Blackjack and I soared through the skies all night. I had run out of tears to cry and my eyes were dryer than a desert. I sat pondering what Aphrodite and the Oracle had told me. It made me wonder if the past four years meant nothing to Annabeth, and I began to grow angry. Blackjack whinnied at me, asking if I was okay. I just patted his head and turned away from his concerned eyes. My mind was a whirlwind of emotions. Ahead of us, the clouds in the night sky parted and I saw a shimmer of gold at the top of her head.

"I'm not in the mood, Aphrodite… just go away." I spoke softly.

"Hello, Perseus. How are you feeling?" Athena questioned.

"Ugh, it's you." I scoffed. "What do you want? Another god here to punish me further?"

Athena just gave me a cold glare and I could tell by her steely demeanor and the streaks of gray forming in her hair meant that she meant business. Her glare eased up when she saw the anguish in my eyes and she came up and hugged me. This took me aback and I jumped.

"Oh, Perseus. Remember when I told you to stay away from my daughter?" Athena questioned.

"Yeah, I do. Can everyone just stop torturing me for three seconds, please?" I screamed at her, pulling away from her hug.

"Well… I actually grew to like you. So please stop thinking I'm here just to torture you. If you wanna keep Annabeth, try to spend more time with her."

"Don't you think I've tried that already?" I snapped. "She practically wants nothing to do with me at this point."

"Well… that's unlike her. She's always talking about how great you are. Here, don't tell anyone, but I'm gonna give you this."

A golden and silver rose appeared in her hand that seemed to change color like a gradient scale. I looked at her with a quizzical look and with a wave of her hand, she was gone.

"Wait! What am I supposed to do with this?!" I yelled into the night sky. I noticed a note attached to the stem. It read, 'Give this to my daughter and she'll love you forever. Be warned, though, if the rose remains one solid color, gold or silver, it will just accelerate the prophecy foretold to you. In order to avoid this, remember to bring it to the skies once a night until you can give it to her. Regards - Athena.'

"Really, Athena? I suppose it's better than nothing. Thank you." I said as I turned around to where the clouds parted.

We arrived at New Rome at the crack of dawn and I had classes to attend. I left Blackjack at the stable and strolled along to campus. I ran through the dorms and to my room. I splashed my face with water, which instantly rejuvenated my look. I attempted to comb my hair as best as I could and brushed my teeth. I texted Annabeth and asked when she was next available. She reminded me that it was midterms week so she probably wouldn't be ready to see me until Friday night. It was currently Tuesday morning. Just three days I tried to tell myself.

Classes were boring as usual. It sucks that I don't share any classes with Annabeth, it would be so much more entertaining if we did. I took my usual walk through the park and took Blackjack to the skies again. I held the rose up and it still shone a bright, shimmering gold and silver gradient. The vision from the Oracle was still burned in my mind and it seemed I couldn't get it to exit my mind.

'What's wrong, boss?' Blackjack asked.

"It's nothing, buddy. Just another vision that I can never seem to shake out of my life."

'I understand, boss. I hope you'll be okay.'

"I'll be fine, Blackjack. Thank you."

Blackjack nodded at me and soared down back to earth. With how much I've been in the skies, I'm surprised Zeus hadn't struck me down yet, or at least visited me like the last two goddesses did. I shouldn't have thought that in order to not jinx myself. I suppose it's too late for that, though. If all of Mount Olympus wants to torment me, let them. They can't torment me forever.

We landed back at Blackjack's homemade stable. I patted him on the head and went back to the dorms to get some rest. I've gotten plenty of weird looks the past couple days, but I just ignored them all. I crawled into my bed and placed Athena's rose on my nightstand. I closed my eyes and slept for what felt like an eternity, and when I awoke, the rose was missing. Claw marks were on the nightstand so I grabbed and pocketed Riptide and ran out of the dorms, on a mission to defeat this monster and get the rose back.