We swarmed out of the Big House. In the confusion, Percy and I were separated. I didn't like that. We fought twice as well when we were together. Better strategies, more power, greater chance of winning. Plus, he was comforting in a fight. But we had fought much, much worse than a random group of monsters and the whole camp was here to back each other up. It would be fine.

After two Great Wars, we all fought like a well-oiled machine. No directions were needed. It made me swell with pride. All these kids I grew up with were all now great heroes. It was pretty awesome: groups split off to take certain clusters of monsters. Archers lined up in a good place to fire. Dryads were coming out of the forest to help. Our guardian dragon was scorching monsters like there was no tomorrow. He seemed to be working even harder than usual; he must've felt bad that all the monsters got past him in the first place. Poor thing.

But I still didn't see Percy anywhere. He's not typically hard to spot. Usually, if you can find the whirlwind of water or a bronze sword slashing through the air, leaving drawings in it like firecrackers, you found Percy. But I didn't notice any of that. I was so distracted by my thoughts I didn't take stock of the danger immediately around me. Stupid Annabeth. My battle instincts had dulled from taking a break for school. I should have kept up my practice. Stupid.

I didn't think to duck or roll until it was too late. I also didn't think that maybe this horde of Halloween monsters were something more sinister, with more dangerous monsters. What the Hades is wrong with me?

I felt something heavy and scaly strike my shoulder, hard. I fell down, but quickly recovered my senses. But not quick enough. The same Something put a blade against my throat.

"Kelly," I growled.

"Hello, dear." My least favorite empousai smiled at me with mock sweetness. "Where's your boyfriend to come save you? Or better yet, the crazy Titan with, what was that... a broom?"

I was burning with hatred and pain, but I managed to keep my voice steady. "Well, you haven't noticed yet? They're right behind you." When she whipped around to fight the boys that weren't there, I kicked her off my chest and stood up, putting my dagger against her, completely turning the tables. At first she was too shocked to say anything. I took the moment to take in the battle. The monsters were down to about eighty percent less than when they came. That was good. I didn't see any major injuries or any fallen on our side. Definitely good. Kelly was still in the torn cheerleader uniform from years ago.

I was just about to finish her when she started talking again. "You dumb demigods, always catching on so late." I couldn't kill her now, I thought. I need this information. "You never catch onto our plans. And you wonder why you are so easily defeated."

"Us? Defeated? In case you need a memory refresher, we won the last two wars. You didn't."

"So? What about the old stories? Didn't the heroes always have the most tragic ends?"

I swallowed down the bile that was rising up my esophagus. I was fully aware that demigods didn't typically get "happy ever afters." I was about to respond when I felt someone come and stand beside me.

"Kelly, I thought you were still reforming down in the hell-hole," Percy said, but it wasn't a question. I wanted to cry out in relief that he was here. I had been so worried about him, not being able to find him and all. But I didn't show it. Better for the enemy to think we planned this all out.

Kelly couldn't do much with both of us surrounding her except talk. "You two don't know what's coming for you."

"Maybe not. But guess what? I don't give a crap," Percy answered  coldly. "This one's for Bob." He raised his sword to bring it down on top of Kelly, but before he could, she disappeared in a cloud of red smoke.

"What? No! I wanted to-" Percy started to yell, but he was drowned out by a huge clap of thunder. I looked over to the last clump of monsters left not turned to dust. Jason was standing a little ways away. The air smelled strongly of ozone and the hair on the back of my neck and arms stood straight up. Then a blinding bolt of lightning struck the monsters, disintegrating them instantly.

The campers let out cries of cheers. We had won with barely any inconveniences. But Percy and I didn't share the enthusiasm.  He turned to me.

"You alright?"

"Fine." I subconsciously rubbed my sore shoulder. "You?"

"No, you're not," he replied hurriedly, ignoring my question.

"No really Perce, it just is a little sore. It's fine. What about you?" I asked, again.

"I'm okay." He didn't look okay, but not necessarily physically. He was covered in golden monster dust and his Harry Potter robe was ripped to shreds. I probably didn't look much better. But it was his eyes that really bother me. They seemed to glow a little less brightly, and they were clouded with anger.

"Sure?" I could barely hear myself, I used such a small voice.

His eyes went pretty close back to normal when he replied "Yeah," pulling me into a hug. I hugged back tightly.

"What do you think Kelly meant?" I questioned him.

"I have no idea. But guess who I fought before I came over here? The Minotaur. And he wasn't a happy cow."

I shuddered. "All of our old enemies back, Kelly talking about how we never know enemies' plans? This sounds bad."

"I agree. But I don't want to worry about it now."

"Me either. But at least we should go tell Chiron."

"I guess."

When we told him, he acted kind of strange. Then he asked us if we enjoyed it on the Roman Side and if we had noticed anything peculiar. We told him we really like it and no, we hadn't noticed anything. Then he told us to go and enjoy the party. Yeah, that would be easy after he asked us those weird questions which only confirmed our suspicions that something besides Halloween danger was going on.

As the two of us walked back to our friends, I told Percy not to say anything. No need to worry them, or at least not yet.

"Nice lightning, bro," Percy told Jason.

"Thanks bro."

"So everyone's alright then?" I asked.

"All the campers are good," Piper responded.

"That is amazing."

"ALRIGHT, NOW THAT ALL THE BORING STUFF IS UNDER OUR BELTS, LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!" Travis' voice boomed over the intercom-type device. The camp erupted again.

"Percy, I don't know about this." He looked just about as good as I felt. We were standing just outside the entrance to the Haunted House. We decided to go in with gang, but we were definitely second-guessing ourselves.

"It's... it's fine, right? It's fine... fine. It's all just fun. And we'll stick with the group. Most importantly, we'll stick together." I could actually see him swallow nervously after saying this.

"Together. Yeah." I took a deep breath, squeezed Percy's hand, and took a step into the place I really didn't want to go in.

The Hecate kids must have helped, because it was like stepping into a different world. It was no longer rooms, but long, dark passages. I gulped. It was too much like the Labyrinth. I pressed into Percy's side and my free hand grabbed Grover's. They had been in the Labyrinth, too. 

We walked a little ways, and I could hear my breathing: staggered and ragged. I felt a cold front blow over us and something brushed against my legs. Then it all disappeared as quickly as it had come. 

"Creepy," Frank commented.

We kept going for a little while. Just long enough to let our guard down. But I told myself I couldn't. It helped that my adrenaline was still pumping from the battle and fear of this. Out of no where, a scream pierced the air and some smoky shapes swam in front of us. I closed my eyes, but that brought back too many awful memories. I stared at the ground and didn't look up  again until we were out. I let Percy and Grover guide me through, but I'm pretty sure it was mostly Grover because Percy probably did the same thing as me.

When we were finally back in the Big House, the Stolls' brothers asked how it was. Our friends all answered with excitement, but Percy and Grover and I said nothing. Percy and I obviously didn't enjoy it and Grover was looking at us worriedly.

"Hey, you guys okay now?" he asked us softly. We both nodded numbly. Jason, Piper, Leo, Calypso, Frank, and Hazel were starting to realize what was going on.

"Wait... did that... are you guys... was it too similar to... are you two okay?" Frank wore a concerned expression when he asked us that.

"We're fine," Percy said with a stronger voice than I could have managed.

"Always gotta be the heroes," Jason muttered under his breath, but he didn't sound irritated. Just sad.

Everyone else looked like they wanted to say something or ask us if we were alright, but they didn't. They knew us well enough to know we wouldn't appreciate it. I gave them all a weak smile.

After the party was over, Percy and I walked around camp to talk.

"When are we leaving, Miss Organizer?"

"Um... tomorrow afternoon to get back in time."

"Okay. We better get back to our cabins before we get eaten by Harpies."

"We wouldn't want that."

Percy laughed at me. "Nope."

He walked me back to my cabin. When we got to the door, I put my back to it and faced him. I grabbed both of his hands in mine.

"I'm worried about all of this."

"Me too." He put his forehead against mine. "We just can't get a break, can we? But let's not worry about for now. Let's just focus on each day at a time."

"That might just be the wisest thing you've ever said Seaweed Brain." He gave me his lopsided grin. 

"I am actually quite smart, you know." 

"Yeah, actually, I do." I thought about all of the battles we fought side by side, how he'd outsmarted our opponents. I thought about Tartarus, about the Haunted House, and how bad the nightmares would be tonight. He must have been thinking the same thing because he beat me to saying:

"I won't be able to sleep tonight."

"Me either," I agreed, my voice barely audible.

Percy sighed, and it was so full of sadness it just increased my pain. He rested his head on my shoulder and I gently ran my hand over his upper back. We stayed that way for a long time. We probably would've stayed that way all night if we hadn't heard a Harpy noise out by the volleyball courts. Percy lifted his head.

"Love you, Annabeth." Then he gave me a long, lingering kiss, leaving me slightly breathless. I didn't want him to go, but I knew he had to.

"I love you too, Percy." He walked away into the darkness, head down. I slipped into my cabin as quietly as possible and crawled into bed. I forced my brain to shut down, but not before thinking "This is definitely a Halloween to remember."