"The hottest love has the coldest end."

~Socrates~

BC 469-399, Greek Philosopher of Athens

1

Should I tell her? This had been such a touchy subject since she'd kissed me under Mt. St. Helens… we barely talked about liking each other, but… surely she had to be thinking the same thing, right? That we needed to talk about this… that it wasn't over…

I sat on the beach, waiting. I'd left her a note under her pillow-I'd snuck into the Athena cabin on the way back from grabbing Riptide for class-I'd "forgotten" my sword. (I needed to get to the Athena cabin when no one was there.)

The note had started and ended sweetly, but she just left me at a loss for words, so my super-long rambling had turned into:

Annabeth-

Meet me on the beach as soon as your whole cabin is asleep. The harpies will be distracted-trust me.

-Seaweed Brain

I was wearing my favorite jeans and a bright orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt… I was not good with clothes. I'd made the mistake of telling Tyson about tonight-but who else would be able to distract the harpies?-and he'd told the Stoll brothers… eventually it got around to Silena Beauregard. So I'd been shuffled to the Aphrodite cabin at arrow-point, and they'd tried to smooth out my hair and all sorts of other junk… but I threw a fake snake on the floor and they screamed and scattered, so I got out of there pretty quickly. I thought Silena might be stalking me though. I'd gone to take a shower, just in case they'd put ANYTHING in my hair. They had.

I looked out at the ocean to calm my heartbeat and sighed. The ocean was breathtakingly beautiful, but I'd seen prettier.

That was when I heard the quiet shuffling of footsteps behind me-it had to be Annabeth. Tyson was playing fetch with harpies to keep them away. I turned around and there she was, as beautiful as ever-though she didn't know it, and I'd never had the guts to tell her.

"Hey Seaweed Brain," she said casually, sitting next to me on the sand. She wore jeans and a dark blue t-shirt that read something like "Demigod Official" in silver letters. The dark background with light letters was good for dyslexia, so I'm pretty sure that's what it said.

"Hey," I said, realizing how lame that sounded. I also realized we were leaning towards each other, unintentionally. I thought and realized we did that a lot-I'd never noticed, really.

"So what's up?" she asked, bewilderment in her perfect gray eyes. Oh yeah, she didn't know why she was here.

"I just felt like I really needed to talk to you… alone. I just…" I hadn't thought about what I was going to say. I was amazed I'd gotten this far. She looked into my eyes and some sort of understanding passed through us-I loved how she knew what I was thinking.

"I don't know where to start, either," she began. "But I know what you're trying to say."

I realized my gaze had shifted to the sand in front of us, then the ocean. There was a moment of silence, both of us looking out at the beach; but it didn't last long. I turned back to her dazzling eyes, and knew what I had to say. I was done with stalling.

"I love you."

She just gazed back into my eyes, and smiled. Smiled uncontrollably. "I love you, too," she said, and I knew I'd made the right choice. She leaned forward, and I leaned simultaneously, slowly. We wanted this to last forever. But I doubted it would-the lives of demigods are just to unpredictable. So it had to last while we had time. And life.

The moment her lips touched mine was like magic, and it seemed to go on forever, yet forever was not long enough. It was really an innocent enough kiss-it was just the level on which we had always been able to connect, already a very deep level, had just been deepened, and we had not even imagined that possible. But here it was, a moment we'd been waiting for forever, and forever was not enough for me. Or her. We just sat on the beach and kissed, and hugged, and when we stopped kissing we sat in silence, gazing out at the ocean. She rested her head on my chest and I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and she wrapped hers around my waist, and we sat like that for another forever that wasn't long enough.

And then thunder crashed, and wind whipped through our hair, and her grip around my waist was not just to be there but for fear, of a storm that had come as suddenly as this night to end a wholly monotonous day. The ocean suddenly churned and I couldn't hear anything over the wind and rain and sea. The beautiful stars darkened and were gone behind clouds. This was bad. Something was wrong. And I had a feeling it had to do with us.

And it did.

Soon Athena, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Ares, and Zeus were in front of us. Zeus looked bored, like he wished he weren't there, like this wasn't his problem and he couldn't believe he'd been dragged into it. Ares looked the same. Aphrodite looked appalled, like someone was threatening her very belief system. Poseidon looked calm, but slightly annoyed. Athena looked absolutely peeved.

"How dare you!!!!" Athena thundered, stomping angrily towards Annabeth and I, but somehow seeming to address Poseidon as well, and maybe Aphrodite. Zeus rolled his eyes. Ares held and angry Aphrodite back. I'd never seen Aphrodite so willing to fight for something.

And I immediately knew what was going on. I pulled Annabeth closer, tighter, and new if I let go, when I let go, it was over. My very reason for living was over. I may as well jump in that ocean and drown-if only I could.

I gazed up at Athena, in anger, defiance, fear, ADHD-inspired confidence, and Dyslexic confusion that just didn't belong. Her eyes blazed with anger-not the way Ares could, but nearly as frighteningly.

"Annabeth, you are coming with me right now," she said, stalking over and grabbing-or trying to grab-Annabeth. But I shielded her and she shied away into my body, avoiding her mother. Defensive instincts took over and I bent my body around her-I would do anything to protect her.

I had flashbacks of a conversation I'd had with her mother once, at a party when I'd danced with Annabeth. Athena had pulled me to the side, to say "I do not approve of your friendship with my daughter." I'd been crushed. I felt like she had ripped my heart out and stomped on it then and there-then sent it through a garbage disposal for good measure.

But, despite my bath in the River Styx, I couldn't shield someone from a god forever. Athena somehow in a flash of movement managed to breakthrough my hold on Annabeth, and before I knew it my face was in the sand and Annabeth was gone out from-nearly-under me.

"Annabeth, you are coming with me-"NO!" I screamed. The gods just stared at me. I stood up rebelliously and gave them a look of horror and hate. Athena shot a glare to match mine. The phrase "if looked could kill" made me turn up the hatred in my gaze. She actually looked worried for a moment, and that amazed me and boosted my confidence. She must have known, because soon her stony gaze turned harder.

"Leave them be, Athena," Poseidon said in a calm voice. His eyes were calm, but powerful, and defiant as mine. He knew she was wrong. Aphrodite spoke up next-fighting for us, fighting for love.

"Athena, I will never speak to you again if you tear these demigods apart."

Athena thought about this. "That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." Aphrodite gasped and struggled against Ares' hold again. She looked like she was going to rip Athena's head off. Aphrodite had never scared me-until now.

Athena turned away from Aphrodite, away from Poseidon, and stared at me again. "You of all people should care what is best for my daughter. The best future for her does not involve you." With that, she turned and in a flash of light was gone. I jumped at the place she'd been, but they were gone. I just lay on the sand in defeat; the other gods left me alone, except Poseidon. I lay on my stomach in the sand and let myself sink a bit. I felt like dying. I wanted to die. My life had just been taken away from me. "Annabeth," I whispered in defeat. And I'll admit it: I cried.