Same Mistakes

I didn't have any weapons on me. Even though it was decided I was no longer a prisoner, someone convinced Luke to keep my weapons. I didn't know where they were—I'd checked the admiralty suite already. That didn't matter to me right now, though, I was focused on finding Luke. Still, I was wounded, so I had to be more careful.

I took a deep breath before opening the door and stepping outside. There was no one in the hallways, but I hadn't expected there to be. Ever since Percy had gotten away with the Golden Fleece (I'd learned later), things had changed on this ship. Kronos seemed to be working harder and harder to achieve his goal. We gathered more and more monsters and angry demigods every day. Some were mere kids and I hated seeing them so angry so young.

Now the ship swarmed with those demigods and monsters. I don't know where the zombie passengers had disappeared to, but if I thought about it too much my stomach rolled and I felt sick.

Anyway, I started down one of the halls. I'd come to know this ship well, I no longer needed the YOU ARE HERE signs to navigate my way around. I wasn't sure what I was looking for, someone who knew where Luke was, I supposed, but I didn't know who that'd be either.

My best bet was to start with a monster and work my way up from there.

I waited at a crossroads as a hellhound plodded past. Preferably, I'd want a monster that could talk. I watched as it turned down another corner before continuing on, on the lookout for possibly a dracaena. I wasn't sure that I'd gotten over my irrational fear of hellhounds, but I'd been around them so much I was better able to suppress it.

When I found a dracaena, who was decked out in armor with a spear and weighted net, because I didn't have a weapon to threaten her with, I did the next best thing. I ran up next to her and put my arm out in her path, pressing my palm against the wall.

She stopped short, hissing, her snake-eyes turning to glare at me.

"Hi," I said with a smile. "I'm looking for Luke. Do you happen to know where he might be?"

Her eyes narrowed. "You know the rulesssss, demigod," she hissed. The snake-woman tried to continue forward, but I didn't budge. In fact, I stepped in front of her, completely blocking her path with my whole body.

Instead of saying anything she wielded her spear. It was a good thing I was anticipating an attack. I quickly veered away and leaned back to avoid getting my neck sliced open. I could feel pain blossom in my side, but I ignored it. So much for being careful.

I thought for sure she was going to throw the weighted net at me, but she didn't. She gripped it in her hand as she slashed and stabbed at me. I kept some of my focus on the net, but most of it was trying to dodge her spear and not aggravate my wound more.

"You know, you'll be in big trouble if you kill me," I told her, ducking as her spear sailed over my head.

"Orderssss are orderssss," she responded, jabbing at me again. I leaped back.

"What orders?" I was incredulous that there would still be attempts at my life after everything that happened.

"You ask about Luke, you get taught a lesssson," the snake-woman answered about as vaguely as possible, stabbing at me again. Only, this time, I grabbed the shaft of the spear, like the time I'd grabbed Clarisse's spear. Before the dracaena could react to this, I pushed the shaft with all my might and jabbed her with the butt of the spear in the stomach. Her hand slipped and I spun the spear in my hands, so I was pointing it at her now.

I had a moment of triumph, feeling good that I'd finally put my training to good use, but was humbled quickly when I was reminded that she had a weighted net.

She didn't throw it at me, but she snapped it much like a whip, painfully catching one of my ankles. The hallways blurred as I fell, spear still in hand. My vision blacked for a moment and when my eyes cleared, the dracaena was standing over me with a dagger I hadn't seen on her earlier.

As she raised it, I sat up slightly and stabbed the spear at her, blindly, hoping I'd hit a chink in her armor. I watched, taking in a deep breath and letting it out, as she froze before bursting into sulfurous dust. I flinched as her dagger tumbled from the air, but thankfully it landed next to my leg. As the adrenaline rush slowly faded, I lowered my arm and slumped back down to the ground, closing my eyes and catching my breath.

I was starting to get really tired of these close calls. On the up side, I now had a spear and a dagger. I wasn't going to take the weighted net because I'd never worked with them before. I probably would end up getting myself tangled up in it if I tried.

I searched her pile of armor for the dagger's sheath. When I found it, I sheathed the dagger and strapped it around my waist before picking the spear back up. My side protested as I started walking, but I gritted my teeth and pushed through the pain. It was a good thing I left with a baggie of ambrosia in one pocket and another roll of bandages in the other pocket. But those were both for after I found Luke.

I navigated my way through the halls, on the lookout for someone I could interrogate.

Instead of another dracaena, however, I came across a familiar face. Someone I'd trained with before, someone I'd seen at camp for as long as I could remember. It was always jolting to see him here. Demigods I didn't know was saddening, demigods from Camp Half-Blood was worse.

Even so, maybe he'd know where Luke was. I ditched my spear because I was afraid that he'd think the wrong thing if I approached him with a weapon out before getting his attention.

"Chris," I called (yes, the same Chris from the Hermes cabin; the same Chris I'd stood next to during the capture the flag game I was electrocuted), for I had turned down the hallway he'd been heading down, too. He jumped and turned around, eyes wide. He wasn't decked out in armor as the dracaena had been, but he did have his sword on him.

"Hey, Tori," he greeted as I jogged up to him (I would later decide that was not a good idea for my side). We continued walking down the hall. "What's up? I don't see you around often."

"Yeah, well…decided to take a stroll," I shrugged. "I actually wanted to ask you something." I said, looking over at him, watching his movements carefully.

"What's that?"

"How would you react if I told you I was looking for Luke?" I asked. It was at this point I was glad he was a right hander. As I thought he would, he reached for his sword, but because I was anticipating this, I angled myself toward him and reached for his sword, too, with my left hand as I hooked my foot against his ankle. As I pulled his leg out from underneath him, I grasped the hilt of Chris's sword and it slid out of its sheath easily as he fell.

As soon as his back had hit the floor, I pointed the tip of his sword under his chin. He glared up at me, his mouth set in a deep frown.

"Was that really necessary?" he asked.

"I was acting out of self-defense," I protested a little mockingly. "Don't you think it's a little contradictory that you've been ordered to attack me if I want to know what Luke is up to, but if you kill me—which is a highly likely possibility—Luke won't help Kronos anymore?"

"Hey, I just take the orders, I don't question them," Chris defended, holding up his hands in an "I surrender" gesture as he shrugged.

I watched him carefully for a few moments to decide if he had other weapons on him before taking a few steps back, pulling the sword away from his throat. I turned the sword around in my hand.

"I like this sword," I said, testing the balance. It wasn't too bad. I preferred my sword, but this would have to do for now, until I could get my own weapons back. "I think I'll keep it." I turned my eyes back to Chris, who'd stood up at this point. "So, Luke?"

"If I'm killed for this, I blame you," he said after a moment. "And I'm only telling you this because I like you."

"I'm touched," I commented.

Chris rolled his eyes. "No one else but that empousa is allowed where Luke goes these days. What's her name? Cory? Kathy…?"

"…Kelli," I managed through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, Kelli, that's the name." His eyes went back to me and he seemed to realize something. "Oh, yeah…I heard about what happened." His eyes flickered to my left side. "Maybe I shouldn't have brought it up—"

I waved my hand, meaning for it to be a passive gesture, but forgot I still had a sword in it and ended up making Chris jump a mile before taking a step back.

I took a deep breath. "It's fine," I half-growled. "I mean, she only stabbed me. With my own weapon." My grip tightened on my new sword with every word. Chris swallowed nervously and took another step back. "Do you know where I can find her, by chance?"

His eyes went from my hand to my face and he blinked rapidly. "What? Oh, uh, yeah, you're lucky day actually. I saw her just a bit ago out on the fiesta deck, speaking with some other monsters. I mean, she might still be there—"

Chris broke off as I started to turn away, switching the sword into my right hand.

"Thanks!" I called over my shoulder before turning down another hallway, heading for the fiesta deck.

My side was really starting to bother me now, but I let my anger fuel me. I was anticipating the day I'd finally be able to kill Kelli, if that day ever even came. I could definitely imagine it, though, how satisfying it would be to finally dust her. I wanted to see how much she liked being stabbed.

I was elated to find that she was still chatting with some monsters on the fiesta deck when I arrived. I didn't even wait to think of a plan in case they attacked, I simply barged in on their meeting.

"Oh, Kelli!" I called, pulling my dagger from its sheath. All the monsters—there were four, including Kelli—turned to look at me. I went straight for the she-demon, hooking my foot at her ankle and tripping her before she realized what was going on. I straddled her, not bothering to pin her arms, and leaned in close, pressing my arm up against her neck, resting the dagger's point on the floor of the deck, but poised, ready to turn her to dust if she made the wrong move.

I looked at the other monsters over my shoulder and quickly held out my sword, keeping them a good distance away.

"I would leave now," I warned them, "unless you want to take a one-way trip down to Tartarus."

They had their weapons drawn, but were looking at my sword warily. I was glad I'd made the reputation of a good fighter on this ship or this wouldn't have worked as well as it had.

Finally, they started to shuffle away, still gripping their own weapons and glaring at me murderously, but still headed away. Once they were gone, I turned my attention back to Kelli.

"Luke: take me to him," I ordered.

She sneered. "You know the rules, half-blood. You ask about Luke—"

I turned and lifted my sword in time to block an attack. I stood to face the dracaena, bringing my sword back and slicing her head clean off before spinning back around and pointing my sword at Kelli's throat right as she was about to lunge at me.

"I'm taught a lesson," I finished, pressing the tip to the base of her throat, between her collar bones. "I know. Where do you think I got these handy weapons?"

"I could just kill you, you know? Coming to me was a big, stupid mistake," she growled, hands balling into fists.

I smiled as I sheathed my dagger again. "You know, I've actually been thinking about that. I pointed something out to another demigod a little bit ago—actually he was so generous to lend me his sword—that you've been ordered to attack me if I go inquiring about Luke, but if I were to die, you wouldn't have him anymore.

"And, you know, I just think that's so strange. Why would you risk so much to keep me from knowing what Kronos is up to? So here's what I came up with, me and Kronos, we're at a stalemate. He can't kill me without losing an important piece of this game, but I can't stop him unless one of you guys kills me—"

"So what's your point?" Kelli spat.

I grinned. "You can't kill me. Not without angering your powerful, titan lord. You may be stronger than your sisters, Kelli, but I have a feeling Kronos wouldn't be opposed to sending you back to Tartarus for setting him back so severely, it might be decades before he can reform again. Plenty of time to disband this ship, destroy that golden coffin, and stop him for even longer than decades." I paused to let that sink in. "So, take me to Luke, or you'll be taking an early trip back home."

I'd been so busy being angry at and attacking Kelli I hadn't realized that the ship had been docked on a shore that was at the base of a large mountain. Mount Tamalpais, to be exact, in California, near San Francisco, a place we were told to never go because it was much too dangerous for demigods.

Now, here I was standing on it, in the midst of reforming ruins of what looked to be a palace of some kind.

"Mount Orthrys," Kelli said suddenly, making me jump. "It's reforming, with the titans growing stronger."

I was panting and my side was throbbing painfully by the time we got to our destination. It looked like a room, but because this was still reforming, it was half-finished. No walls, no ceiling, just pitch black pillars, raised up on a large platform. That was the only reason I could tell it was a room, because of the pillars and the platform, about half the size of a football stadium.

Because there were no walls, I could see inside. I recognized Luke instantly, but the person he was talking to, I didn't. He was dressed in an awfully fancy suit for being on a mountain. He had a tall and very muscular physique. His skin was a light brown and his hair was dark, slicked back. He had broad shoulders with hands the size of baseball mitts. His back was to me, so I couldn't see his face, but I didn't know if I wanted to. This guy gave off a powerful, terrifying vibe.

Kelli turned toward me.

"Wait here," she instructed in a cold voice, her eyes as hard a rubies.

I leaned on the sword, using it like a walking stick. "No problem." I muttered as she walked inside. I watched her go up to the tall guy and Luke. She turned slightly and pointed at me, saying something else. Luke looked startled to see me here, the other man looked intrigued, annoyed and angry at the same time. I wasn't sure what that was about, but I moved my eyes back to Luke, who was still gazing at me, but worriedly now.

I wasn't sure if it was because I looked beat or because of the big, scary dude he was standing next to. Luke jumped suddenly, his eyes going back to the big, scary dude. I figured he must be speaking. After a moment, the worry from Luke's eyes and face cleared and he nodded once.

With that, the big, scary dude and Kelli turned and headed in my direction. I was right when I said I didn't want to see his face. It was brutal and hard, set in a permanent scowl. His eyes were like stone, cold and hard with a rough, mean look in them.

I shuffled to the side, allowing them as much room as possible. I kept my gaze on the ground as they passed, but I could feel the big, scary dude's eyes on me. Still, I didn't look up until I saw them a good distance away in my peripherals.

I turned to look for Luke, who was still standing where he'd last been. I started forward, into the room. I was slow because I was in pain, but Luke closed the distance between us much faster.

"What are you doing?" he asked concern coloring his voice as he reached up to put a hand on my shoulder and caress my face.

"You're really bad at this 'Good to see you thing' thing," I replied, taking a step toward him and leaning into him, making sure to keep the tip of the sword pointed at the ground. He put his arms around me and I closed my eyes, breathing in his scent, marveling at his warmth. We hadn't seen each other in what felt like a long time.

"They could've killed you," he said quietly, rubbing my back.

I chuckled airily. "I found a loophole," I whispered, the pain really getting to me now. Luke pulled back slightly, holding me up by putting his hands on either side of my upper forearms. He examined me for a long moment before he gently lifted my shirt to look at my wound. Blood had soaked through the bandages, so much so I was surprised it hadn't soaked through my shirt yet.

"Tori—" he started, eyes going back to me.

"It's okay," I interrupted, pulling away from him and reaching into my pockets to grab my ambrosia and the roll of bandages with my free hand. "I came prepared."

Luke let out a shaky, weary sigh.

"I hate you," he whispered waveringly. I managed a weak smile. "Come on, I'll help you with that." He put an arm around my shoulders and led me to a black marble bench near the edge of the room. I sat down on the edge, leaned the sword next to me up against the bench, and rolled up my shirt (wasn't going to take it off with everything so open; not going to take that chance), so Luke could get at the bandages. Meanwhile, I nibbled on the ambrosia I'd brought, making sure not to take too much. We were both silent for the time it took Luke to unravel my old bandages and ravel the new ones on. When he was finished, he sat down next to me, taking my hand into his.

"Do you know who I was talking to?" he asked, breaking the silence. I looked over at him.

"Five minutes?" I asked softly. He squeezed my hand.

"Of course," he answered, dropping my hand so he could wrap his arm around my shoulders and pull me closer to him. I leaned into him again and breathed in his comforting scent. He was much warmer than I was, and I wasn't sure if it was because I just naturally had low body temperature, or because I'd worked my body past the limit I should have, seeing as I had a pretty bad, gaping wound in my side, or if it was because we were outside on a mountain.

Nonetheless, I shifted closer to him, resting my head on his shoulder, huddling as close to him as I could. He put his arms around me, gently rubbing my arm, feeling how close I was, probably. I listened to his even breathing, it was relaxing and calming.

The ambrosia had helped, but there was only so much that it could do. For example, it couldn't heal souls. Every day since Kelli had stabbed me, I felt like the essence of me was slowly slipping away. I grew weaker and more lethargic, I tired easily, and moving was a task just because of my open wound. I couldn't understand why it wouldn't heal; no matter the healing powers or nectar and ambrosia I ingested, it remained open and sore. It didn't grow larger or bleed a whole lot, but if I aggravated it, it would bleed.

Even if I did manage to heal my wound, I didn't know what it was going to take to heal my soul. I was at a loss and I had a bad feeling that was only making things worse.

Being with Luke again felt nice. I didn't feel like I was slipping away as much, but being with him also reminded me of our situation, of the stalemate that cropped up between me the titan lord, with Luke caught in crossfire.

About half-way through our five minutes, Luke stopped rubbing my arm and moved his hand to caress my face, tilting it up so I could meet his eyes, so we could kiss. His lips were rough, and his hands were calloused, but he was always so gentle with me, and more recently, careful like I was made of glass.

He reminded me a lot of the saying, "Diamond in the rough" just with the circumstances surrounding him and the mistakes he'd made throughout his life. I didn't agree with his allegiance to Kronos, but I couldn't abandon him, not like his father. I just couldn't.

When we finally pulled away, we were both breathing heavily. Our five minutes were up. It was back to being demigods.

I carefully put an inch or two between him and me, but took his hand in mine.

"Who were you talking to?" I asked, looking down at her entwined hands.

"Atlas," he answered. My eyes flew up to him to see if he was joking. Of course, you couldn't really joke about something like that, but it still shocked me. It made sense to me now that I'd find a titan's appearance brutal and scary. Especially a scorned titan who's had to hold up the sky for eternity.

"You mean Atlas, like the titan who holds up the sky Atlas?" I asked anyway to just hear him say it out loud, make it more true for me.

"Yes," Luke confirmed.

"If he's free then who—?" I started to ask just as something Percy told me echoed through my head, He got her to take some…some heavy burden for him. Luke had taken it from Atlas, who then got Annabeth to take it from him, which lured Artemis to take the burden from her. Annabeth had held up the sky! No wonder Percy was worried about her, though it didn't sound like he knew that's what she'd held.

"Artemis," Luke said, answering my question. He was looking at me, gauging my reactions.

"The goddess, Artemis," I whispered, unnecessarily. Luke nodded, gripping my hand a little tighter.

"Why does it matter who you were talking to?" I questioned, switching topics for a moment.

"He could've killed you," he said, gripping my hand even tighter. "You interrupted us during an important meeting and he could've killed you." Luke didn't sound angry, he sounded worried and scared, but I couldn't be completely sure.

I moved a little closer to him.

"He wouldn't have," I tried to assure him.

"How can you be so sure?" he whispered.

"If I'm dead, Kronos doesn't have you. Atlas wouldn't risk that," I explained in my own hoarse whisper.

Some anger blossomed in Luke's features. "You don't know that. Atlas is a titan too and Kronos hasn't even reformed fully yet." He let go of my hand and stood up, agitated now. "You could've died, Tori." He turned to face me again. He was still angry, but beneath that was what he was trying to hide and it was the panic and fear that I'd seen when we spoke about when I was stabbed and had almost died.

I struggled to stand, my right hand going up to my left side instinctively to hold it. Luke instantly came forward to balance me. I leaned into him, holding onto his shoulder.

"But you're not that stubborn, or reckless," he continued in a softer voice. "You wouldn't have aggravated your wound just to spend five minutes with me."

"Not that stubborn?" I repeated. "You're hilarious." I stated dryly. "And lucky you're cute."

Some of the anger and fear dissipated as Luke leaned forward to kiss my forehead.

"So, then, what's bothering you?" he queried. I pulled away so I could look at him.

"Annabeth?" I asked, watching him carefully, afraid of his reaction.

Luke dropped his arms and took a step back. "What about her?"

"I know what you did," I said, taking a step toward him. He turned away.

"I don't want to talk about this right now," he said loudly, his hands furling and unfurling.

"I think we should," I told him, raising my own voice. "What you did was wrong. She's your friend, Luke."

Luke spun around and came up to me. "You think I don't know that?" he snapped. "You think it's easy for me to choose between two people I love?"

"I never said that—" I tried.

He reached up to grip my arms. "But I had to choose," he interrupted in a quiet but fervid voice. "I had to choose because it was deceive her or lose you and I just…I couldn't— You both mean so much to me, but I couldn't—" He broke off, shaking his head and looking down.

I slowly, gently put my finger underneath his chin and pushed his head up so I could look at him before dropping my arm. We gazed at each other for a long time and it was then I realized the bags under his eyes, how he looked like he'd aged several years. His skin was pale, his hair was grey, and his scar was angry and red. How I hadn't noticed this before was baffling to me. It had to be from bearing the weight of the sky, it was the only thing I could think of that would make him look like this, it was the only thing that made sense to me, given the circumstances.

I reached up again to gently brush my fingertips underneath one of his eyes.

"You've been having nightmares," I said softly.

Pain flashed in his blue eyes. "Just a reminder," he choked out, his grip tightening on my arms. He didn't finish, but I knew what he meant: a reminder of what would happen should he disobey Kronos's orders.

I waited for a moment before asking, "Is Annabeth okay?"

Luke nodded, dropping his hands and straightening up. "Yes." His voice was stronger now, if not a little strained. "Atlas wanted to kill her, but I convinced him to keep her alive; to continue to be used as bait."

"To continue?"

"She was originally used so we could get Artemis out of the picture. But Silena told us a few days ago that a group of Hunters of Artemis and demigods was sent out to come rescue her. Annabeth added to the incentive to come to Mount Tam."

"Percy," I murmured, realizing this was probably how he knew about Annabeth's capture. I don't know how he'd been informed, but with Annabeth in trouble, there's no way he'd stay behind and let someone else go on the quest to rescue Artemis, and, by extension, Annabeth.

"Yes," Luke said, though he looked confused as to how I knew that.

"Lucky guess," I told him, brushing it off.

"There's also something else…" His tone was nervous, but anticipatory, almost excited. I waited, my heart thumping in my chest irregularly. "You remember Thalia, right?" I nodded. Luke took a deep breath, "Well, she's back. I mean, she's alive again."

I blinked, stunned. She'd come back from being a tree? How was that even possible? It didn't make sense to me.

"The Golden Fleece," Luke explained like he'd ready my mind, or my confused facial expression. "I poisoned Thalia's tree so that someone would go look for the Fleece to heal her tree and the magic borders around camp. Only, it didn't just heal the tree and repair the border, it brought Thalia back." That night in the admiralty suite, when Kelli had convinced Luke to poison the tree in the first place suddenly made much more sense to me now.

"So why…" I trailed off, just not quite sure how this was relevant to the group coming to rescue Artemis.

"There's a prophecy, the Great Prophecy, that foretells of the potential of Kronos's rise and Olympus's fall. In that prophecy, it states that a half-blood of one of the three eldest gods was born to make a decision when they're sixteen that will either preserve or destroy Olympus. Thalia is the daughter of Zeus and almost sixteen, and with the group that is coming to rescue Artemis.

"If I can talk to her, convince her to join me, then I won't—" He broke off, unable to say it.

"Won't have to host Kronos," I finished for him, feeling lightheaded at all this new information. Luke nodded, swallowing hard. I didn't want to reiterate the part of the plan where he had to convince Thalia to join his side. If she was traveling with Percy that was indication enough that she wasn't going be allying herself with Kronos. At least, not easily. And that worried me, because a blow like that would hurt Luke so much.

Thalia and Annabeth were so close to his heart, I couldn't even begin to imagine how much it took to push past that and kidnap Annabeth, trick her into holding up the sky to lure Artemis. Now he was putting his hopes on Thalia, to save him from a terrible fate and I was afraid that she was going to let him down. This must have been taking a toll on him, surely. And maybe it had, maybe it wasn't just the weight of the sky that had aged him, but all this stress and worry—for this plan, for Annabeth, for me.

I blinked and tried to focus, though, because Luke was looking at me, waiting for my reaction.

I forced a smile and reached up to brush the back of my fingers against his cheek before brushing some hair from his eyes.

"That's great news," I whispered, hoping I didn't sound as scared as I felt. I didn't have the heart to dash his hopes before anything even happened. Maybe I was just a pessimist and this would work out…maybe. Hopefully. Wanting to get off this topic, I swallowed hard and steeled my nerves, letting my arms fall to my side. "Do you think I could go talk to Annabeth?"

Luke blinked. "What?"

"I just…want to talk to her real quick, I shouldn't be long. I want to know how she's doing. She probably doesn't get a lot of visitors, being a prisoner and all— I mean I'd know— I'm sorry, I should've had said that." I stopped my babbling and sighed. I took a moment to reign myself in and continued speaking again. "I just want to talk with her. Is that all right?"

Luke looked around, considering this, but he did a double take to his left. I followed his gaze and saw the flaming hair of Kelli standing on the edge of this platform/room space.

"That's my cue," Luke muttered, looking back at me. "…sure, I'll take you to Annabeth." He kissed my forehead and then went to grab the sword I'd left leaning against the bench. He handed it to me and started leading me toward where Kelli was standing. She was leaning heavily on one leg, her arms crossed. She looked impatient.

Before she could speak as we passed her, however, Luke beat her to it. "Five more minutes," he said in a low voice and slowly like he was talking to a five-year-old. Kelli's eyes flashed in time with the flaring of her hair but she remained quiet. We continued on and I was surprised to see that they were keeping Annabeth on the mountain and not on the ship. Of course, on the mountain it was easier to monitor her. Also, on the ship, there were so many possibilities for her to escape—she was the daughter of Athena, after all—so it made sense.

That didn't mean her accommodations were great. They'd built a cage of Celestial bronze in a 12-foot by 12-foot square with a mental sheet covering the top in the corner of a cliff face. Inside was just a cot for her to lay on. Outside were two dracaena guards, a few feet away. Luke stopped a few yards away, turning toward me.

"I'll have someone come escort you back when you're done," he said. "Duty calls." He gave me a quick kiss before jogging back the way we'd come. I leaned heavily on the sword and looked ahead.

When I'd first looked, Annabeth had been laying on her cot. My second time around, she'd stood and was at the bars, arms crossed. Even from this far away, I could feel her stormy grey eyes boring a hole into my skull. Why was I doing this again? Oh, yeah, because I'd developed a soft spot for a certain green-eyed son of Poseidon.

Maybe I also hoped if I could talk to Annabeth, I could get a feel about how angry she was at Luke. If she wasn't too angry, maybe Luke had a chance after all with Kronos's Thalia plan.

I slowly picked my way up toward the cage. The dracaenae crossed their spears for a moment as I approached them.

"Don't try to help her esssscape," one hissed.

The other one started to speak, but I interrupted her. "You know what, if you think I'm trying anything—anything at all—I give you permission to shoot me." I then waved my hand to indicate I wanted them uncross their spears. Glaring at me balefully, they let me through.

"Well, well, well," Annabeth said as soon as I got within earshot. "If it isn't my favorite double agent. Or is it triple agent? Oh, wait, maybe it's quadruple agent—"

"The sarcasm is strong in this one," I replied just as sarcastically, if not a little breathlessly. My side throbbed and I made my way over to the cliff side to the left of me. Annabeth followed to the edge of her cage.

"Everything all right?" she asked slowly, eyeing me up and down.

I turned and leaned my back against the rocks, trying not to pant.

"I'm fine," I muttered, forcing my hand to stay at my side instead of hold it. I rested my sword against the rocks as well, making sure I had easy access to it.

"What do you want?" Annabeth asked haughtily. At least I knew they were treating her well enough she felt she could act like herself around me. Percy would be relieved to hear, I'm sure.

"What makes you think I want something?" I struggled to sit down, trying not to make faces as my side protested. "I just came to talk." I finished, breathing hard.

"You are hurt," she decided after a moment's pause.

"What…makes you say…that," I panted, leaning my head back and taking a deep breath. There was really no use lying to her now, but I was too stubborn to stop, at least in words. "Don't you trust me?" When I looked back at Annabeth, she'd taken a seat on the edge of her cot. She was staring at a spot on the ground intently.

"No, I don't," she said quietly, looking back up at me. She rolled her eyes then, scoffing. "But Percy seems to, for some reason. I can't fathom why." Her intense eyes went back to me. "I don't know what you did, but he seems to think you're one of the good guys."

"I am one of the good guys," I argued.

"No, you said so yourself, on the ship a few months ago, that you weren't doing this for the gods, you're doing this for Luke," Annabeth pointed out. "That if it saved Luke, you'd do it. You'd risk the world to save him. And that makes you dangerous."

"You're one to talk," I said, my anger flaring, giving me more energy momentarily. "You took the weight of the sky for him."

Annabeth looked away, crossing her arms and pouting. "Yes, but he tricked me—used me—and look where I ended up." She gestured to her cage.

I smiled knowingly and maybe a little sad, and looked out across the mountain. I could see the ocean from here. The day was coming to an end, twilight was here. "And yet," I started, "you still love him. Even after everything he's done, you find you still care for him." I looked back at Annabeth. She was silent for once, glaring at a spot on the ground again.

We sat there in silence for a long time before she finally spoke again, "It doesn't really matter, does it? Because he loves you."

"He still cares about you," I disagreed. "He loves you too, just not romantically. You share a special bond with him that I would never be able to come close to."

Annabeth scoffed. "He sure has a funny way of showing it, tricking me and then using me to lure Artemis here."

"But you'll forgive him," I stated off-handedly, thinking about Luke's plan and looking out across the ocean again. About Kronos's plan to try and convince Thalia to join their side. And about how scared Luke was if he was to become Kronos's host. About how horrible he must feel inside for having tricked his friend to hold up the sky. All because of me, all because he didn't want me to die. It was all my fault.

"You know, part of me feels like I abandoned him. Just like his father." I said, keeping my eyes on the sea, the sun was just starting to sink below the waves: a beautiful sight. "Part of me wishes I'd seen all that anger that'd been building up inside of him. I should've, but I didn't, so I feel like I abandoned him in his time of need. If I'd just done this, or just done that, we wouldn't be here anymore." I looked back at Annabeth to ask her if she felt the same way, but she'd lied down and her back was now facing me.

I knew she wasn't asleep, but didn't ask her anyway and carefully stood up, my side aching, unnecessarily brushing my jeans off.

"Percy sent me," I told her in a lower voice, glancing at the dracaenae to see if they'd make any inclination they'd heard me.

Sher turned slightly to look at me over her shoulder, eyes narrowed, but said nothing.

"This wasn't some random visit. A group of Hunters and demigods," I continued, grabbing my sword. "They're coming for you." I paused and thought about this. "Well, they're coming for Artemis, technically. But Percy is awfully worried about you."

Annabeth quickly turned back around, but if my eyes weren't deceiving me, she was blushing, the tips of her ears tinged pink.

"Thalia's included in that group," I added to see if she would respond with more than a glare, but no such luck. Not that I was expecting it, anyway. She was clearly done talking with me.

With one last look, I turned and slowly started away to go find Luke again—no point in waiting for his escort.

So, super long chapter for you guys. I feel uncomfortable, actually, it's so long, but you deserve it for waiting so long. Also, I couldn't find a nice stopping place, either, but it's mostly because you guys have been waiting for a long time and are still with me. Thank you, for that, by the way.

I'm on spring break and I have a lot of the next chapter written already, so hopefully I'll be able to get you the next chapter in the next few days before it's back to school for me. No promises, but I'll work my hardest to get you the next chapter.

Not much else in notes other than, as always, I hope you enjoyed!

To FadedSunset: So, what'd you think of their conversation? I'd love to hear! :)

Thank you for reading,
TheBrightestNight