~Playlist: "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran"~

"When you said you looked a mess, I whispered underneath my breath but you heard it, darling you look perfect"

Silena's POV

A crash comes from the window by my desk, startling me out of my sleep. It echoes in my room, sending a new pulse of gun shot-like noises every second.

I abruptly sit up, throwing the blankets off me. To my shock, a girl is standing in the middle of my bedroom. She has an ornate silver bow in her hands, and to my relief, the arrow nocked in it is not pointed towards me. Instead, she scans the room, her eyes searching for something that isn't there.

"Who. . . who are you?" I manage to sputter.

My voice breaks her taciturn scanning of my bedroom. For the first time, she looks over at me, and my heart speeds up while looking into her fierce eyes. Even when she just stands there, she strikes an intimidating figure.

"Rowan Castellano," she says before lowering her weapon. "Silena, I'm here to help you."

I shakily step out of my bed, and wince when my feet collide with the cold floor. But, I put extra care into making sure my voice is steady. "Are you from the Demigod Institute? Did Daphne Fitzgerald send you?"

A nod from Rowan is the only conformation I need.

"Then I'll go with you."

Surprise ripples across Rowan's face before returning to her stony expression.

It only takes her three steps to reach me and grab my hand before I can do so much as move. A strange sensation fills me from head to toe. It makes my stomach turn unpleasantly as my room falls away.

My bedroom is the same one that I used during the course of the Selection. After the Prince and Elite fled the castle, no one really knew what to do with me, so they told me to go to my bedroom and stay there. It hasn't been that hard, but I've gotten no news from anybody.

The only thing that motivated me was the fact that Charlie was somewhere out there. That's been what my heart has been beating to.

The world warps itself back into focus, and I'm forced to blink into the harsh sunlight.

"We're here," Rowan says unnecessarily. She walks in front of me, her silver bow slung on her back.

'Here' is a small, grassy opening in a place that I've never seen. It's secluded by a large grove of trees, and a blue pond is visible from behind their sprawling limbs.

I follow her uncertainly, not sure to where I've been transported. Hopefully, she brought me to the Demigod Institute.

A girl by the name of Daphne Fitzgerald told me right after the trial disaster that I was a demigod--a daughter of a Greek or Roman god-- and that I would be invited to a safe location called the Demigod Institute. Since then, I've been researching the Demigod Institute, but there is no trace of it anywhere.

"Where are we going?" I ask Rowan after several minutes of walking in silence. I'm trailing behind her, struggling to keep up with her. It's surprising that with her short stature she's still able to walk much faster than I can.

"To meet the others," she says, not slowing down from her quick pace.

I tuck a strand of my black hair behind my ear, and stumble over the uneven ground. "Who are the 'others', exactly?"

Rowen exhales slowly, annoyed. "They're them. The others like you."

Confused, I follow her gaze, and then gasp. A large group of people stare back at me, each face familiar. Zoe Nightshade is there, as is Drew Tanaka and Ella Harpy. Most all girls from the Selection are here, wherever 'here' is.

"Why are we all here?" I ask Rowan, who is twisting the metal chain of her necklace.

"It'll be easier to explain inside," she says shortly before turning and walking away.

I frown. There's no building around us, nowhere that could be deemed 'inside'. But I follow her, as does the rest of the group.

"Hi," I say perkily to Zoe as she passes me. She gives me a curt nod before continuing forwards. The smile fades off my face at her coldness.

"Don't even bother with her, especially after what she said to you the first time you two ever talked," a sullen voice says from behind me.

Clarisse la Rue is scowling, as usual. It might be my imagination, but her scowl looks a bit more happier than normal.

"Clarisse!" I shriek happily before throwing myself at my best friend. I wrap my arms around her in a tight hug.

"You're a lot stronger than you look, girl," she says, but her voice doesn't sound angry or upset. "Let me go."

I pull back and examine her face. She's not hurt, as far as I can see. "I missed you."

"You missed me? Silena, the last time I saw you, you were being beaten. What the hell was that about?" Clarisse demands.

My excitement disappears as suddenly as it came. "I wanted to see you, but I couldn't. Why weren't you at the trial?"

She growls--an actual animal noise--and stalks ahead of me. I jog to catch up to her.

"I couldn't get in. I was eliminated, you remember?" Her voice is harsh, but I'm not offended; I've learned that her voice is angry whenever she's hurt. "After that, none of us are really allowed back into the castle. But where were you?"

The harshness in her tone hardly surprises me, but I am shocked to see tears forming in her eyes. I have never seen Clarisse cry before. 'Cry' and 'Clarisse' just aren't two words that work together. But sure enough, her brown eyes have tears filling them.

"You were eliminated, too," she continued. "So, I thought that you'd leave the castle with me. But you never did. No one ever saw you, at least not until the trial. But then, you disappeared again."

She sniffs softly, and turns her head so that I don't see her face.

"Clarisse, I didn't really get a say in anything that happened," I tell her softly. "I was in the hospital there until the trial. I haven't seen Charlie since that night. . ."

I stare ahead of me, trying to burn out the tears in my eyes. I notice a large building towering over us, one that wasn't there a minute ago.

"Do you see that?" I whisper to Clarisse.

She snorts. "Welcome to the Demigod Institute, girl."

"How do you know this is it?"

"Because I lived here before I was entered into the Selection," Clarisse explains slowly. "This is my home."

Before I can chide her for never telling me, Rowan stands in front of me once again. "Are you ready to go in?"

I firmly nod, and she opens the door for me.

Upon entrance, the Institute looks like a comfortable ski lodge, one just for teenagers. Teenagers that include Prince Percy Jackson.

His face breaks into a wide smile, and he takes a step towards me and the rest of the girls.

"Silena? Why are you here?"

"I told you the surprise wasn't a bad one," a girl with purple hair smirks.

A tall boy elbows the girl in the arm. "Esmerelda, shut up."

"No," the girl, Esmerelda, said bluntly.

I point to the girl who brought me here. "Rowan. She brought me out of the castle earlier today. Don't worry--your parents are fine. Everyone is fine."

Percy smiles at me briefly before turning to Annabeth Chase, who takes his hand. I can't help but smile at the sight of them.

Without even noticing, my hand has fallen to the inside of my forearm, where an ugly scar resides, an unwanted souvenir from James Garth. The smile evaporates from my face, and I bite my lip.

Daphne Fitzgerald enters the room, and she locks eyes with me immediately. She gives me a warm smile, and walks forward.

"Thank you, Rowan," she says, now directing her smile towards the other girl. "Was there any trouble?"

"No, thank the gods," Rowan replies, smiling for the first time. "And I got everyone."

"Percy, Annabeth, it turns out that there were several others in the Selection that are also demigods," Daphne explains to the two.

"How many of us were there? At the castle, I mean." Percy asks.

Daphne thinks for a second before responding. "Well, there was your group, and this group, and a few others that we haven't been able to locate yet."

"I'm so glad to see you, Silena," Annabeth says kindly. I smile uneasily back at her.

"What am I doing here?" I ask finally. "Daphne, you've already explained the whole demigod thing, but why did you bring me here all of a sudden? Why now, and not earlier?"

Esmerelda smirks at that. "See, that's the best part."

"There's a best part?" Annabeth asks warily.

"Of course there is. Otherwise, what's the point of a story? Anyways, Silena, we wanted to bring you here immediately, of course, but we had another project we were working on. But now, we finished that project, and I think you'll like it."

Esmerelda is grinning widely, and she keeps exchanging a look with the tall boy who elbowed her earlier.

"What was the project?" I ask, unable to stop myself.

The door opens again, this time revealing an unfamiliar muscular boy. He walks out, and I notice someone behind him.

His hair is shorter, but that's the only thing that's different about him.

"What, Ajax?" he asks, his deep voice sounding exhausted. "What was so important that you--"

Then, he sees me.

I gasp, and try to walk to him. I stumble on my first step, but regain my footing as I sprint across the room. I collide with him, full force, but his embrace softens the impact. His arms wrap around me as I bury my face into his shirt.

"I knew you were okay," I murmur happily. I wrap my arms around his neck, and press my lips against Charles Beckendorf's.

"Me? It's you I was worried about," he says once I break away. "I was so scared, Silena. I didn't know what happened to you after--"

"Shh, it's okay. I'm okay."

"We'll give you some privacy," Esmerelda says, but I'm only half-listening. All I can register is that he's here, and he's safe, and he's finally with me.

"I love you," I whisper. "Gods, I love you."

"Is it my turn to say I'm okay?" Charlie gives me half a grin. I laugh, still not fully comprehending what happened. "Because I am okay, now that I'm with you."

I kiss him again, and again, because I can. Because for the first time in a while, he's finally here with me, and we're safe together.

"I just wish I didn't look like such a mess," I say, embarrassed.

And it's true. All the time apart from him has given me ample time to envision our reunion. And in all of them, I wasn't wearing sleeping shorts and one of his old T-shirts, and my wasn't pulled back in a messy braid.

He kisses my cheek before looking into my eyes. "You look perfect."