervous as he watched the exchange. I was about to suggest that we go upstairs until they'd cooled down when another voice joined them. This one was softer and gentle, though still firm. I looked back to see Ginny stepping between the two demigods.

"OK, calm down you two. Percy, did you mess with Thalia's arrows?" she asked calmly, one hand held out to quiet Thalia while she addressed Percy. I couldn't help but admire her bravery. I had faced Voldemort himself but I wouldn't dare stand between these two fighting.

"No, I didn't mess with her stupid arrows," Percy snapped through gritted teeth, not taking his narrowed eyes off of his cousin.

Ginny shrugged, turning to Thalia. "That's that then. He didn't do it."

"But-" Ginny immediately cut her off.

"I grew up with two prankster brothers. Trust me, when they get you, they are not going to let the credit slide. But," she turned back to Percy, "you should apologize for saying that. You both need to apologize." With that she crossed her arms expectantly, looking between the two of them with an expression scarily reminiscent of her mother.

Percy sighed. "Sorry," he said reluctantly.

"Yeah, sorry, whatever," Thalia mumbled.

Ginny just rolled her eyes, but accepted it. "Listen, Thalia, I have some salve that should clear that right up. Hermione got hit by a punching telescope over the summer, so I made sure to pick some up at my brothers' shop. Come on upstairs and we'll put it on."

And just like that the excitement was over. The air was still popping with electricity, and my ears popped the way they sometimes did before a big storm, but at least the fighting was averted. Hermione walked over to Ron and I, shaking her head.

"It's unbelievable. They fight over the silliest of things!" she said.

"Hermione," I reasoned, "when you got hit by that telescope you were nearly in tears. Until we went to the shop and you got it healed, I heard you threatening the twins with bodily harm more than once."

Her face flushed red. "That is entirely different!" she squeaked. "Anyway, would you two like to go for some breakfast?"

Percy

There were several words I would use to describe Thalia, and not all of them were exactly PG. I couldn't believe she wouldn't just accept that I was telling the truth! I was a lot of things, not all of them good, but I was not a liar! When I got her, I always came clean about it.

I was interrupted from my thoughts by a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Hermione standing there, Harry and Ron behind her.

"Hi, Percy!" she said cheerily, though it sounded somewhat forced. I realized I was making a rather unhappy face, which must not have been the greatest greeting. I quickly attempted to neutralize my expression. "We were going to head down to breakfast, would you like to come with?"

I was about to accept when I remembered the reason I was up in the first place. I knew Grover was on the night shift for guard duty, so he should be up as well. I still needed to contact him. I had actually been about to go look for some sort of mist when Thalia had stormed it.

I shook my head. "No, I've got something I need to do first. Speaking of, do you know where I could find a fountain? One with a lot of mist and light, but preferably not somewhere very public?"

Hermione looked someone surprised by the request. "Erm, well, there's one near the Charms classroom. It isn't very big, but there's always lovely rainbows reflected from the torchlight and-"

"Yes!" I cried, a little more enthusiastically than I had intended. "That is exactly what I need! Thanks!"

Leaving a dumbfounded trio in my wake, I ran out the door and ran the path that was quickly becoming familiar to the Charms corridor. It took a bit of searching, but finally I found what I was looking for. Off the main hallway, in a little alcove, sat a water fountain displaying a dragon spraying water like it would really spray fire. The fountain was set in the wall beneath a large window, through which the early morning sunlight was streaming. I grinned. This school always seemed to have exactly what was needed.

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a drachma. I said the prayer to the goddess, Iris, before reciting, "Grover Underwood, Camp Half Blood."

After a moment the mist cleared and there sat my best friend, sitting awake and attentive against a tree. He hadn't noticed me yet.

"Grover!" I called. He jumped and whirled around, raising a rock in defense. Once he realized who it was, though, a grin crossed his face.

"Percy!" he cried, stepping closer to the projection. "What's up?"

It took me a second to answer. Now that he was closer, I saw that he wasn't looking his best. He was covered in cuts and bruises, and he looked as if he hadn't slept in days.

"What happened to you?" I asked, momentarily distracted.

Grover shrugged. "We had a bit of trouble with the borders. Chiron said he already told you that we had to pull them back. But there was quite a fight before we withdrew."

"OK, and why do you look like you're ready to pass out any second now?"

Grover shifted uncomfortably. "Well, since the borders were pulled back a few days ago, I've been taking more shifts. I need to stop them from getting pulled back anymore or..." He looked over his shoulder at the tree he had been sitting against. I realized that it was a juniper tree.

"Listen, man, I know you're worried, but you can't help her if you're dead on your hooves," I reasoned. "Why don't you let someone else watch over her for a while and get some rest?"

He shrugged again, and I couldn't help but feel like my suggestion had gone right over his horned head. "It's not important right now. So why did you call?"

I suddenly remembered why I was here in the first place. "Oh, yeah. I was just wondering what happened at the borders. How bad was the damage? Are the dryads holding up? Have there been anymore attacks? Thalia and Annabeth and I aren't sure if we should tell the other campers or not so I figured I'd talk to you first and-"

"Woah, slow down!" he said, holding up a hand to stop me. "I can only answer one thing at a time!"

I took a deep breath. "Sorry. Okay, so how bad was the damage at the borders before you pulled back?"

Grover's face turned very grim. "It wasn't pretty. It was so much like when Thalia's tree was sick, monsters were jumping over the border with barely any resistance. We managed to push them back with minimal casualties, but it was immediately decided that it would make more sense to have a stronger shield over a smaller area of space. Mr. D wanted to pull it all the way to the very edge of the forest, but Chiron thought that it would be better, for the time being, to keep as much of the forest protected as possible. I-I think he kinda did it for me. After I realized that Mr. D wanted to leave the trees, especially Juniper, defenseless, he saw my face and changed it."

I nodded slowly. "Okay. What about the dryads that aren't protected now?"

"There hasn't been another attack since the border retreat, so they're okay for now. But if anyone decides to attack again, there's not much we can do for them."

"How is Juniper handling it?" I asked softly.

He sighed. "Not well. The new border is really close to her tree, so she has some close friends just outside of it. I think the stress is making her sick." He looked back at the tree again, and I saw that he was right. It seemed almost lifeless, branches drooping and needles browning around the edges. The few sparse berries I could see were shriveled and dead. I looked at Grover, hating to see the pain in his face.

"She'll be okay, G-Man," I said. I regretted the words as soon as I said them. Who was I to make that promise? The border just needed to pull back a few yards and she'd be defenseless. And if her tree was anything to go by, she was in no state to be fighting any battles.

Grover just gave me a half-smile. I knew that he was thinking along the same lines I was, but he appreciated it all the same. "I gotta go, Perce. I'll talk to you later. Miss you."

"Miss you too, man. You really should get some rest," I pointed out. He just rolled his eyes before swiping his hand through the mist, breaking our connection.