Disclaimer: All rights belong to Rick Riordan. I take no credit, and I do not mean to break any copyright rules. This is simply a work of fiction made for enjoyment. No money is being made.

Rating: T for dark themes and violence

Author's Note: So apparently there's something going on with FF and people couldn't read the last chapter (Chapter 16). I experienced similar problems, except I never saw people's comments/PM. I re-uploaded Chapter 16 here as well as Chapter 17 in one document so hopefully you guys can see it this time. If you were able to read Chapter 16, you can just scroll halfway down to get to Chapter 17. Please let me know by comment/PM if you're able to see it this time!

Chapter 16

Two hours after Sciron mercilessly imprisons Percy and Beckendorf, destroys the Pax, and sets sail again, they arrive back at Messina.

Annabeth spent the entire time relaying the story of how she'd been kidnapped and how Percy had helped her escape Ares. Without mentioning any magic, gods, or monsters, she talked about how she had stayed aboard Percy's ship because he was the only captain she trusted after her kidnapping (so maybe she threw in a few white lies to cover up things she didn't want Luke to know). Then she described their journey and some of the places they'd been - Málaga, Sardinia, Naples, and a small village not far from Messina.

Luke seems to have a bad first impression of Percy that Annabeth can't quite pin down - Sciron must have told him some things - but he grudgingly agrees that the captain did help her and keep her safe.

"I'm just glad you're alright," he keeps repeating. "I was so worried that I would be bringing back a body."

Sciron crosses the deck and informs them that they're to leave his ship in Messina. "Our deal is done," he says, reaching out and shaking Luke's hand. Annabeth is immediately suspicious about what kind of deal they made, but she'll have to ask Luke about it later.

"What now?" Annabeth asks Luke. He gives her a strange look.

"We go back home, of course. There's a cargo ship in Messina that will take us back to England. Then we'll have all this dirty pirate business behind us."

Annabeth frowns at that, but she tries to keep Luke's perspective in her mind. He's a British officer who had no tolerance for pirates even before his fianceé was kidnapped by one. He must have hated working with Sciron and only did so because he thought it was his best chance to find her.

It isn't until Sciron docks at Messina that Annabeth realizes that this is really it. She's headed back to England forever. She's going to marry Luke and they're going to start their family. Her adventures are over.

She'll never see Percy again.

She grabs at Luke's arm. "Wait. I should say goodbye."

"To Sciron?"

"To Per- I mean, Captain Jackson." Probably better to use his formal name. She doesn't need Luke feeling suspicious than he already is. "I never really thanked him for rescuing me."

Luke doesn't look happy, but he doesn't fight her. "Okay. I'll talk to Sciron."

Annabeth tries not to look irritated as he approaches the pirate. It's already happening - she's already being treated like a lady again: unable to speak for herself to anyone except her husband. From now on, Luke is going to be doing nearly everything on her behalf.

Luke returns a minute later. "Sciron said you can have five minutes. Don't push it - he's really eager to be off again, and I don't trust him one bit."

Annabeth nods. One of Sciron's crew members leads her down to the bottom of the ship, where the brig is. Although they're walking fast and don't have much time to look around, Annabeth is shocked to see that the cargo hold is bursting full of treasure. Gold, priceless gems, pearls - you name it, it's there.

The bottom of the ship sloshes with a thin layer of water and it smells like rotting fish. She has to resist the urge to cover her mouth. The crew member hangs a lantern on a hook in the wall and then steps outside into the hallway.

"Five minutes," he reminds her before closing the door.

Annabeth crouches down to the cell. It's not even tall enough for a woman to stand up in, let alone two men. As her eyes adjust to the darkness, she sees the two figures sitting against the opposite wall.

"Annabeth?" Beckendorf lurches forward, his hands wrapping around the bars. "What are you doing here?"

"I convinced Sciron to let me say goodbye." She tries not to look at Percy, still hidden in the shadows. "I have a lot to say, and only a few minutes to say it. First I need to warn you guys. I've been having nightmares for the past few weeks, and so far everything I've seen has come true. Sciron is going to get the pearl. I've seen it several times in my dreams. There's no point in resisting him."

Now Percy leans forward. "What exactly was your dream?"

Annabeth describes the first one she ever had, where she was standing on the beach and out of the storm Sciron's ship came. She told them how every time Sciron rubbed the pearl with his finger, the storm grew more powerful. She told them about seeing Luke with Percy's sword.

She tells them everything except about the funeral pyre. She can't bear to reveal that.

When she finishes, both of them are silent. Annabeth glances at the lantern flickering on the wall and she knows her time is almost up. She has one more thing to say before she leaves forever.

"Percy," she begins, then pauses to take a deep breath. "I'm really sorry. Last night - that's not how I wanted things to end. I never intended to string you along. I feel so terrible. I don't want your last impression of me to be like that."

He doesn't say anything, and Annabeth hangs her head. "I really wanted to finish this quest with you guys. The last few months have been the best of my life. I'll never forget all the memories we had."

The crew member opens the door. "Time's up," he announces.

Annabeth reaches through the bars, grabbing both Percy and Beckendorf's hands. "Promise me you guys will be okay. This is hard enough for me as it is. I wasn't ready to leave yet. The only way I'll ever be at peace is to know you're going to be okay."

To her surprise, both of them squeeze her hand. "We'll get out of here," Beckendorf says, smiling. "We've survived worse."

Percy's eyes gleam in the darkness. "I promise. Annabeth - " He hesitates for a second before the rest of the words come rushing out. "I won't remember you that way. I could never remember you that way."

Annabeth's heart feels like it will burst. The walls feel like they're closing in and if she stays any longer, she'll be trapped forever. She draws her hands back, snatches the lantern off the wall, and steps away.

In the doorway, she turns back briefly. "Goodbye," she says, then steps into the corridor and walks away.

It's the last time she'll ever walk away from Percy and Beckendorf.

All Annabeth can think about as she and Luke stand on the docks of Messina is the brief history lesson that Will gave as they approached it two days ago: "There was a second wave of plague a few years ago. The city was already in decline after some revolutions, and that was all it took."

They have a little bit of free time before their ship heading back to England departs, and Luke suggests going into the city and buying her a new dress. She can see the way he glances at her new outfit out of the corner of his eye, his mouth curving down in disapproval.

Will's words echo in her mind again: "Honestly, I don't want to step foot there. All it takes is one deceased rat or person and our mission is over - forever."

"Let's just stay on the docks," Annabeth says, a chill sweeping through her body. It didn't take a deceased rat or person to end the mission for her forever. All it took was someone from her past.

"You like those clothes," Luke says tentatively, like a child testing the temperature of the water before jumping in.

"They're practical," Annabeth replies evenly, trying to be patient. It's not fair for her to be mad at Luke for being off-put by the way she's changed. She's returning to his world, and so she's the one who should be adjusting. "For a ship."

"At least let me buy you a new dress in Spain. I heard that women in England are tripping over themselves to get their hands on Spanish fashion these days."

Annabeth manages a smile. "I would like that."

They board their cargo ship not too long later. Annabeth catches a lot of sideways glances, and a few outright glares. She doesn't understand it at first.

"Why do I feel like everyone hates me onboard?" she whispers to Luke as they stand at the railing a few hours after they set sail again.

Luke gives her a funny look. "It's a sailor's superstition. Women onboard a ship is bad luck. You've seriously never heard of it?"

Annabeth shakes her head. "Percy mentioned it once, but neither he nor his crew members actually believed in that superstitious nonsense."

"It's not nonsense to them."

"But it is. Just because they believe it doesn't make it true."

"It's true to them."

"Truth is objective, whether you believe it or not. The sky is blue. Water is wet. Fire is hot. The spirits of the sea aren't sexist."

Luke stares at her for a long time. Annabeth can see that he's trying to get a read on her. She realizes how crazy she must sound to him.

"I'm sorry," she says. "I'm just a little frustrated."

His bright blue eyes bore into hers. There was a time when he could see straight to her soul, but now there's a wall between them. He can see it, and she can feel it.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" he asks.

"Yeah." Annabeth leans into his side. "Just hold me for a while."

In the absence of words, with his arm around her, it almost feels like it used to. Annabeth closes her eyes and for a moment she pretends that they were never separated, that they were never half a world apart.

Truth is, they've never been farther apart than right now. Now a whole world separates them - a world of magic, gods, monsters and a certain demigod.

"Something definitely happened last night between you and Annabeth," Beckendorf says.

Percy wraps his arms around his knees and listens to the faint sloshing sound of water around them. The last thing he wants right now, while sitting in the humid, dark, and smelly underbelly of the ship is to relive another terrible time in his life. But there's nothing else to do, and it's Beckendorf.

"Yeah," he says. "We had a great time last night. I begin to think that maybe - " He shakes his head. "I was so stupid. She's engaged. What was I thinking?"

"You love her."

Percy shrugs, although Beckendorf can't see it in the dark. "I don't know if I'd call it that."

"Close enough, anyway." Beckendorf's long exhale fills the space between them. "That's rough, man."

"Maybe I'm overthinking it, but when Luke first appeared on the deck of Sciron's ship, she looked at me first. And then, when they were reunited, I thought I saw her looking back at me." Percy drops his head. "I had to let her go. Like the rest of the crew. Like the ship. Like I should have left you."

Beckendorf scoffs. "You couldn't get rid of me if you tried."

"I know." Percy grins. "And I've tried."

They fall into a comfortable silence for a while. Percy tries to think through his situation, but he's never been the one with all the brains. That was Frank and Annabeth. Percy can think on his feet when he has to, but sitting back and trying to put the puzzle together? He's no good at that.

If the brig wasn't so small, he'd get up at pace. There's nothing Percy hates more than having to sit still. Even now his knee bounces and his fingers drum on his leg. His mind jumps around from topic to topic, but it always circles back to Annabeth.

He hates how much he thinks of her. Even before last night, before he ruined everything and she left him for good, he thought about her a lot. He'd seen how intelligent she was from the very first time he met her in that tavern. Almost immediately she'd become an advisor, quickly picking up on how his world worked and finding solutions to their problems.

He had started relying on her as much as he did on Beckendorf and Frank. Without even discussing it, she started coming on all his quests. She saved his life when they faced Reyna and Hylla, risking her own in the process. Gods, she was so beautiful during that fight. He felt she was truly growing into herself. There had always been this invisible wall between who she was when he first met her and who she could be, and he felt like that day she smashed right through it.

He should have known it would end this way. As much as she fit into this world, as strong and smart and brave as she was, there was always a tether holding her back. He'll never forget the day he saved her from the Sirens. She'd sobbed on the bottom of the ocean and he had no idea what to do or say to her to make her feel better. All he could think about was that image of her dreams coming true - the one with Luke and her parents.

Percy didn't exist in her ideal future. He was never even an option. He knew that, and he still acted like a fool.

He must be crazy. After all his years of fighting, all his head injuries and all the times the gods messed with his brain, he must finally be losing it. He must have been imagining Annabeth looking at him when she saw her fiancé for the first time in months. He must have somehow warped their conversation last night so that it made it seem like she was just as happy with him as he was with her.

To make matters worse, he'd made a complete idiot of himself when she came to say goodbye. She warned them of Sciron and the visions she'd seen in her dreams, and then she apologized to him for running away last night. But of course it wasn't a "sorry I ran away, I actually do like you back," it was a "sorry I ran away, I led you on with no intentions of anything happening", which was just like a sword in the gut. He should have expected that, but it still hurt like nothing else.

And what had he said? What were his last words to her? "I won't remember you that way. I could never remember you that way." How dumb could he sound?

Percy should have just stayed on Calypso's island when he had the chance. It would have made his life a whole lot easier.

"You know what I find funny?" Beckendorf asks, breaking through Percy's thoughts.

"What?"

"Sciron kept calling the Pax a disgrace, but that's a ship Poseidon himself gifted to you. And then he called himself Poseidon's favorite son, but he had to kill someone else and steal their ship to get his own."

"He was definitely one of Dad's bad-mood children," Percy replies. "Like the one I met in the Labyrinth, who thought Poseidon was honored by the people he killed in his name. And Chrysaor - gah, I don't even want to think about him."

"Medusa does have a thing for men of the sea," Beckendorf teases.

"You should have seen the fountain she had in her garden - actually, no, you're lucky you didn't. You know, I've never seen a naked statue of your dad."

"That's because Hera turns anyone who's ever thought of it into a cow. She's too ashamed of Hephaestus. He's not exactly part of her picture-perfect family."

"Both of her children with Zeus are ugly - no offense to your dad. But all the other gods are attractive - especially Artemis and Apollo, Zeus' children with another woman. Irony doesn't spare the gods."

"Hera's sons are ugly because they were cursed to look like her personality. That's her own fault."

There's something relaxing about being able to trash-talk the gods in prison at the bottom of a boat. What is Zeus going to do, strike them down? That'll start a war with Poseidon while simultaneously ending the threat of Sciron. And Percy's pretty sure that Sciron is going to kill them once he finds the pearl anyway. At least Zeus' bolt would be faster.

"You know, when I sent Medusa's head to the gods, I definitely wasn't thinking that my father might not appreciate seeing his decapitated ex-girlfriend." Percy smiles wryly. "Maybe that's why all this bad stuff is happening. Maybe my father cursed me."

Percy thinks of the story Annabeth had told him under the stars - the story of Cassiopeia, Cetus, and Andromeda. Cassiopeia had simply boasted about her beauty and Poseidon had sent a sea monster her way. Maybe Sciron really is Poseidon's new favorite son. Maybe Poseidon sent him to punish Percy for his insolence.

"I don't think that's it," Beckendorf replies. "Your father usually isn't subtle when he's angry. He probably would have sent a sea monster or sent a huge wave to sink the Pax overnight. I bet he found that stunt amusing. I mean, it's been over three thousand years, and Medusa was just a fling."

"I kind of feel bad for her, though," Percy says. "It's not cool that she kills people, but did she really deserve to be cursed for what she did? Yeah, it was super offensive to Athena, but that still seems unnecessarily cruel. And my father didn't get in trouble for it at all."

"Your father is a god, and an elder god at that. Short of attempting to overthrow Zeus, there's nothing he would get in trouble for. As for Athena...well, she's a proud goddess. If she feels as though she's been snubbed, she's often quite aggressive with her punishments. Remember Arachne?"

"Yeah," Percy says, but really he's thinking of Annabeth again. He remembers her admitting that pride was her fatal flaw. Still, he can't imagine her ever being that harsh.

"You worry too much about things that are out of your control." Beckendorf leans back against the wall. "Right now the only thing we need to be worrying about is Sciron and what happens when he gets his hands on the pearl."

Sitting in the darkness, his hand in a puddle of sludgy brig water, Percy finds himself praying to his father for the first time in years.

Dad, if you ever really cared about me...now's the time to prove it. I need your help.

He isn't surprised when there's no sign that Poseidon was even listening.

Chapter 17

"Mom!"

Annabeth practically runs off the ship and onto the dock, her delicate flats pounding across the wooden deck of the pier. She nearly trips on her long, poofy skirts, but she simply lifts up the hem.

Her mother and stepfather are waiting for her at the port. Her mom steps forward and catches her in her arms, staggering back one step from the force of Annabeth's embrace.

"I missed you so much," Annabeth cries, holding her mother fiercely.

"I missed you, too." Her mother strokes the back of her head. "Your hair has gotten so long." She steps back, her hands still holding onto Annabeth's arms, and examines her. "You look different," she says. "Tanner." She squeezes her biceps. "Stronger."

"You won't believe the adventures I've had." Annabeth can't wipe the wide smile off her face. She turns to her stepfather and gives even him a quick hug - something she's sure she's never done before. "It's good to be home at last."

It had taken a little over six weeks for them to sail back to England. The winds were on their side, and without monster attacks or side quests every few days, the miles sped by. It was almost too smooth of sailing. Annabeth was quite bored most of the trip.

Luke finally catches up to them, carrying their bags in his hand. He hadn't mentioned her choice of attire again until Spain, which is when Annabeth had promised he could buy her some new dresses so that she wouldn't look like a pirate when she stepped foot back on the shores of her home.

"Luke!" Her mother steps away from her and also gives him a hug. "Thank you for bringing our girl home."

"I wouldn't have come back without her," Luke swears, but the smile on his face is strained. Annabeth ducks her head, feeling more than a little responsible.

The first couple weeks aboard the ship, she'd been delighted to be back with him. They rehashed old times and traded stories and stayed up late at night talking. For a brief period of time, Annabeth had felt complete again.

It hadn't been all sunshine and paradise, though. There were little things he said or did that annoyed her. The way he tried to speak for her, the sideways looks he'd give whenever she did something he didn't think was appropriate for her to do, some casual comments he'd drop that Annabeth realized were more than just casual.

Annabeth knew she was different. She knew Luke was trying to adjust to the new her. To be completely honest, it wasn't even Luke that was the real problem. The real problem was the rules of propriety that she had thrown to the wind for a few months. She'd grown used to be treated as an equal, to having complete control over her life, to doing whatever she fancied. Back in the mortal world, she can no longer get away with doing those things. Luke just happens to be the only person who feels comfortable enough reacting to and basically calling her out on it.

The last few weeks, things had gotten worse. They hadn't fought, and they hadn't talked, either. Annabeth charmed her way into the crew of the cargo ship by trading ship stories and participating in their ship events (another thing that totally freaked Luke out - her knowing all the words to and singing inappropriate and sometimes crude sailing songs). She began to spend more time with them. All her conversations with Luke morphed into coldly polite small talk.

Annabeth knows that at some point, something's going to give. She's just not sure when or how.

Luckily her parents seem too busy fussing over her return to notice. Before she can blink, she's being carted off to her stepfather's house, where there's a whole party planned out to celebrate her return. She spends the entire evening thanking everyone for their support and reassuring them that yes, she's fine.

She's utterly exhausted that night. She hasn't had to put on her socially appropriate face in months. Although she can see that her mother is disappointed that she doesn't stay up to talk to her more, Annabeth crashes as soon as the party is over.

The next morning, she's startled awake by the sound of someone in her room. She flips over her pillow, where she's taken to hiding her knife, and brandishes it in front of her.

In the light shining through the windows, Annabeth sees a terrified looking servant on the sharp end of her dagger.

"I - I'm just here to help you get ready for the d-day, Milady," the poor girl stutters. Annabeth's face grows red with shame and she immediately puts down her knife.

"I'm so sorry," she says. "I forgot that - I haven't been home in so long - "

The servant dips into a curtsy. "All is forgiven, Milady. You had a terrible encounter. I can't even imagine how you survived being kidnapped by pirates for so long."

The truth is, it's not pirates Annabeth is scared of. It's monsters. She had spent much of the night tossing and turning, nightmares of monsters attacking her family plaguing her sleep. She's worried that they'll come after her now that she doesn't have Percy's protection.

She wasn't scared on the ship. Even though Percy wasn't physically with her, she still felt his presence in the sea around them. Nothing would hurt her as long as she was in his domain. No matter how badly Annabeth hurt him, he'd still always look out for her.

Now, on land, she sees monsters out of the corner of her eye and in every dark alley. If they really are there, they don't attack; but she's almost positive they're just figments of her paranoid imagination.

The servant draws Annabeth a bath and then combs through and styles her hair before dressing her up. Annabeth looks in the mirror and sees a stranger looking back at her. Who is this girl with hints of make-up on, with styled up hair and wearing expensive exotic dresses?

Annabeth and her mother head over to Luke's manor for tea. May Castellan is a strange woman; sometimes she's a perfectly normal high society lady. Then, in a flip of the switch, she goes crazy, mumbling incoherently and sometimes crying. She's been known to latch onto whoever's closest and shake them until her fit passes.

Luke had tried to run away a few times as a child, terrified by his mother to the point of not being able to live with her. Annabeth remembers him sneaking across the countryside on one of his father's horses - his father traveled often for business trips and was almost never home - and throwing rocks up at her window. He'd beg her to come with him, but Annabeth had always just shook her head.

"I can't," she'd call down as quietly as she could.

"Why not?"

"I don't know how to ride a horse," she'd say, or she'd make up some other stupid excuse that wouldn't stop her if she had really wanted to run away.

When Luke had gotten older, he did finally run away - by joining the army. May had been in tears, her fits exponentially worse. She was convinced he was going to die in the war. When Luke had left, there'd been a haunted look in his eyes. Had he gone to war thinking that he was going to die? That his mother's fits were a form of telling the future?

Whatever the case, May's fears proved unfounded. Luke returned from the war with nothing worse than a scar down his face. Her fits didn't happen as often once he returned to the manor with her, but they still did occasionally.

Although Annabeth's mother found May's fits disturbing, she was also extremely sympathetic towards the woman.

"There must have been some sort of tragedy in her life that she never recovered fully from," she'd reason. "She's a very sweet woman, really."

They sit outside in the garden - the same garden Annabeth had waited for Luke in before she was kidnapped. What had once been the most terrifying moment of Annabeth's life now seems tame in comparison to what she's encountered since. If those same pirates showed up today, Annabeth would calmly pull out her knife, cut them down, and then return to her tea before it cooled. The whole thing would be over in minutes, if not seconds.

"You raised your son right, you know," Annabeth's mother is saying to May. "He swore he would find her, and he did. Not many men would go to such lengths for their women."

"My Luke is so much like his father," May says, her eyes closed as she sips her tea. "Such a gentleman. He always takes such good care of me."

The two politely chat for a while. Annabeth tries to listen to them, but the distant crashing of the waves draws her attention, and eventually she tunes them out and focuses on the sea. What bitter irony that Luke lives a short walk to the ocean. When Annabeth marries him and moves here, she'll always be reminded of the life she gave up.

"Annabeth, dear?"

Annabeth whips her head around. "Yes?"

"We were asking you a question." Her mother scrutinizes her face. "You never used to notice the sea before."

Annabeth glances back one more time. "I understand now all those songs about sailors falling in love with the sea," she replies, forcing a smile. "I'll admit, I was quite confused this morning when I woke up and my bed wasn't rocking back and forth."

"That wasn't the only thing you were confused about." Her mother lifts her tea cup to her mouth and takes a small sip. "I heard you nearly stabbed the maid."

She grimaces. "It's an instinct I picked up at sea. I haven't fully readjusted yet."

"Speaking of readjusting, when is the wedding going to be?" May asks. She has the same bright blue eyes as Luke, clouded over by a distant sadness in the exact same way. Annabeth knows that Luke's sadness comes from his time in the war; May's comes from whatever tragedy she experienced that unhinged her slightly. "My Luke was devastated that it was ruined the first time. What back luck for the bride to be kidnapped moments before walking down the aisle!"

It's all Annabeth can do not to cringe. She doesn't want to think about the wedding. She doesn't want to think about meeting Luke at the altar and promising her life to him, promising to submit to him, to be with him until she dies. Once, she dreamed about those things; now, she dreads them.

"We haven't decided on a date," she says simply.

"Well, I hope you don't wait too long!"

After Annabeth and her mother return home, they take a walk around their own gardens. There's this ridiculously large hedge maze with a fountain of Venus in the middle. Her stepfather loves it and she and her mother usually roll their eyes when he brags about it to his friends, but right now Annabeth feels safe hidden in the bushes.

She and her mother sit at the bench facing the fountain.

"You were dodging May's questions today," her mother accuses lightly. "Especially ones about Luke."

"I don't know if I want to marry him anymore," Annabeth admits, the words just gushing out. She immediately clamps her hand over her mouth, sure that she's about to get in trouble, but her mother just nods.

"You've grown up, Annabeth. Before you were kidnapped, you were still a little girl with a hopeless crush. You didn't know there was anything more to life than marrying and having kids. You lived in a bubble - a happy bubble, but still a bubble. Now you know the truth about the world. You've had time away from Luke to truly comprehend what marriage will mean for you and your future. Your wisdom and intelligence is a gift, but it is also a curse."

Annabeth nods numbly. Her mother had perfectly put it into words. She wishes so badly she could tell her mother everything - about monsters and gods and Percy. Gods, how much she wants to tell her mother about Percy.

"I love Luke, I really do." Annabeth stares at her hands, no longer delicate and frail like they were the last time she was in this maze. Now they're calloused and rough. "I think I'll always love him. But I - I don't know if I can marry him."

A few tears streak down her face. She hadn't cried since the night she rejected Percy. Even as she and Luke had departed Messina, every second carrying her farther away, she hadn't cried. She hadn't cried the first time she realized that she didn't see a future for her and Luke anymore. She hadn't even cried when she saw her family for the first time in months.

Even though she's hundreds of miles away and she's with a completely different person, this feels exactly like that night in New Rome when she's cried in Silena's arms. Now it's her mother comforting her, and it's not Percy that she's rejecting but Luke.

Luke, who she practically grew up with. Luke, who she used to dream about every night. Luke, who she cried about when he left for war. Luke, who she wrote countless letters to, even when she wasn't sure they'd make it to him. Luke, who she had once been blissful with when he finally asked her to marry him.

Luke, who she had almost married, had pirates not shown up at the worst - or possibly best - time.

Giving up Luke is like giving up her left arm. She'll always feel strange and lopsided without it. She'll always miss it. Sometimes she'll think that she'd do anything to have it back. But at the end of the day, she doesn't need it. Sometimes the only way to survive and move forward is to cut off the infection.

"Choosing yourself is the hardest decision you'll ever make," her mother says, holding her. "It will make your life indescribably harder. You'll be an outcast. People will always talk about you behind your back. You'll never hear the end of it. But if it's the only way to happiness, then you have to do it. You have to choose yourself."

"You're the best mother in the world, you know that?"

"I do. And sometimes you're the most difficult daughter in the world. But I want you to be happy more than anything else. No matter where that takes you."

Annabeth rests her head against her mother's shoulder. "How am I ever going to tell Luke?" she moans. "He came all the way to Sicily to get me back, and now I'm going to dump him."

"If he truly loves you back, he'll understand. Men may be oblivious, but even he must have noticed that something's different now."

"I feel like I'm ruining his life, though. Just because I won't be happy with him doesn't mean he wouldn't still be happy with me."

"He chose you just as much as you chose him. When he asked you to marry him, he knew there was the possibility that you could say no. Even throughout your engagement he knew you could still change your mind. That was a risk he decided was worth taking."

"I just feel so awful." Annabeth closes her eyes, unable to look at the statue of the goddess of love. She's probably sitting atop Olympus or wherever the Romans gods reside, having the time of her life as she watches Annabeth's drama unfold.

"I just have one question," her mother says.

"What?"

"Did you meet someone else?"

Gods, her mother is good. Annabeth can't find it in her to answer for a long time. How can she describe what happened between her and Percy? It had crept up so slowly that Annabeth hadn't even realized it was there until the banquet in New Rome. She wonders if it had been that way for Percy, too, or if he had known all along that he loved her.

"Yes," she finally confesses, unable to look her mother in the eye. "But I burned that bridge. I could never be unfaithful to Luke."

Annabeth can break his heart. She can leave him behind in her dust and not look back. But she could never destroy him all the way down to his core the way cheating does. She would never ruin something she loves so dearly.

"Do you want to go back to him?"

Annabeth thinks of how she left things with Percy - how messed up what she did to him was. She led him on, rejected him, then left him rotting in a cell at the bottom of the ship of a ruthless pirate and never looked back. That's almost on the same level of cheating in terms of utterly destroying someone. How could she ever face him again?

"I don't know." Annabeth opens her eyes and stares at the fountain, silently sending out a prayer. Maybe the love goddess is getting a kick out of her messy love life, but maybe she'll also feel sympathetic and help a girl out. "I have no idea what I want anymore. I only know the things that I don't want."

"That's a start. And you have time, Annabeth. You're only nineteen. You still have a few years left if you decide you want to get married after all. You have time to readjust to living here and not among pirates and sailors. There's no rush."

Annabeth wishes that were the case. She thinks of Percy and wonders if he's still in that cell. Or maybe worse - maybe Sciron has already found the pearl and killed Percy.

No, that doesn't sound right. The ocean was too calm today, the skies too clear. Percy was the sea god's favorite son; if he died, the whole ocean would rage. It would at least send lasting ripples out to shore.

Somewhere out there, Percy is still alive. Annabeth just doesn't know how long that will last.

Her time may already be up.