A/N: This is set during Son of Neptune, so beware of spoilers, especially if you haven't read the SoN preview! And thank you so much to my beta reader, bibliophile114. You are way beyond amazing. I know you have a life outside of me (seriously, I really do know, even if it doesn't seem like it!), so I can't believe you constantly make time to look over my writing and discuss insane ideas like this with me. And all without even sounding annoyed, so like I said, beyond amazing! Thank you!

Disclaimer: This is an outside-SoN story, which means the actual book hasn't been released yet. If I really owned Percy Jackson, I would have fixed that by now...

Enjoy!

"Percy? Percy? You're going to need to wake up, buddy."

Percy groaned. Waking up was just about the last thing he wanted to do right now.

He tried to say something like, "If you were really my buddy, you'd let me sleep for another ten minutes," but what actually came out was more like, "Nnnghh."

His "buddy" laughed a little. "Eloquent, kid. Must be what Annabeth sees in you."

At this, Percy's eyes flew open. Anyone who knew Annabeth was worth waking up for.

He sat up abruptly, his head whacking into the face that had been hovering over his a minute ago.

"Ow!"

Percy might have been sorry if he'd stopped to think about it, but he didn't. There was only one thing on his mind.

He cleared his throat to form actual words this time. "You know Annabeth? Where is she?"

The guy shook his head, holding his hand to his nose. "Sorry, Perce. No time. We've got to get moving. You've still got that knack for attracting the nastiest monsters in a thirty-mile radius."

Percy was about to argue that he wasn't going anywhere without answers, but between the Gorgons still chasing him and the Minotaur he'd seen earlier today, moving sounded like it might be a good idea. Besides, hadn't he been trying to lead the monsters away from Frank and Hazel? How long ago had that been? He must have fallen asleep from exhaustion, which meant he had no way of knowing. He wasn't even sure where he was; they'd been going north last time he'd checked, but he'd been a little more concerned with avoiding Gorgons than activating his inner GPS recently.

All in all, moving definitely sounded like a good idea.

That is, it did until the blond guy took the hand away from his nose, giving Percy his first good look at his face…and the scar running down its side. When he offered his hand to help Percy up, Percy scrambled backwards, trying to grab his sword while simultaneously getting to his feet.

"Whoa, Percy! Hold up!" The guy held up his hands, showing Percy he was unarmed. "I'm here to help, I swear!"

Percy took the opportunity to put Riptide between them. Something told him this dude was bad news. Like seriously bad. He was starting to wish he'd stayed asleep after all. "I don't think so. Monsters have been chasing me nonstop for months now. I'll give you points for ditching the Bargain Mart nametag, though. Dead giveaway and total fashion disaster."

"Huh?" The guy looked confused for a minute. "Oh, right, I thought I saw the Gorgons back there. You think I'm with them?" He wrinkled his nose, looking almost offended. "Because I know I've been out of the fashion loop for a few months now, but I didn't think I'd gotten that bad—"

"No," interrupted Percy seriously, refusing to let him change the subject. "I think you're much, much worse than any fashion reject."

The guy flinched and ran a hand through his short blond hair. "Okay, I deserved that. And a year ago, you would've been right. But today we don't have time to argue. I have a message for you, and in order for me to deliver that message, you have to be alive. That's just the way it works." A ghost of a smile flickered across his face. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't shoot the messenger god's son."

"I was thinking more along the lines of stabbing, actually," Percy said, not seeing what was so funny about the situation. The blond guy grinned for real this time.

"You could try," he said. "It hasn't worked too well for you in the past, though. Of course, I'm really not sure if invulnerability can survive death. Might be an interesting experiment."

He was making zero sense, and Percy didn't have time for that. "If that was a threat, it wasn't a good one. I'm not the one who's going to die here."

"No, no, I was talking about my invulnerability—" The guy shook his head. "Okay, we seriously don't have time for this. I'll make it simple for you. You want to know about Annabeth? Then you come with me and let me save your life."

Percy hesitated. Maybe his instincts were right, and he couldn't trust this guy. But if he really did know about Annabeth…

"Okay, where are we going?" Percy said, his decision made.

The guy grinned again. "Not far. I know a place."

Percy wasn't reassured. "And once we're there, you'll tell me about Annabeth?"

The guy nodded. "I promise. Although someday you might remember I'm not great with those." He smiled sadly. "I'm Luke, by the way. Follow me."

Percy nodded, trying not to feel like this was a giant mistake.

Less than an hour later, Luke had led Percy to a closed concession stand next to an abandoned public baseball field. Two seconds of fiddling with the lock, and they were safely inside. Not a moment too soon either, thought Percy, glancing back in the direction he'd last seen the Minotaur.

He wasn't too sure their current position was any better, though.

"How is locking ourselves in a building with no way out any different than standing outside with a flashing neon 'please eat us' sign?" Percy asked, watching warily as Luke casually jumped up on the counter.

"You worry too much, Perce," Luke said, grinning again. He'd been silent and serious as they were evading the monsters, but now that they were inside, Luke had done a complete one-eighty. He seemed almost carefree, which for some reason didn't feel right on him.

"I like breathing," answered Percy dryly.

"I'm a little impartial to it, myself," Luke said with a shrug. "Overrated, you know?"

"No," said Percy honestly.

"Suit yourself." Luke reached behind him to open a cupboard. "You hungry?"

Percy's stomach answered that question for him, growling loudly enough that the Minotaur had probably heard it. "Yeah, a little. Although don't you think we should keep moving…?"

"Nah, we're good. Trust me." Seeing that this wasn't making Percy feel any better, Luke relented. "Look, I used to spend quite a bit of time hiding from monsters. Every once in awhile you need a break from listening to the empousai complain about stealing each other's boyfriends. It gets old, you know?"

Once again, Percy was forced to answer honestly, "No."

Luke shrugged again. "I guess you have to be there. And then remember being there. So, what'll it be?"

Percy stared at the cupboard. It was definitely not your standard concession stand food. Even what was normal didn't make any sense; frozen ice cream was sitting right next to a box of hot Chinese food (and the Chinese food looked suspiciously like it had come from actual China). "Is that…pizza?"

Luke nodded. "Yep. Imported directly from the Big Apple itself. It's true what they say: if you want a decent pizza, you've got to invade New York City."

Percy couldn't remember ever hearing that expression before, but he let it go when Luke put a steaming pizza pie and an ice-cold can of Coca-Cola in front of him. He wasn't even in the mood to question Luke's obviously magical food storage techniques.

"Aren't you going to eat?" asked Percy through a mouthful of cheese and pepperoni, noticing Luke had made no effort to get himself anything.

"Not part of my deal, unfortunately," Luke said good-naturedly. "Unless you feel like digging a pit and doing some chanting for me?"

Percy stared at him for a minute, confused.

"Yeah, didn't think so," Luke said with a sigh. "Until then, I'll just live vicariously through you."

For a few minutes, the concession stand was silent except for the sound of Percy chewing noisily. Luke searched through the cabinets until he finally found what he was looking for: a mini TV set.

"Perfect!" he exclaimed. He expertly hooked the TV into a set of loose wires just above a cupboard of hot dog buns and started flipping channels. "I don't suppose you could give me the play-by-play of the fall season of Survivor?"

Percy didn't even know where to begin with that. "Uh, what?" He knew he hadn't been at the Roman camp long, but he couldn't remember even seeing a TV set. To be fair, Survivor did sound like the only type of show he could imagine the Romans watching.

"Yeah, I figured." Luke didn't seem too bothered. "I tried catching bits and pieces from the people waiting for a ride from Charon, but no one seemed too interested in talking."

"What's it about?" Percy asked despite himself. He'd never known his instincts to be wrong, but Luke wasn't panning out as the dangerous type so far. Even the pizza had been poison-free as far as Percy could tell.

"Oh, it's the stupidest show." Luke laughed. "They 'strand' like twenty people on an island, and then they have to do dumb challenges and vote people off, and everybody complains about how terrible it is to be stuck without food and water and shelter."

As someone who had lived without food and water and shelter, Percy didn't see what was so stupid about that. "So if it's so dumb, why do you care?"

"It's going to sound…well, dumb, but Annabeth and I used to watch it together sometimes. I had this sweet pirate TV system that we'd dust off whenever it was on, as long as we thought we could get away with it, and we'd laugh at the contestants. I mean, seriously, whining about two days with only rice to eat? Try escaping from a Cyclops lair. Am I right?"

"Uh, sure," Percy agreed, not really listening. He had suddenly remembered why he was following Luke in the first place. "So where's Annabeth now?"

Luke looked pained for a minute, but he recovered quickly. "In the mood for some cheesecake for dessert?"

Percy wouldn't let it go that easily. "Seriously, where is she?"

"No cheesecake? How about bagels?" Luke was waggling his eyebrows like he was trying to tell Percy something important, but Percy wouldn't budge.

"You said you'd tell me about her," Percy said, half-threateningly and half-desperately.

Luke winced. "I'm sorry, I really am, but I can't tell you where she is. I swear if I could, I would. Unfortunately she's in the one place you're forbidden from knowingly going."

Percy's mind raced. Had June been lying to him about seeing her again? "I can't know at all?"

"I know, it's not fair. But I'm not allowed to just tell you. So you're sure you don't want any cheesecake? Or bagels? Or more of that New York-style pizza?" Luke emphasized each food deliberately, which made him sound a little crazy. Percy was starting to wonder if he'd been cleverly kidnapped here.

"You can't tell me anything?" Percy asked, searching unsuccessfully to find another exit before Luke tried to kill him with a spork or something.

Luke sighed. "Never mind. Hey, look, ESPN's showing an interview with Alex Rodriguez. Any idea if the Yankees are playing the Mets this year?"

"I don't care," Percy managed between his clenched teeth.

Luke didn't give up. "Is basketball more your game? Do you like the Knicks? Maybe the Jets or the Giants, if you're a football fan?"

"I don't care!" Percy finally spit out, barely taking in a single word. "I just want to know about Annabeth!"

Luke rolled his eyes. "Dude, I can't do all the work here. Your one-track mind is adorable but really, really unhelpful right now."

"And you haven't told me a single thing," Percy said hotly. He rubbed a hand across his face to calm himself down. "Look, I'm sorry. But Annabeth has been the one thing keeping me going, and…" Despite himself, Percy heard his voice crack, and he hurriedly looked away.

Luke sighed again. "Okay, no more games. I'm really not allowed to tell you where she is, but I can at least tell you she's safe. She's even doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances. She misses you, of course, but she's hanging in there. Annabeth isn't the type to give up that easily."

Although Luke hadn't really said much, Percy felt relief flood him. "So why can't I know where she is?"

"It's not that you're not allowed to know. It's that I'm not allowed to tell you," Luke explained (extremely unhelpfully, in Percy's opinion). "Look, I'm here on official business. I've come with a warning, like I said. I have very specific instructions, and I'm kind of already pushing things a little here. Not that I've ever really had much respect for the rules," he added with a smirk.

"Okay, so what's the warning?" Percy asked impatiently.

"The Doors of Death are open," Luke said. "You probably don't remember, but I once sat in an arena and forced—um, I mean, watched you fight to the death."

"I think maybe it's a good thing for both of us that I don't remember that," Percy said dryly.

Luke grinned. "Good point. Anyway, your half-brother Antaeus was the one running the show, and you challenged him to a one-on-one duel. You won."

"Good for me," Percy said. It was hard to muster up enthusiasm when you couldn't remember anything about it.

"Yeah, it was pretty impressive. I can admit that now. Anyway, with the Doors of Death open, he's first in line to take a whack at you, and with his mother gaining more power by the minute, he won't go down as quietly this time. Plus he's amassing an enormous army. There was no shortage of volunteers thanks to the last Titan War. Plenty of people in Hades' realm have reason to seek their revenge on you. Death has turned them even more bitter against the gods. They no longer care which master they serve as long as they get a chance to get even."

Percy shuddered. "But why me? I didn't even fight in the war! I wasn't found until months after it'd been over!"

Luke laughed, but it wasn't happy. "You know that's not true. You knew it the minute Lupa first mentioned the war. You didn't fight in California, maybe, but you fought." He paused for a second, as if trying to decide whether or not to add anything else. He must have decided it was worth it, because finally he said, "You fought me."

"So that's why I thought you were a monster," Percy said, realization dawning on him. "But you haven't tried to kill me yet."

"Not this time around, at least," Luke agreed. "I had a change of heart. Last minute type of thing. This would be a lot easier if you could remember me at all, you know," he said with a raised eyebrow.

Percy considered rolling his eyes and making some snide remark about how much easier a lot of things would be if he could remember them, but he didn't. It wasn't the kind of thing you said to the guy who'd just turned out to be an old enemy of yours.

Luke kept talking. "I made some bad choices, Percy, but I thought I'd made up for them. Gone out in a blaze of glory, you know, saving the world."

Percy interrupted him suddenly. "You died? But how—"

"Doors of Death opened? Dead people popping up all over the U.S.? Ringing any bells?" Luke teased. He sounded pretty upbeat for a guy who was supposed to be dead. "Anyway, the war left a bunch of people dead, not just me. Hades is still trying to sort through the backlog. My trial hasn't come up yet."

"Why not?" asked Percy despite himself. If Luke really had saved the world, he probably deserved to be bumped up in the line a little.

"Well, do you remember Nico?" Luke asked.

Percy shook his head. He tried to ignore the familiar stab of disappointment that always came with realizing he didn't know something he should.

Luke didn't seem bothered, though. "He's Hades' son," he explained. "Apparently he had a sister, and she was Hades' favorite child. She died on a mission to rescue the goddess Artemis. I guess Hades recognizes I saved the world and all, but he's not too eager to forgive me for the part I played in his daughter's death."

"What, like you ordered someone to kill her or something?" Percy asked skeptically. He had to force himself not to laugh. This guy might have been playing for the wrong side, but he hardly seemed like the kind of person who went around ordering people's deaths.

Luke stared hard at him for a full minute, and this time Percy had to force himself not to squirm.

"Why do you think you were so ready to run me through with your sword earlier, Percy?" Luke said at last. "Why do you think looking at my face was enough to make you instinctively want to kill me?"

"I tend to assume most things want to kill me these days," Percy said with a shrug. "It saves a lot of time."

Luke's serious expression twitched slightly. "You make it really hard to wallow in self-pity, you know."

Percy shrugged again. "Sorry. Have you lost your entire memory recently?"

Luke grinned. "Maybe soon, if Hades' trial goes my way. I'm aiming for rebirth."

"What, so you can go through all this again?" Percy gestured around him, shaking his head. "Whatever, man. Your choice. So you think Hades will forgive you for his daughter's death?"

"Who knows? I don't think Hades really forgives anything," Luke answered wryly. "But I'm here now to try to make up for it a little more by letting you know about Antaeus. Hades likes you."

"Really?" asked Percy, surprised.

"Well, no," Luke admitted with a grin. "Nico likes you. Okay, I'm not even sure about that; I assume Nico likes you. But Annabeth definitely likes you, and for some reason Nico listens to Annabeth, and Hades listens to Nico. So Hades released me for a few hours to come say hi and tell you not to die, then it's back to the Underworld for me. You think emo kids are depressing? Try dead emo kids."

"Sounds like you're getting a vacation from death to me," Percy commented. "Remind me to do more favors for Hades."

Luke frowned. "Spoken like a true member of the living. It's the worst kind of torture, knowing what's waiting for you after your time is up again. I don't even get to eat. Not to mention Hades had to give me solid form so I could protect you, which means I can still feel pain. Not exactly my idea of a good time."

"So why do it?" Percy asked.

"Like I said, I'm trying to boost my résumé. Nico's been pulling some strings with his dad to put off my trial for awhile. I'm glad I finally got a chance to do something with it." Luke smiled softly. "When you see Nico again, tell him I said thanks for that, by the way. He's a good kid."

Percy nodded, feeling awkward. "Uh, sure. No problem." He only hoped he'd recognize this Nico guy when he saw him. For all Percy knew, he'd been passing the son of Hades every day for the past couple months.

"Anyway," said Luke, suddenly all business, "my time's about up here. Don't you have a quest to complete so you can see Annabeth again and go skipping together hand-in-hand through fields of strawberries or something?"

"Do we really do things like that?" Percy said, trying not to sound too alarmed.

"I try not to think about what you two do together, Percy," Luke said seriously, starting to pack up the TV and erase any traces they'd been there. "I consider myself Annabeth's older brother. As far as I'm concerned, your relationship is strictly G-rated. Nothing but skipping through fields holding hands."

Percy grinned. "If that makes you feel better."

"Oh, no you don't," Luke said, waggling a finger at him. "You said yourself you don't remember anything, so don't go trying to freak me out now."

As he watched Luke clean, Percy said impulsively, "I'm sorry I had to fight you during the war." Luke stopped shoving the pizza box in a trash can to stare at him, surprised. "I mean, you don't seem like a bad person or anything. I think we could've been really good friends."

Luke's face softened. "Thanks, Percy," he said sincerely. "That means more to me than you'll probably ever know. And for what it's worth, I'm sorry for spending three years trying to kill you too."

"Three years?" Percy felt his jaw drop. "Never mind. I take it back."

Luke laughed and reached out to tousle Percy's hair. Percy scowled. "Come on, kid. Time to get you back to that quest of yours. I don't want to have to face Annabeth in the afterlife if she hears I kept you a minute longer than necessary."

"Can't you go talk to her yourself now that you're, you know, back?" Percy asked, trying not to sound too hopeful. If Luke could tell Annabeth where he was…

"Sorry, Perce," Luke said apologetically, catching his expression. "Believe me, if I could, I would. But my orders are to help you. I only have a few more minutes, and you're going to need my sword to get through those monsters outside."

Percy nodded, trying to hide his disappointment. He focused on watching Luke crouch down in front of a bottom cupboard, which was filled to the brim with gleaming weapons. Yeah, definitely not your typical concession stand supplies, unless maybe it was a concession stand at the Colosseum.

Luke grabbed a sword seemingly at random and turned back to face him.

"Look," Luke said, holding Percy's gaze firmly. "If there's one thing I know about you, it's that you are the single most stubborn guy I've ever met. The only person on this planet more stubborn than you are is Annabeth. You two will see each other again." He offered Percy a small smile. "I'll even give you permission to kiss her a little when you do. But after that, back to hand holding."

Percy smiled back. "Deal. Now are you ready to help me fight some Gorgons and a Minotaur, plus whatever other friends they've invited by now?"

Luke's smile turned into a full-blown grin. "Sure. I always wondered how we'd do on the same team."

As he went to open the door, though, he stopped to glance back at Percy. "But just to be on the safe side, let me know if you get any sudden urges to stab me in the armpit, okay?"