Let me just say in advance that it might be a bad idea to ask a daughter of Ares for advice.

It's been about a couple of weeks since Ouranos was resurrected. We were already halfway through summer and the heat has remained while burning my skin. Thank the gods I don't go to school.

Every night hasn't been the same ever since his resurrection. The same apocalyptic nightmare has been on repetition, as if Morpheus ran out of dreams to spare. The images of Lance laying dead at the base of the Empire State Building is forever etched in my mind.

The sky had reverted back to its blue, cloudy self. How, I have no idea. Ouranos has made no attempt so far to make a move at us, or our camp in particular. We haven't been able to find Piper or the other Aphrodite children, or rather, we're afraid they will find us. Yes, that' stupid to say because technically they've been at camp and know our location, but they could attack us like Piper spontaneously did earlier. The camp has been on it's guard ever since.

The sun was back and beating its rays harder than ever. It was easy to see the curls of the waves of heat. Mortals were out living their normal lives; everything seemed almost perfect... Except for the fact that Leo upgraded my alarm clock.

"UP AND AT 'EM, ASTRA! STOP HAVING DREAMS OF LANCE AND GET OUTTA BED!" I immediately picked up the clock and without second thoughts, I chucked it across the room. Of course, Leo had to make it practically indestructible this time so that it continued shaking against the ground and leaping off the walls of the cabin while it screamed its nonsense. I laid myself back down on the bed while aimlessly staring at the ceiling.

"I should ask Nyssa's to fix it instead..." I mumbled under my breath.

The camp has been on guard ever since June. It's hard to believe that the father of Titans has resurrected, and especially in the mortal form of my father. Shivers ran down my spine at the thought of it. The camp, trying to return back to normal, has been preparing for the fireworks tomorrow; July Fourth. Usually, on the evening of that night, the Hephaestus Cabin makes the fireworks. Apparently they're not your stereotypical, lame red and white fireworks; they somehow create moving images in the sky. Leo was extremely hyped up about this event the other day; he wouldn't stop talking about it.

It's also supposed to be the main dating event for campers...

No. I shouldn't cloud my thoughts; there's an evil Titan on the loose and he probably wouldn't spare us a second time. A loud knock on the door called to my attention but I felt too sluggish to get up. "Come in," I yawned, not carrying what they would think when they'd see my bed head and pajamas. Annabeth's blonde hair poked out from the doorframe.

"Morning, Astra," She said. "We need you down at the Big House; we're going to decide what to paint on the beads for this year's necklace." My ears perked up; I haven't gotten a necklace yet because I haven't stayed at a camp long enough.

I lugged myself out of bed and picked up some clothes that seemed to be clean off the ground. "Are you sure you need me? I'm not very artistic."

Annabeth gave me a thumbs up. "Yes; all the head councilors need to come and decide. I'll wait for you outside." She pointed down at my leg. "Need help?"

"Nah," I said while standing up and leaning my weight onto that leg. "Perks of healing fast." It still wasn't healed completely, but enough to walk without crutches; only a slight limp. I quickly changed out of my clothes, wearing the normal bright orange camp shirt and jeans and pulled my hair into a tangled ponytail mess. Slipping on my worn out shoes, I exited the cabin and began heading towards the Big House with Annabeth.

As we trudged across the volleyball court, she turned to me with an evil glint in her eye. "So..." She began. "Any plans for tomorrow night?"

I raised my hands to stop her. "Woah, there missy. See, I'd love to go to the fireworks with you, but you've already got a boyfriend and frankly, I don't want to deal with an angry son of Poseidon right now."

She burst out laughing. "You're joking, right?!"

I scoffed. "No, I'm not. And pigs fly."

"Technically, they do," Annabeth held her giggles down. "Percy and I fought one a couple years back-, you're trying switch the topic, aren't you?"

"Styx, you caught on," I groaned. "And I know what you're going to say; you're going to say that I-."

"That you should ask Lance," She finished my sentence.

"No, no, no," I waved my hands. "I still don't know if I have feelings for him yet! Besides, there's more important matters to take care of, such as Ouranos, or deforestation, or the repopulation of pandas!"

Annabeth sighed as we walked up the stairs of the house. "I give up arguing with you; let's see if he asks you out." She smirked at me and pushed open the door. I rolled my eyes as we headed downstairs to join the meeting.

* * *

"So, what do you think?" I grunt while blocking Clarrise's swing. She slammed her sword against my own and I tried to give her a kick to the knees. She jumped back with a devilish smile. Clarrise had made me promise to fight against her when I got back from my quest for more sword fighting practice, so that's what we were accomplishing right now.

To tell you the truth, I was totally beating her-, okay, that was a lie. I was getting my butt kicked.

"A crescent moon for the painted bead; that's pretty narcissistic of you," She spun on her heel and aimed for my ribs. I moved my sword vertically; blocking her off yet again. I made a wild punch at her but she grabbed my fist and tossed it aside. "Granted," She huffed. "that's a lot easier to paint than the sky crumbling away."

"True. My hand would fall off right after picking up the paintbrush."

"You're just lazy."

"You go, Clarisse!" I heard Lou Ellen yell from a distance. "Beat her a-."

"Oh, shut up!" I shouted back as I ducked under another swipe from Clarisse. "It's not my fault that I'm a rarity; a daughter of Artemis. Too bad you're not special." I finally gathered the courage to swing my sword at her, in which she managed do dodge swiftly and land her blade under my chin.

"Not special, huh?" Clarrise lowered her sword and somehow managing to not be out of breath like I was. "At least I can still beat you in a fight, daughter of Artemis." Her maniac-like grin was beginning to creep me out. Ares needs to teach his kids how to smile properly. Maybe an orthodontist appointment would be helpful.

"Best two out of three," I argued. She nodded in agreement while holding up her sword confidentially.

"Sure; you set the bar so low, you went under it!" Clarrise made a jab at my face without any hesitation. I ducked while making a kick at her chest. She blocked it with her arm and quickly grabbed my leg and tossed it aside. As I lost balance, she again tried to jab at me with her sword. Throwing my arms back, I did a backflip while kicking the sword out of her hand. The weapon skidded across the floor, landing at the shoes of an annoying son of Hermes.

"Astra got a point; you owe me a drachma," Cecil snickered while kicking the sword back at Clarisse; holding out an empty hand to the annoyed daughter of Hecate. Lou Ellen muttered something under her breath while slamming a golden coin into the palm of his hand. He tried to say some snarky remark, but all that came out was a rooster's cluck. He gasped and clucked again. Lou Ellen chuckled as she snatched the coin out of the shocked boy's hand and ran away gleefully. Cecil ran after her wild squawking a series of rooster screeches that could've been cuss words.

Just a normal day at camp.

As Clarisse bent over to pick up her sword, I decided to ask her something that's been on my mind. "Hey Clarisse," I began awkwardly. "How... How did you ask Chris out to the fireworks last year?"

Clarisse gripped the sword and stared at me in confusion. "I simply asked him, 'Hey Chris, want to go to the fireworks together?'. Why?" That was a much blunter answer than I was expecting.

"Oh, nothing..." I murmured, picking off invisible dust on my shirt. She squinted at me, but thankfully wasn't able to catch on, or if she did, she didn't poke at me like Annabeth did.

"Just be confident; it works every time," She patted my shoulder and held up her sword. "Come on; one more round so I can crush you."

* * *

"I'm never fighting against Clarisse ever again," I groaned as I spread over the table overwhelmed by tiredness.

"Granted, you put up a pretty good fight," Nico said as he picked something out of my hair. I wasn't a monkey, although I haven't showered in a while... "I need to be there if you ever beat her. That would be memorable."

The two of us sat in the pavilion together, dying from the heat. Yes, I was the only one who was sweating and exhausted, but you know what, that doesn't really matter right now. The gods granted a light breeze to pass by and it's cool touch ruffled through my hair.

"That's not going to happen anytime soon." I opened my mouth and Nico popped a spoonful of vanilla ice cream into my mouth. It was delicious, if you wanted to know.

"You need to remind me how old you are again," He sighed as he dabbed at my mouth with his skull handkerchief (if you forgot, he used this back with the sea dragons). Nico paused, as if realizing something. "I never asked you; when's you're birthday?"

The cold ice cream slowly slid down the back of my throat. "I don't have one," I said calmly. "Give me more."

He held his spoon back and I grabbed at it fruitlessly. "What do you mean?" He scooped at the ice cream cup in his other hand.

"I just don't have one. It wasn't important to me while I was living on the streets." I managed to snatch the spoon from his hand and took another delightful bite.

"Then why do you tell everyone you're sixteen?"

"I dunno. Just felt like the right number, I guess."

He rested his face against his hand which was propped up by his elbow. That was hard to say. "Never asked Artemis?"

"Nah."

I handed him his spoon back in which he glared at me for stealing his food. "We should give you one then; so we can celebrate."

"Like I said, it's not important," I said. "There's more things to worry about, such as..." I gave him a crooked smile. "Who asked who out? You or Will?"

His pale face immediately turned a bright, cherry red. "Wha-. How-?" He fumbled over his words, and in his moment of weakness, I stole the ice cream and spoon out of his hands and held it close like Gollum and his precious ring. Shoveling the rest of the dessert in my mouth before he could react, I ate the whole thing in absolute delight. "It doesn't matter!" He flushed and childishly pulled at my ear. I pretended to scream in pain and swatted his hand away.

"Help, help! I'm being harassed by someone younger than me!"

"I give up," Nico dropped his hand in despair. I tossed him the empty cup and he just continued to give me the stink eye. Suddenly, he got an expression as if a lightbulb flashed over his head and it was his turn with the evil grin. "So. How have you and Lance been doing?"

"OH MY GODS!" I throw my hands up in exasperation. "I don't know if I even like him; I'm not going to ask him out to the fireworks!"

"I didn't ask that, but okay," He held back a laugh. "You totally should, though."

"Why?!"

"It'd make the kid happy, you know? You did kind of reject him at Camp Jupiter-."

"Okay, first of all, he's older than you! Just because you stayed at a hotel for a good chunk of time doesn't mean you're our elder. Second of all, I shouldn't have told you that. Third of all, it wasn't a rejection, more like... Uh..." I tried to find the right word, but the right word wasn't the best word.

"Friend-zoning him?"

"More like putting it off until my feelings are cleared."

He gave another exasperated sigh. "Why not ask him, though? It's been a rough summer; why not relax with your buddy? Enjoy the scenery. Eat some food."

"Wow." I wiped an imaginary tear. "The dreary, depressed boy is telling me to go relax and enjoy the scenery. Something's changed you, man."

He rummaged his fingers through his black, mangled hair. "Just do it, besides, Lance would-."

"I would what?" A familiar voice questioned.

Uh oh.

We turned around in our seats to find Lance standing right behind us while holding a volleyball under his arm. He had rolled his sleeves up to reveal his shoulders and one of his shoelaces was untied. The sun hit his blonde hair and it looked like King Midas' gold. He looked at me with raised eyebrows. "Uh..." My jaw dropped, not entirely sure of what to do.

Nico gestured at him with his chin with a look in his eye that said either you do it or I strangle you.

"What about me?" Lance asked again with a light smile. His blonde hair was gelled back and his blue eyes were shining-, what in the world was I thinking?!

"Come on, Lance!" I heard the Stolls a couple of feet away. "Hurry up!"

"Um..." I tried to say again, but the words wouldn't come out.

He turned around. "One second!" Lance gave his attention back to me and the pressure grew. I saw Nico's cruel smirk in the corner of my eye, but I was solely trying to get the words out that were stuck in the back of my throat. Coughing lightly while I felt my face burning, I tried looking up at Lance's face and finally spit them out.

"Do you want to go and watch the fireworks with me?"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Only one chapter left! Can you believe it?! I can't either omg.

Have you read my last main A/N about auditions for an audio book of the Arrow of Light? If not, go check it out! There's absolutely no harm in auditioning (I would be so happy if you did omg hearing my characters alive by people's acting is so amazing I can't even describe it).

(If you're not a fan of all this romance; I apologize. I'm just prepping everyone for the final book *evil laughs in the distance*.)

Sorry for taking a while to update; I had finals + MAJOR (okay maybe not major but they were bad to me) health problems. PLEASE. DO NOT. ASK ME. TO UPDATE. NOR. DEMAND. ONE. It's rude; I'm not a slave that just works to satisfy your personal needs. Go somewhere else if you want someone to write a book just for you. If you see a comment like this on here, please reply to them before I go and unleash my wrath :)

XOXO,
Arisa