There were two lonely figures, both dressed in orange T-shirts and jeans, one with a weapon at their side, a knife. One was male and one female, and they huddled on the bitter cold, snow-capped peak of the mountain. They seemed to be around sixteen years old, and they were talking to each other nervously.

"Percy," asked the girl, "what should we do? Luke will surely come after us, and we can't hide here for long. The weather is too unpredictable up here. We could get caught in a blizzard and be covered in a pile of snow without any means of escape. If we don't suffocate because of the snow, that is. We-" she wanted to say more, but then the boy, whom she had called Percy, cut her off.

"Calm down, Annabeth. I know it's really dangerous up here, and also if Luke finds us. I'm just as scared as you are. But we need to keep calm. If we don't, we'll die for sure. If we do, however, there is a minimal chance that we'll survive. Surely you would know that, Wise Girl. You're a daughter of Athena! You're supposed to be smart!"

"Well, no one can be smart," the girl, Annabeth, snapped back, "when they are probably going to be killed in a matter of minutes! I took that into consideration as well, unlike you did, Seaweed Brain!"

"Annabeth, Annabeth," Percy said, in a calm tone, surprising, relative to their last two dialogues with each other. "All fighting will do is slow us down and make it even more probable that we will die."

There was a long silence, then Percy heard, in a weak female voice, "But we won't . . . right?"

Percy thought for a while before he answered. "Annabeth, I'm not sure. With every quest we take, every monster we fight, every time we go down into the underworld or see the gods, we take a very large risk. I just think we have gotten so used to it that we don't realize the danger we're in until we're out of it." After a long pause, Percy was the one who finally spoke. "Except when we're in hiding and know we will probably die."

"Like now?"

"Yes, Annabeth, in times like this we really realize the full extent of our danger. But come on, we need to try and find a safe place for the night."

And the two figures, huddled together for warmth, climbed down the mountain, searching for shelter.

After hours of frenzied searching, they found a place that was even remotely acceptable to stay in for the night, and that was somewhere they thought they would be safe from their former friend, Luke, the Titan Lord, Kronos, and their army. They fixed up the broken, battered lean-to that they found there, and climbed in. The lean-to already being there should have put them on guard, but they were so tired that the only thing on their minds was the fact that they had finally found shelter.

When they had climbed in to the lean-to, and gotten settled, they started talking about battle plans, though they couldn't really plan because they would have no idea where Luke would come from for his attack.

"So," Annabeth asked, "if Luke attacks, what should we do? He has monsters, you know. They could sniff us out easily. We can't stay here for long. There is no way of predicting his attack, but there is a way to prevent him from finding us."

"And that is," Percy guessed, "doing what you already have said, moving around each night.

"Exactly," said Annabeth.

They talked some more, of just silly things, and then went to sleep.

But as they were sleeping, a familiar figure crept up to where they were sleeping, and poked his sword through the cracks in the shelter. He was about to draw it out of the crack and do something worse, but then Percy saw the glow of the sword, and, not being in a very deep sleep, woke up.

He stood up and whispered, but still being clearly angry, "Luke. Why are you here?"

"I just want to see an old friend," Luke answered. "Is that okay?"

Percy clenched his teeth, and then waited a second before answering. "No, Luke, it is not okay. It would be okay if you were an old friend, but you are not. You are not welcome with us, at Camp Half-Blood, or anywhere else, for that matter."

"Well, then, you're not making this easy for me," Luke said, and then swung his sword in a direct angle to Percy. He missed, and during that time, Percy took out his weapon, a celestial bronze sword, collapsible into a ballpoint pen. He uncapped the pen, and his sword grew out of it. He then swung at Luke, knowing he would miss. Then he held his sword up to block Luke's next attack.

While this was going on, Annabeth heard the sound of metal clashing against metal, and woke up. Unlike Percy, she was deep in sleep and was unable to shoot up like he had. After a few minutes, when she had finally woken up, she ran to the door of the shelter and ran outside.

What she saw shocked her. Luke and Percy were out there, fighting sword-on-sword.

Luke, however, had the advantage, as he could be prepared and bring a shield. Percy had no shield, and was bleeding from several wounds.

Annabeth glanced around quickly for any sign of water, but it seemed there was none. If there was, Percy could lead Luke towards it, and that might give Percy strength. That also could give him the upper hand in this battle.

It seemed Luke was alone, but, then again, you never could know where his monsters were hiding.

Annabeth ran back into the lean-to, and brought out her baggie of ambrosia. She then ran out again, and tried to throw the bag to Percy. Percy saw what she was doing, but, unfortunately, Luke did as well, and kicked the baggie out of the way before Percy could reach it.

Percy looked very beat up, and Annabeth was very worried for him.

Luke saw Annabeth's worry, and Percy's horrible state, and took one last slash at Percy.

Percy was trying hard to fight it, but the urge to black out was unavoidable. He fought and fought, but he finally was overpowered, and collapsed.

Luke saw what had happened, thought his work here was done, and walked away, saying, "I will be back, and you too will end up like your little friend there.

Annabeth ran over to Percy, just after Luke had left and she had checked that there were none of his monsters hiding around. When she got to Percy, she looked at his wounds, and checked his breathing. He was breathing, but very slowly and weakly. Annabeth wished there was an Apollo kid here. They knew all about medical things. Annabeth reached over to the side, and grabbed the baggie of ambrosia, hoping it would help. It was crushed, but it was still edible. She put the ambrosia in Percy's mouth, and imitated chewing motions, hoping the movement would, along with the ambrosia, stimulate him, and help heal his wounds. If not that, she at least hoped it would help him to wake up, or at least open his eyes, so she could talk to him. Even if it was just for a few seconds, she hoped he would wake up.

She then noticed that she knew where camp was from here. It would be good to get back to camp, especially with Percy in this state, she thought. Then, maybe Chiron, or some Apollo kid, like Michael Yew, could help. I just hope I can get there.

Carrying Percy over her shoulder, which was difficult, as climbing the rocks which the shelter was set on. Even so, she still persisted, and set off for camp.