My belongings were packed, and I fingered my coin nervously. Piper rested her head on my shoulder, her kaleidoscope eyes closed. We stood on Half-Blood Hill, resting against Thalia's tree.

I hadn't really talked to Percy since the volleyball game, he'd totally creamed us by the way, and according to what I'd heard, he was stressed with Luke's arrival. Thalia had been slightly pissed earlier, well, if you counted zapping everyone and anyone who came up to her with five bolts of electricity, slightly, so I hadn't gotten the chance to talk to her about him, they seemed the closest besides Percy and Artemis.

And everyone knew that I certainly couldn't speak with Artemis.

"Where is everyone else?" Piper asked, her voice soothing and calm. I shrugged, pocketing the coin.

"No idea, Percy said to meet here. Oh wait, there he is."

Sure enough, Percy was making his way towards us, in deep conversation with Luke and Thalia, Annabeth hesitantly following them. We all knew that Percy hadn't forgiven her, but it was obvious that she still loved him, and was trying to get him back.

Piper narrowed her eyes at the sight of Annabeth, her lips pursed together. As the daughter of Aphrodite, she could sense the tension between the two, and I often felt bad for her, the headaches she got were overkill.

"Hey Jason, Piper." Percy greeted, momentarily breaking away from the heated argument he was having. Luke and Thalia nodded in greeting, and I shot a glare at my sister.

"Hey, Percy." I responded, Piper doing the same. "Hello, sis."

Luke looked up now, glancing from Thalia to me. "Wait, this is your brother?"

"Yeah, Luke, meet Jason. Jason, Luke." Thalia said, throwing her bags brutally onto the ground, and running a hand through her spiky hair. Luke opened his mouth to speak, but Thalia silenced him with a look. "Shut it, I know what you're going to say, we look nothing alike, I know, I know. But same mother, technically same father. He's Jupiter, I'm Zeus."

"No, you're Thalia." Luke said playfully, earning a slap to the back of the head. "Ouch. Sorry. And besides, I wasn't going to say that. I was just going to say I know who got the better looks in the family. Ow!" Thalia slapped him again, harder.

"I was going to say you had the better looks, not Jason! Sorry Jason!" Luke said in a painfully high pitched tone as Thalia roundhouse kicked him in the area without mercy.

"Stop lying, Castellan. You were going to say what I told you you were going to say. For a son of Hermes, you're a horrible liar." Thalia said, smacking the back of his head for good measure. Percy and I winced in sympathy for the guy.

"Okay, okay! You win." Luke muttered, but his eyes twinkled with amusement. I shook my head, perplexed at the man's antics, but figured that he liked to rile up Thalia, it was really easy, frankly. And it was funny when she got mad, as long as you weren't in the range of fire, she could admit to and say some pretty amusing things when she got angry and lost control.

"Sooooo." Piper drawled awkwardly. "What now? Do we wait, or just go?"

"More people should be coming, and then everyone can divide into groups." Percy responded, and ran a hand through his messy hair. "I don't know if I should go alone. Luke and I are thinking about going together now. We're both reborn, maybe be we can try to prevent the pain thing. I don't want anyone to get hurt."

And there it was. Percy's classic, loyal, belief. He didn't want anyone to get hurt, even if they'd betrayed him. He wouldn't allow it, and the guilt would consume him for a very long time.

"Makes sense, I guess." Thalia muttered, but I could see the concern etched on her face as she was fearful for Luke and Percy.

"Glad you agree." Luke muttered absentmindedly, fiddling with what looked like a hairpin in his hands. "This is all still so new to me."

"Yeah." Percy whispered, and then peered over his shoulder, as more people were coming.

In the lead was Clarisse, who appeared to be dragging Leo behind her. Frank and Hazel trailed slightly behind them, and were containing laughter as Leo was helpless to get out of Clarisse's death grip.

"Sorry we're late, this one," Clarisse flicked Leo on the head,"Was taking his sweet time."

"Oi! I need my bloody beauty sleep, back off, woman!" Leo exclaimed.

"It's also not helping that he's been talking like a British person since we woke him up." Clarisse added.

"Leo, talk normally." Piper ordered, her voice heavily laced with charmspeak. Leo's eyes went foggy for a second, before they returned to the usual color.

"Thank you!" Clarisse sighed in relief.

"Oh come on, Clarisse, it wasn't that bad." Leo protested.

"It was that bad." Hazel and Frank confirmed.

"Hazzzzeeeeeelllll!" Leo whined. "You're supposed to be on my side!"

Hazel ignored him, turning to face Percy, a warm smile on her face. She engulfed him in a large hug, and he chuckled.

"Hey Hazel, hey Frank." He greeted, nodding his head in the Asian boy's direction. Frank smiled and hugged Percy as well.

"So...groups?" I asked, and Percy nodded, tapping his head.

"Right. Luke and I will go North together, even though it says one. I don't trust either of us to be on our own, as we are both the Titan's bane and the reborn. The remaining Seven will follow us, and then Thalia and Clarissa?" Percy suggested. Annabeth shook her head.

"No, Percy, Luke should go by himself. You're still part of the Seven, and he's really the one that killed Kronos. Either of you could be the reborn, we'll find that out later. Lieutenant of Artemis stands alone, so Thalia should go alone, and Clarisse can follow." She said. "Although it really doesn't make sense why we would all follow each other instead of going as one group..."

"I bet we should start as a group." I spoke. "Maybe we split later?"

"I agree with Jason, it makes more sense that way." Piper nodded. "What say you, Frank?"

"All as one group." Frank agreed.

"So it's settled then, punks?" Clarisse asked.

"Let's go." Percy confirmed.