The camp has been getting noisier and noisier ever since it grew in numbers. The number of cabins always seemed to grow, and yet, somehow, the Hermes Cabin looks overwhelmed. I consider this place my home too, and it's getting crazy and weird with the growing number of new faces and the purple and orange shirts blending into the crowds. It's good to see the Stoll brothers grinning, although I do not want to be on the receiving end of their pranks. The place has never felt livelier.

The way things looked right now, the people in the camp seemed oblivious to what had happened. Somehow, whatever I saw outside, it didn't seem like anyone else had noticed it, even in the slightest manner. I wanted to ask someone about it, but if anyone else had been through that weird stuff that had happened before, especially with the time freeze type moment, I'm pretty sure people would have been panicking around. I need to talk to Annabeth about this too.

I wave towards Chris as I simultaneously try to avoid Clarisse. It's a wonder to me as to how they work, but I guess Aphrodite is a sucker for such tropes. Quite a few familiar faces as I strolled towards my cabin, but the one face I was looking for, I just could not find. I was hoping to catch Annabeth as soon as I entered the cabin, but she must be busy with something. I did walk past the Athena cabin and am positive that she isn't there at the cabin.

"Percy," said a soft, weak, coarse voice I'd recognise anywhere.

"Nico, how have you been?" I exclaimed and continued, "How are things going on with... you know, Will and everything?"

Yeah, it hasn't been the most comfortable thing to talk about Nico, but I genuinely do want to know how he's feeling, but I also know deep down that he's not going to give me the genuine answer.

"Yeah, things have been great," he replies, as he shrugs and stares at the ground. "Will's good, yeah, we...we are good."

Yeah, there's a little awkwardness in his voice, and honestly, I was starting to feel it too.

"Have you seen Annabeth?" I asked him, hoping to find her soon.

"I think she's by the Poseidon cabin, I believe," replied Nico.

"Oh, thank you. I'll go find her. I shall see you again!", I exclaim, but I say it out loud as if it were more of a question than a response.

"See you around," replied Nico as he walked back towards the side of the Apollo cabin.

It seems like things are going well for Nico and Will. Good for them. It was a huge surprise to everyone else, but good for them. There have been a lot of changes all around since the massive war at the camp.Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood seem to fare pretty well in this partnership. People have been travelling through both camps. There are healthy and constructive discussions on improving both camps and their surroundings, and also staying prepared for any future debacles.

Anyway, I think I found Annabeth. She looks so beautiful as she basks in the sunlight, her skin glowing and her blonde locks frolicking in the wind. Her face looks poised, I'm pretty sure she's working on something. Ah yes, she has a laptop with her. She has her orange camp shirt on, which somehow works in making her look irresistible. Maybe it's only me, maybe the orange only sucks on me. Or maybe it's just that my googly boyfriend's eyes are blinding me from the atrocity that bright orange top is. I don't care. Right now, I just want to look at her stormy grey eyes. Needless to say, I miss her a lot.

"What are you doing?" I ask, sheepishly grinning.

"Seaweed Brain!" she exclaims as she shuts her laptop and puts it aside.

I grab her and wrap her up in a warm embrace as I kiss her forehead. I could see her beautiful smile. She looks lovely as ever.

"I missed you," I whisper softly as I look into her eyes.

"I missed you too," Annabeth said as she kissed me on the cheek.

This moment, these moments, this was what I wanted. Moments of peace, love, simplicity, beauty. All I want now is to have a normal life and a normal relationship with my extraordinary girlfriend. At that moment, I didn't want to leave her. I especially didn't want to ruin the mood with what I had to say. It looks like I don't have much of a choice here.

"Annabeth, there's something I need to say."

And then I tell her about everything that happened earlier. The tremors, the time freeze, the black and white, everything. It didn't look like she had seen any of this stuff before, so I guess I was the only lucky guy to witness all of that stuff. She remained pensive as I kept explaining my visuals, her mind probably going through various possibilities. I could sense that she was growing slightly tense and worried.

I hold her hands and look into her eyes as I ask her, "What do we do?"

"I don't know. I just don't want to lose you again. Things are finally normal for us. Our lives have started to come back to normal. Things are good the way they are. I mean, we just started to focus on our careers, our lives, and our future together. Is it too much to just ask for a break?"

I knew what she was thinking about. Our whole lives, we have been fighting other people's wars, to save the world, to save the gods, some greater good, or whatever. It's just that after everything that happened, we finally thought we could focus on our lives and fight our own battles for once.

"It's going to be fine," I reassure her. "Who knows, this one might just not be something to worry about, it might just be some weird bet among the Olympians above. Knowing the god of war and his sons, the horror and terror twins, this might just be their doing. "

I make a conscious effort to avoid their names because I don't want to risk being heard by either of them. Names have power or something. I don't understand it fully, but I understand enough to not tempt the fates. Also, there's a chance that I'm completely wrong about this.

"Let's go talk to Chiron. He might know something, "she said.