A/N: Hey guys! I'm so sorry I forgot to update the past couple weeks! To make up for it, I'm going to give you a Percy Jackson story tonight and another thing tomorrow. (I haven't quite decided what yet.) I'm almost to a point where I can start posting my revised Narnia story, so that'll hopefully be coming soon.

Disclaimer: All characters and dialogue belong to Rick Riordan.

Pain exploded in my right shoulder-a cutting, burning pain. I cried out, and Percy turned around as I fell to the ground. Ethan Nakamura, otherwise known as my stabber, stood over me, holding his knife, which was dirty with my blood. Percy slammed Ethan in the face with the hilt of Riptide, and made a nice dent in Ethan's helmet.

"Get back!" Percy yelled, driving the other demigods back by swinging Riptide in a huge, deadly arc. "No one touches her!"

"Interesting," Luke said. No, wait, he was Kronos now. He came closer, towering above Percy and me. "Bravely fought, Percy Jackson," he said. "But it's time to surrender…or the girl dies."

I couldn't let Percy surrender just because of me. "Percy, don't," I groaned, in so much pain I could barely talk.

Percy yelled, "Blackjack!"

Blackjack instantly swooped down, clamped his teeth on my armor straps, and soared away. Then I blacked out.

When I woke up, I was on a lounge chair on a hotel terrace. Silena Beauregard and a bunch of other demigods were standing over me, looking worried.

"Annabeth! Thank goodness you're awake!" someone said. "Percy's on his way with a healer. Annabeth? Can you hear me?"

I nodded, in too much pain to respond. I could feel blankets covering me, but I shivered. My face was beaded with sweat. This was not good.

All of a sudden, Percy ran onto the terrace with Will Solace from the Apollo cabin.

"Annabeth…" Percy said. I could tell how worried he was.

"Poison on the dagger," I muttered. "Pretty stupid of me, huh?"

Will Solace let out a relieved breath. "It's not so bad, Annabeth. A few more minutes and we would've been in trouble, but the venom hasn't gotten past the shoulder yet. Just lie still. Somebody hand me the nectar."

Percy handed him a flask, and Will started cleaning out the wound. Percy let me grip his hand to help with the pain. The nectar almost doubled the original pain of the stab wound. I was squeezing Percy's hand so tightly that his fingers turned purple. I felt bad, but the pain was too intense to stand without squeezing his hand. "Ow," I said. "Ow, ow!" Silena murmured encouragement while Will put salve on the wounds and hummed a hymn to Apollo. Finally, he put fresh bandages on and stood up.

"That should do it," he said. "But we're going to need some mortal supplies.

He grabbed paper, quickly wrote something, and handed it to one of my siblings. "Theres a Duane Reade on Fifth. Normally I would never steal-"

Travis Stoll cut him off. "I would."

Will glared at him. "Leave cas or drachmas to pay, whatever you've got, but this is an emergency. I've got a feeling we're going to have a lot more people to treat."

"Come on, guys," Travis said. "We've got a drugstore to raid…I mean, visit."

They left and Jake Mason told us that he was using my shield to keep an eye on things, the enemy (for unknown reasons) withdrew at sunset, and there was a lookout and each bridge and tunnel. Then he left, leaving Silena, Percy, and me alone.

Silena pressed a cool cloth on my forehead. It felt good. "This is all my fault," she said.

"No," I said faintly. "Silena, how is it your fault?"

"I've never been any good at camp," she muttered. "Not like you or Percy. If I was a better fighter…" she trailed off.

Since Beckendorf died, she'd been getting more like this. I felt bad, but I didn't know what I could do. I hate that feeling.

"You're a great camper," Percy told her. "You're the best pegasus rider we have. And you get along with people. Believe me, anyone who can make friends with Clarisse has talent."

Silena looked at Percy with the expression of someone who'd just had an idea. She explained that she wanted to take a pegasus back to camp to try to persuade Clarisse to fight (again).

Percy and I exchanged looks. I nodded slightly. I could tell Percy wasn't thrilled with the idea, but I thought it could work.

"All right," he finally told her. "I can't think of anyone better to try."

Silena gave Percy a hug, then pushed back awkwardly, glancing at me. "Um, sorry. Thank you, Percy! I won't let you down!"

After she left, Percy knelt next to me and felt my forehead. All of a sudden, I realized how sweet he was. "You're cute when you're worried," I muttered. "Your eyebrows get all scrunched together."

"You are not going to die while I owe you a favor," he replied. "Why did you take that knife?"

"You would've done the same for me." We both knew it was true. "How did you know?" he asked.

"Know what?" I replied, confused.

Percy looked around, making sure we were alone. Then he leaned close to me and whispered, "my Achilles spot. If you hadn't taken that knife, I would've died."

I stared into the distance. How had I known Percy was in danger? I couldn't remember; it had happened so quickly. "I don't know, Percy. I just had this feeling you were in danger. Where…where is the spot?"

I knew he wasn't supposed to tell me, but I hoped he knew he could trust me. I would never tell anyone.

Finally, he said, "The small of my back."

I lifted my hand to find it. "Where? Here?"

He moved my fingers to the only spot where he was vulnerable. Only he and I knew where it was. It was our secret.

"You saved me," Percy said. "Thanks."

I took my hand off his back, but he kept holding it, which was totally fine with me.

"So you owe me," I said, worn out. "What else is new? After a few minutes, I said, "You asked me why Hermes was mad at me."

"Hey, you need to rest-" he started, but I cut him off.

"No, I want to tell you. It's been bothering me for a long time," I said, flexing my shoulder and wincing. "Last year, Luke came to see me in San Francisco."

"In person?" Percy was shocked. "He came to your house?"

"This was before we went into the Labyrinth, before…" I stopped. We both knew what I had been about to say, but I just couldn't bring myself to say that Luke became Kronos. At least, not yet. I continued, "He came under a flag of truce. He said he only wanted five minutes to talk. He looked scared, Percy. He said Kronos was going to use him to take over the world. He said he wanted to run away, like the old days. He wanted me to come with him."

"But you didn't trust him."

"Of course not. I thought it was a trick. Plus…well, a lot of things had changed since the old days." What I really meant was that I couldn't just leave Percy behind, but I didn't have the nerve to say that. "I told Luke there was no way. He got mad. He said…he said I might as well fight him right there, because it was the last chance I'd get," I finished, my forehead starting to sweat again.

"It's okay," Percy said, obviously concerned. "Try to get some rest."

"You don't understand, Percy," I replied. "Hermes was right. Maybe if I'd gone with him, I could've changed his mind. Or-or I had a knife. Luke was unarmed." I hated myself for even thinking what I was going to say next. "I could've-"

"Killed him?" Percy asked. "You know that wouldn't have been right."

I closed my eyes tightly. "Luke said Kronos would use him as a stepping stone. Those were his exact words. Kronos would use Luke, and become even more powerful."

"He did that. He possessed Luke's body."

"But what if Luke's body is only a transition? What if Kronos had a plan to become even more powerful? I could've stopped him. The war is my fault."

A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review if you can!