I'm sorry, Annabeth

Piper V

It was Rachel.

Her green eyes were flaring with anger.

Juniper was standing in front of her.

Juniper most probably had told Rachel something. Was it the thing Jason was keeping her from?

"WHO DID THIS?"

"Rachel, calm down..."

"WHO THE HELL DID THIS?"

Juniper flinched, then answered quietly.

"It's was Luke."

Rachel breathed in deeply.

"I need to see Annabeth."

She left quickly.

Juniper sighed loudly. All the other demigods looked sorry for Rachel. And in their eyes were the same flare of fire like Rachel's.

Piper felt like everyone knew something she didn't.

She slowly slid down her bed and limped to the exit.

Then she bumped into someone.

"Uh, I'm sorr- Jason?"

"Pipes, what are you doing out of bed?"

Jason replied, surprised.

"I want to go see Annabeth."

"Piper, you really should let Annabeth and Rachel have some private time together. Annabeth is heartbroken."

"Why is she heartbroken?"

Jason sighed deeply and only shook his head.

"Are you keeping something from me, Jason?"

"Piper... I don't want to talk about this... It makes me feel like I haven't done anything to help this from happening..."

"What from happening?" Piper urged.

"Piper..."

"Alright then." Piper sighed in defeat.
"I'll just ask someone else."

"I'm sorry," Jason pecked her on the cheek and walked away.

Piper glanced at Annabeth and Rachel. It seemed like Annabeth was crying into Rachel's arms, and Rachel was trying to sooth her.

What were they talking about?

Piper fought the urge to run to their side and ask them directly, but followed Jason's advice and turned away from the two girls, and headed towards Hazel.

"Hey Hazel."

"Piper!" Hazel gave Piper a hug.

"Thank the gods you're alright!"

"Yeah." Piper shrugged. "Uh, I wanted to ask something..."

"Ow, ow..." Frank suddenly moaned.

"Oh, Frank!" Hazel sighed. "I've been treating him for, like, five hours and he's still in pain! I'm starting to get worried..." She ran to Frank's side and started to carefully treat his wounds. "Piper, I'm sorry, I'm a bit busy at the moment. Maybe you could ask someone else?"

"Oh, uh, sure. I'll just ask Leo..."

"He drank some coffee just now. Trust me, you wouldn't want to talk to him right now."

Piper laughed.

"Okay. Thanks Hazel."

"I didn't really help with anything, but try asking Thalia or something. Mind you, don't touch Annabeth."

Piper almost wanted to ask why, but then, she wouldn't want to bother Hazel any longer. Hazel looked like she could collapse any moment. There were dark circles under her eyes and she looked utterly tired.

Should Piper go and find Thalia? It's not like she knew her or anything, and it would be so awkward if Thalia didn't want company.

But curiosity won her and Piper walked away to the Zeus cabin, and saw Thalia sitting on her bed, holding her head in her hands.

"Hey, um... Thalia?"

"Hi. You're Piper, right? Annabeth told me about you. What's up?"

Okay, problem 'if-Thalia-didn't-want-to-talk' solved.

"Um... Sorry to bother you, but I just wanted to ask about what's very one at camp worried about... I just woke up and... It's like everyone know something I don't."

Thalia stared at Piper suspiciously for a few minutes, and when Piper was starting to get uncomfortable, Thalia sighed deeply.

"I can see that you aren't mocking me. Okay. Seriously, you don't know? I thought Jason would tell you all about it. He was crying about it just now."

Jason? Crying?

"I'm sorry..."

"No," Thalia shook her head. "It's not your fault. It's just that... Someone at camp was kidnapped during the war. And we don't know what they would do to him."

"Who's that?"

"Percy."

Piper blinked.

"Sorry, what?"

"It's Percy. Perseus Jackson."