Chapter Eight

Betrayal is an ironic thing. He or she betrays youThen you betray yourself.You think your showing strength with your anger,But in realityYou're showing how much you still care.

-Shannon L. Alder

For a moment no one spoke.

"Fifteen years," I heard Annabeth mutter under her breath. "That is all sacrifice is worth?"

I didn't understand what she meant at the time, but I decided against asking.

"Counselor meeting tomorrow morning. We will discuss this prophecy after everyone has had much-needed rest." Chiron declared before turning to me and Annabeth. "As for you two, I would like you to do border control to get to know each other. With the war coming up, it is dangerous to have our leaders fighting. You two must learn to cooperate with one another."

"Chiron," Annabeth cut in. "You know very well that I'm not in charge of camp, much less the leader."

"The younger campers look up to you. They will follow your lead. If you don't work with the army's leader, what makes you think they'll work with the soldiers?"

I wanted to argue, and Annabeth clearly wanted to as well, but Chiron made a good point. Even if I didn't like what I had to do as a result.

Annabeth let out a frustrated sigh. "When?"

Being in a wheelchair, Chiron crossed his hands over his lap. "Tonight."

"I just got back from my quest, Chiron." Annabeth protested. "Sleep is the only thing on my mind right now."

(A/N: I wrote that paragraph at 1:50 am. Me too, Annabeth. I'm fricking exhausted, but y'know insomnia sucks.)

"A regular mortal went eleven days without sleep. I'm sure a powerful demigod like yourself can handle a few more hours." Chiron turned to the large group of demigods. "Why are you all still here? Go to your cabins and sleep!"

(Timeskip)

The first hour of patrol consisted of Annabeth muttering to herself. The second was non-stop arguing about little. Now, during our third hour, the only sounds were of crickets stridulating and the snapping of twigs beneath our feet.

(A/N: yes, I did google the cricket part)

No monsters had made an appearance yet. I was about to suggest that we report back to Chiron and call it a night when Annabeth stopped walking.

"Why'd you stop?"

Annabeth held her finger up, the universal sign to wait a second and/or be quiet. In that moment, I assumed it was both.

Without a sound, Annabeth lead me into a more wooded area. The trees barely left any room for the moon to shine through. Only after we entered the area, the faint sound of crying could be heard.

Behind one of the largest trees was a girl in her early highschool years. Annabeth crouched down in front of her and removed the hands from her face.

"What's wrong, Natalie?" Annabeth asked, wiping a few tears away. "Did you and your dad get into another fight?"

"N-no," the girl sobbed back. "I hate my mom. She's always trying to make my relationship with Toby more 'interesting.' She plays my emotions like a kazoo."

I tried not to smile at the mention of a kazoo. Luke also managed to get Chaos to eat a kazoo. Don't ask me how he did it, he just did. Must be a trait he inherited from his father, Hermes.

"Yeah, Aphrodite can be a pain sometimes." Annabeth said, answering my unasked question to who the girl's mother was though it was obvious. "What did she do this time?"

"Only made like ten girls fall in love with my boyfriend," Natalie said with a bit of sarcasm before putting her head back in her hands.

"Then why are you crying?" Natalie came back up and gave Annabeth a questioning expression. "It's obvious that Toby only has eyes for you, and if he's stupid enough to go after one of those girls then screw him. There's plenty of guys here that would be thrilled to be with you. If that's not good enough, I can get Thalia down here to recruit you to the Hunters."

For the last time tonight, Natalie smiled. "Thanks Annabeth. You're the best."

Annabeth smiled back. "Now get out of here and be careful of the harpies. I heard they were extra hungry today."

"That's why none of them are in a relationship except for Ella," Natalie mumbled before running back to camp.

"Wow, I didn't know you could actually be nice," I commented when Natalie was out of earshot.

She stuck her tongue out. "And you, will never receive my kindness because you are a terrible human being."

"How do you know I'm a human?"

"I'm not an idiot, that's how."

"Okay got me there, but why on Earth were you so nice and understanding towards that girl. You don't seem like the kind of person that would sit down and talk about feelings."

"Well," she began as we got back to patrolling, "a lot of kids here don't exactly have the best situations. Most of them don't have the best relationship with their mortal parents or even someone that cares about their wellbeing. They don't have someone to go to when they have regular problems that don't relate to being a half-blood. I know I did when I was younger, but I had my dad and my friends. So, I made a promise to myself years ago that I would be the one to fill in that role for them."

I couldn't seem to find my words after that. "What about Parker?"

"What do you mean?"

"He said you were like a mentor to him." I said. "Almost family, and you seem to treat him that way, too."

"Parker has no one other than me. Not even a godly parent." I frowned slightly at her word choice. "He sits alone at the unclaimed table except when I am here. Yes, I give him more attention than the other kids because at least they have a parent that claimed them. I'm not just going to let him think he's unlov-"

While we were walking we had stumbled into a clearing. An oddly familiar clearing. The same clearing that I had been in one hundred and fifty chaos years ago.

(A/N: What if I just cut it off right here? That would be evil, wouldn't it?)

***

(I'm just kidding. Continue, and please don't hate me. Solangelo is in this, be happy.)

The clearing hadn't been touched since I was last there. Meaning that Riptide was still planted mid-center of the area.

For a moment, everything was still.

Annabeth sucked in a breath. "Help me find a pen cap."

Her voice was emotionless and uncharacteristically small. All of her confidence from earlier had drained out of her.

I went to ask a question, but before I could get my words out Annabeth cut me off. "Don't ask why. Just find the damn cap."

Wordlessly, I did what she commanded and looked around for Riptide's cap. Even though I knew it was pointless seeing as it resided in my pocket instead of the sticks.

As I feigned searching for a pen cap, Annabeth effortlessly pulled Riptide out from its spot in the Earth... but she didn't move after the action.

***

A/N: Crap ending... Whatever xD

Unedited

Word Count: 1233 words