I decided to go back and edit everything. I realize this wasn't my best work so I used my little bit of free time to do what I promise to do months ago.

"But you'll be killed!"

"I'll be fine. Besides, we've got no choice."

Annabeth glared at me like she was going to punch me. And then she did something that surprised me even more. She kissed me.

"Be careful, Seaweed Brain." She put on her hat and vanished.

I tried to regain what was left of my brain after she vanished. Gods, I did not need that before fighting for my life. Every movie I watched lied to me. Kissing a girl before battle was bad luck. It was a death wish. Who could think after something like that?

"There!" one of them interrupted my reflection of my first kiss. Telkhines were racing from across the bridge towards me. I ran to the middle of the platform, getting dangerously close to the four elder demons causing them to drop the red-hot blade. It topped my list scariest things. It was six feet long and curved like a crescent.

They had me surrounded. I was going to die after my first kiss. The fates really did have it out for me. I couldn't even enjoy a second one, could I?

"I thought you had this planned," a voice whispered sarcastically next to me. Annabeth had come back for me. No! This wasn't happening; I had to be imagining things. I only wished she was here with me. I couldn't drag her into more danger, I mean I didn't want myself to get hurt either, but you know what I mean. But her voice did lift my spirits even if she was being sarcastic. She came back for me. She didn't plan to let me die alone. If that wasn't friendship…or whatever we had, then I don't know what is.

"I'll take that as a no," She whispered again. I felt her hand on my back and her warm, ragged breath in my ear. "Listen up; we only have a few seconds. We are going to charge through that exit," she said pointing with her voice and tilting my head slightly in one direction, "I'll make the first strike so you have a chance to follow without setting them off as fast."

"Ok," I mumbled in response, trying not to move my lips. Maybe I would survive after my first kiss. Though I was beginning to doubt I would ever get a second one from the sound of Annabeth's voice. I did lie about having a plan after all…

"What do we have here? A son of Poseidon?" one of them called.

Just as the next one opened his ugly mouth, he collapsed letting out a gruff 'humph". That was my sign to go. I leaped over him and felt Annabeth tug on my hand, "This way!" Her voice broke through the chaos surrounding me. I don't know how she managed it, but she led us back to the spider and we were on our way back to Hephaestus. Now I know why I called her Wise Girl.

"There!" a loud growl interrupted our exodus.

Oh come on! I had Riptide ready to swing and I assumed Annabeth had her knife pulled. Four Telkhines rounded the corner after us. Why couldn't we catch a break? I closed the space between a Telkhine and me and dodged some fire. A small amount grazed my arm and I grunted in pain as I barrel rolled across the ground and plunged my sword through its chest. While I was engrossed in my own battle, Annabeth took out two of them. I have to give it to Athena, that hat was a great idea. I guess she was the Goddess of Wisdom for a reason after all.

I decided to charge at the last Telkhine and not so gracefully dodged more fire. I didn't get hit this time, so I took that as a good sign. He was much easier to take down than the last. He must have decided without its buddies, he was dead meat. I just put him out of his misery and Annabeth grabbed my hand and pulled me back to the right way. What would I do without her?

…

We brought new meaning to the phrase: awkward silence. Several times, I opened my mouth, thought better of it, and then closed it again. Annabeth probably thought I looked like a fish which would only entitle her to more jokes about me being a son of Poseidon.

I was still jumbled brained after that kiss. It was amazing. She was amazing. I found myself thinking of it again and again. I shook my head. I needed to focus. But that didn't last too long. During another replay of our kiss, I tripped on a root and face planted into the ground. I didn't need to know what dirt tasted like. I groaned into the dirt and slowly pulled myself.

I stole a glance at Annabeth and saw her biting her lip and shaking from silent laughter. When she caught me staring she openly started to laugh and offered me her hand. I mumbled some more unintelligible words and accepted her extended hand. My ADHD was on overdrive. I could see every move Annabeth made, the spider moving across the ground and any small movement within ten feet of us.

"Something on your mind?" she laughed some more while pulling me up. Her grey eyes were analyzing me and I fidgeted under her gaze. Did she have to look at me like that?

"I guess you could say that," I muttered trying to stop blushing. Oh yeah, a lot was on my mind. I felt my cheeks heat up even more as I tried to stop thing about it. I couldn't decide if this was the worst trip ever or the best.

"You have something on your face," she said sarcastically. Why must she always make fun of me? I looked up to meet her eyes and found a slight blush across her face too.

"I could say the same to you," I said walking again. I noticed she didn't lose her grip on my hand. She was very smooth for a Wise Girl who spent all her time reading about buildings.

"Shut up," she turned her face away but I caught her. She was blushing even more. Not so smooth now are we Annabeth? I almost wanted to make a sarcastic remark back at her but I was sure that would lead to my demise and slow painful death.

I settled on the safe thing. "Whatever you say, Wise Girl," I grinned at her embarrassment. I still couldn't hide my embarrassment so I just settled for staring intently at the spider. I didn't remember it taking this long the other time around. The walk seemed to go on forever and our silence did nothing to assist it.

"You want to know a secret?" I finally said. This was my chance alone with Annabeth. It was my time to finally say something. This was very out of character for me, I was normal the embarrassing, bumbling idiot (even I'll admit to that) and Annabeth was the confident one.

She glanced at me shyly and answered with a quiet, "Sure." I could see the curiosity in her face. The one way to catch her attention was to bring up something she didn't know. It was a sure way. She was naturally nosy as I would call it. She insisted she was just a driven learner.

I looked straight ahead, trying not to trip over something else and ruin my moment, "That was my first kiss." I felt my blush creep back. This was really a first for me. But I knew Annabeth and I would only become awkward with each other if we didn't settle things now. And I couldn't risk a bad relationship with Annabeth. Do you know what kind of horrible stuff she does to people she doesn't like?

I saw Annabeth tense next to me. Annabeth wasn't one to willingly deal with feelings like this. And I knew it. I just wanted to get this over with. And I figured Aphrodite must be on my side to give me the perfect moment to say something. I didn't want to get on her bad side too.

"Mine too," she admitted finally meeting my eyes, "To be honest, I was worried you kissed . . . um, someone else."

"Oh, no," I confessed blushing again. Why did I bring up this conversation? I think I really could've settled for the constant beatings and terrible comments about my intelligence. I was beginning to think that it was with good reason too. Maybe it would beat some sense into me.

"Oh." I kicked some dirt beneath my feet as I walked. 'Smooth Jackson', I thought. I was the master of awkward conversations. I should consider giving lessons to the less fortunate at camp. "Yeah, so why did you kiss me?" I asked. A flashback played through my head once again and I was suddenly on the lookout for more objects to stumble over.

"Why did you kiss me back?" she retorted sharply. I couldn't help but notice the small smile playing at her lips. I tried not to be caught staring but she really was beautiful even after a fight.

"Gee, I don't know," I said seriously, "I mean I don't even like you or anything!"

That earned me a hard punch in the arm followed by my favorite laugh. She let go of my hand and sigh, "We're here."

…..

"I see you survived," the god welcomed us by not looking up from his workbench.

"Thanks for the concern," I mumbled under my breath and was rewarded with an elbow to the ribs. Okay, I earned that one. Pissing off another god probably wasn't in my best interest.

"What did you find?" he asked. He still didn't move from his position. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. We didn't even get an 'Are you okay? I'm sure that place was full of dangerous things even I didn't want to deal with.'

"Telkhines and some crazy crescent moon shape sword thing."

"You'll have to excuse his lack of intelligence," Annabeth rolled her eyes. She shot me another glare and I got the message: shut up now. I nodded my head and rolled my eyes. I know the gods didn't tolerate insolence and immaturity and whatever else but I mean, come one, I just did a job for the dude.

He stood up awkwardly and said, "Well, I guess I owe you what I promised." He paused for a second, and told us what we needed to know, in a way. He went into a story of a princess and Annabeth seemed to be the only one following what he was saying. I just tried to nod in the appropriate places and look like I knew what was going on. I must say, it's been getting easy to do with all that practice.

"A mortal," she stated and sighed. She looked aggravated and I didn't want to question what she meant. "Percy," she said turning to me, "We need to find Rachel." My mouth hung open for a long second but I regained my composure and only nodded, completely lost by her words. Why the heck would we ever need Rachel? Annabeth hated her guts and even I could see that!

She grabbed my hand and turned to leave but Hephaestus interrupted us, "Make sure you find your Cyclops friend, he's a good one." I raised an eyebrow but just nodded. Maybe the crazy guy did have a heart. He probably made it himself.

And with that, we were off to find our two best friends and the last person I wanted to see. My last fleeting thought as we left his workshop was 'I hope Rachel doesn't ruin what I just started.' Girls.