Together

Chapter 2: Percy

"Leo what are you doing here?!" Annabeth asked, clearly very surprised.

"Nice to see you too, Annabeth," Leo replied sarcastically.

"We're really glad to see you man," I said. "But we weren't really expecting any company. So uhh... what are you doing here?" I began leading Leo inside, and we sat on the couch in the living room, as Annabeth brought a tray of the blue chocolate chip cookies over to the table.

"What am I doing here?" he grinned. "I'm here to wish one of my best friends a happy birthday of course! But umm..." Our smiled started to fade.

"But what?" Annabeth questioned, recognizing Leo's 'bad news tone'. "What's wrong?"

"But, I also have some bad news," Leo replied. "Hazel and Frank were on there way here, same with Piper, Jason, Thalia, and Nico. We were planning to all come here and surprise you for your 23rd, but... it's not gonna go as planned." He had a sad look in his eyes, and I knew something terrible had happened.

"What happened?" I asked him. "Are they okay?" Leo's eyes were starting to water now.

"Not really. When Hazel and Frank were on their way from Camp Jupiter, their car was hit by a speeding truck. Frank tried his best to protect Hazel, but he was the one driving, and the truck had hit the passenger side of the car..."

A million thoughts raced through my head, and my heart started pounding. No. No, Hazel had to be okay. She was like a little sister to me, and she HAD to be okay.

"Luckily," Leo continued, "she didn't die, but it's still really bad. There was a lot of damage done, and she's unconcious right now, in the hospital." He gave up on trying to hold back his tears, and let them run down his face. Annabeth buried her face in my shirt, and I put my arm around her.

Over the years, the nine of us (the seven plus Nico and Thalia) had grown a lot closer. We weren't just friends, we were like family, and even though Hazel was now 19 years old, she was still the youngest of us, and we were all very protective over her. Especially Frank, who was her boyfriend. Oh no. Frank! He was probably blaming himself for this, thinking it was his fault. Poor guy, I don't know what I'd do if that happened with me and Annabeth.

There was silence for a few minutes, then I ended it. "We need to get to the hospital now then." Annabeth and Leo nodded.

"I'll drive," offered Leo, and with that we