Bring back lots of donuts. BlackJack told me as Annabeth and I walked towards a dollar store. We had been traveling for a long time and I'm sure Maurice and Blackjack needed a break. Grover and Nico still hadn't woken up, even after the ambrosia and Nectar, but Grover had been muttering "food" for the past hour so I figured he was okay. I was hoping I could say the same for Nico.

When we rounded the corner Annabeth pulled me in for a hug. It took me by surprise, but I still managed to wrap my arms around her.

Before I could enjoy the close proximity between us, or even get over the shock of it, she told me the reason behind the hug. "Don't look. We're being followed." As if she had known me for years, she put her hands in my hair and held my head down so I couldn't look. "I said don't look, Percy." I gave a nervous chuckle and muttered an apology.

"How long have they been following us?" I whispered. I figured we had about ten more seconds before whoever was following us got suspicious of the seemingly long hug, not that I was complaining or anything.

"They were flying, too. It's been about a half an hour." She replied. I nodded and stepped away. We went into The Dollar Tree and started browsing. I wasn't sure what we were really looking for. Snacks, drinks, maybe another pair of clothes. I grabbed two boxes of donuts, a bottle of cherry coke, a bag of fritos for Nico, and a bag of garden salsa sun chips for Grover. While walking to pay for the stuff I bumped into someone. I stumbled and she fell onto the floor.

"Sorry." I said as I offered her a hand. She accepted and I pulled her up. She had dark brown eyes and glossy black hair that was in a long single braid. She was a little shorter than me, but looked the same age, nonetheless.

She stared for a while before whispering,"You must be him."

I thought I might've heard her wrong. "Huh?"

"Uhmm.. nothing. Thanks." She responded before quickly walking away. Weird. I picked up the bag of chips I had dropped and went to pay. Annabeth was already waiting at the door, so I payed for my stuff and joined her.

"What did that girl say?" She asked as we walked out of the store.

"Nothing, actually. She was pretty weird. Why?"

"Her and that boy are the ones following us." She whispered as the the girl and a boy came out of the doors. Honestly, they would make terrible spies, they weren't being very discreet about following us. I'll admit the boy was handsome, with cropped blond hair and bright sky blue eyes. He looked about an inch taller than me, with an athletic build and tanned arms. Although, I had the same build as him, he looked a lot more experienced than I was. If they were enemies like the twins I wasn't sure I would be able to beat them as easily.

We reached Blackjack and Maurice and they were exactly as we left them.

Did you get some donuts, boss? Blackjack asked as we approached them.

"Uh, yeah, I got the donuts, Blackjack." I answered.

"You got the donuts for the horses?" Annabeth questioned.

"Yeah. They need to eat, too, ya know." I opened the boxes of donuts and placed them on the ground, not really knowing what to do. "I hope you guys didn't want a certain type of donuts." I said awkwardly as they dug in.

"This is too weird." Annabeth said as she walked over to where we layed Nico and Grover.

"Yeah, I know." I agreed as I sat next to Grover. Since he was muttering about food, hopefully the smell of his favorite chips would bring him out of this coma like state. Before I could get the bag open, though, there was a low menacing growl. Very slowly, both, Annabeth and I stood up and turned around. I didn't know which one of us was more scared. There was a huge black dog, with eyes glowing the color of fire, and large fangs. Before either one of us could do anything, it pounced. The thing landed on top of me, bringing me to the ground, and immediately started cutting through my chest like it was paper. I could feel the pain of it's claws going deeper and deeper with each swipe of its paw. I knew I was done for.

Only two lines of the prophecy came to mind while I was being ripped to shreds. You shall see death to succeed in the end and You shall find help when it is needed most. This couldn't be the end, we had barely started.

You shall find help when it is needed most. Who could help me from this?

And even though I was close to death, I was aware of everything. The screams of Annabeth, the worried voices of Blackjack and Maurice in my head, the blood leaking out of me and spreading onto the ground, and the footsteps. How I heard it through all that is a mystery to me, but I heard it, regardless of my surroundings.

You shall find help when it is needed most. I was hoping those lines were true more and more as the footsteps grew louder and louder.

Maybe I had lost too much blood or maybe the beast had finally did what it came to do. All I know is my eyes closed way before the footsteps reached us.