The war was finally over, and everyone I knew were celebrating. The feasts and parties were going on, even though it had been a week since the whole thing was over. I needed a break and the only place I could think of was The Cliff that Annabeth and I had found after the whole Labyrinth experience.

It was on the other side of the forest and overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. We were on a night time stroll and before we knew it, we were on the other side of the forest looking at the sea from the edge of this magnificent cliff. We sat there talking about nothing for most of the night and eventually dozed off. When I woke up the next morning, we were in a large cave and Annabeth explained to me how the ground cracked and we fell into this cave, just below the actual cliff. Since then, we'd been going there almost every night.

Right now, most of the floor was taken up by two sleeping bags. On the right corner were Annabeth's laptop, the one she had gotten from Daedalus, her Yankees cap, a half-empty bottle of Coca-Cola, a pair of shorts and some scrunched up pieces of paper. On the left, my side, was the Minotaur horn, spare clothes, packets of Cheetos and a few cans of soda. She had even managed to decorate the walls a bit with pictures of us, we had taken using Rachel's phone - she had called them 'selfies', drawings of buildings she's designed for Olympus and a picture of our parents, both mortal and otherwise.

I walked in and lay down on the sleeping bag and propped myself against the wall, using a couple of pillows to support my back. This was where I usually come when I needed to think about things, and the thing I needed to think about now was huge: On Olympus, when Luke managed to kill Kronos, and sacrifice himself in the process, we'd all thought it was over. Only, when he'd exploded into dust or whatever, I had felt strong ... not strong like 'I can lift boulders', but strong like 'I can destroy continents in my sleep'. But with that feeling came something else too - a sense of ... evil. Yeah, that was the perfect word to describe it - evil.

I thought, and Annabeth agreed with me, that maybe a bit of him had somehow gotten into me. I could ignore it most of the time, but sometimes, the feeling of unthinkable strength and evil, along with it, would catch him off guard and I'd have to try real hard to control myself again. This was increasingly worrying me and the only solution I could think of was to well ... Self-annihilate. That would've been rather inconvenient, so we, that is Annabeth and I, decided to wait until something really bad happens and then we could deal with it. But I knew I had to tell someone, and Chiron was with the party ponies somewhere in Europe right now, so I think I'll wait. Yeah -

"Seaweed brain," said a voice - Annabeth's, "I was looking for you."

"I just need some time to myself ..." I trailed off.

"Look, don't rack yourself up about it. You'll be fine, Perce."

"I dunno," I replied.

"Let's just enjoy the sunset for now," she said, and lay next to me, "We'll figure it out."

Even though she sounded like she wasn't worried, I could see it in her face. This was something beyond both of our control and we definitely needed someone who'd help. I tried thinking of people who might. Definitely not the gods, because they would just do the annihilating bit without giving it a second thought. Not the other campers, because I didn't want them to worry, especially not now, right after we won. The only option was Chiron and he was very far right now.

"We need to talk to Chiron," I said, "He'll know what to do."

"Yeah, Seaweed brain," she replied with a yawn, "In the morning. Right now, I just wanna sleep."

"Yeah ..." I said, and pulled her closer to me. I rearranged the pillows so we were sleeping side by side, with her head on my shoulder and her arms around me. I kissed her on the forehead as she closed her eyes and fell asleep. It took me a while longer, but I too managed to fall asleep after what seemed a long time.

With the morning sun came Annabeth's voice shouting into my ear, "Wake up, Seaweed brain! We need to go before someone comes looking for us."

"Ten more minutes," I replied, groggily. I had slept late, after all.

"Oh, Percy," she said, but she did give him ten minutes during which I slept like a baby. Even though he had a small nap, he did have a good one, which was surprising as demigods usually get vivid dreams and visions. Not that I was complaining. It was a pleasant change from the everyday.

"Percy," Annabeth said.

"Alright, alright," I replied, "I'm getting up."

"Um," she hesitated, before saying, "Your dad's here ..."

That woke me up fully. My dad, Poseidon, king of the seas, in a cave with Annabeth and I, probably watched me drool in my sleep. There were questions growing in my mind, but mostly it was just shock and fear that maybe he knew about Kronos making my body his condo. Of course he knew, I could see it in his face that he wasn't just visiting for the heck of it.

"Percy," he said, "The gods ... They - we, don't think this is over yet. Kronos may not be dead."

"What do you mean, dad?"

"Well, we think that maybe, when Luke sacrificed himself, he only took away Kronos' physical body ... But his mind and soul is out there somewhere ... Probably in you." He said this slowly, as if fearing my reaction. What he didn't know was that I already knew I was harbouring a known fugitive. So I told him.

He was quiet for a long time after that, when he finally said, "Percy, there is no way to absolutely and completely kill Kronos. You have done something very remarkable, indeed and asking you to do more saddens me deeply. But I must ask it of you." He paused, and I thought this was it, my own father is going to tell me that I have to jump into a pit of lava or something, but that wasn't quite what he said, "I know of a way to rid yourself and the world of him. Percy, you need to go to the underworld ... The rivers, mix their water and it's a poison not even the eldest of titans can survive."

"Um," I said the obvious thing, "If the titans can't survive it, how am I supposed to?"

"It isn't certain, but I do believe that your, uh - bath, in the Styx along with the power of Kronos inside you, you might just make it."

I wanted to say thanks, dad. That's convincing. Now I'll go burn my insides on your say-so. But instead, I looked over at Annabeth. Her face was ashen against the brown cave walls and she looked very close to tears. I put my arm around her shoulder, saying, "Don't worry, Wise Girl, I've been through worse."

That far from relaxed her. She broke down crying and for the first time in a while, I gave a thought to how she might be feeling about all this. Annabeth could look strong and stare down gods, but even she, with all her courage and bravado needed to let things out. I wasn't sure what I could do just then to make her feel better, what with my dad watching us and all, so I just held her tighter. She turned into my shoulder and hid her face, but I could still feel her crying.

"Dad, can I think about this?" I asked.

"Of course, Percy," he replied, "This is the right thing to do, son. Right now ... right now, you maybe stronger than even Zeus, and such power won't go unnoticed for long. You must act now."

With that, he was gone.