Percy's POV:

"My young hero, I wish you the best of luck in your journey. Know that while we are apart, you will always have a place in my heart." Calypso said as she pushed the pendant into my hands, smiling at me.

I looked down at what she had given to him and was slightly confused by it. It had the design of a red skull and felt cold, almost as cold as Stygian Iron. I wondered if this had been constructed in the underworld. I looked up at the woman and I must have had a rather confused expression on my face because she started to explain what it was.

"Lord Hephaestus and Lord Hades are very kind to me. They believe that I don't deserve this punishment, so they made this pendant for me." She said. My eyes widened. So, my uncle could be a kind god if he wanted to be, huh?

"When I wear it around my neck, I can speak to lost loves of mine to keep myself preoccupied on this island. They appear before me, in their ghostly form and I find some semblance of hope that my punishment will end. I also use it to speak friends who have passed on." She continued, tears in her eyes threatening to spill over.

"Then how could I possibly take this, Calypso? You'd be so lonely without it." I said, starting to feel extremely bad about leaving her like that. I needed to return to Annabeth but I still felt bad about leaving Calypso here, alone.

At least she'll call you when you die, right? You'll see her again. I thought momentarily before shaking his head. Now wasn't the time to think about dying or anything like that. Annabeth would kill me if I died, after all. I tried to push the pendant back into her hand but she stopped me, looking at me straight in the eyes. Her hand was firm and I could tell that I wouldn't be able to give the pendant back to her.

"You'll need it more than I do, my brave hero. I have a strong feeling about that. Using this, you can speak to anyone from the past that you want to. Their advice will be worth its weight in gold, I'm sure of it. Now go. Your friends must be waiting. Just remember to plant that Moonlace in Manhattan for me." She whispered, wiping away the tears that were forming in her eyes.

I could only look on helplessly as I backed up onto the raft behind me, still facing the beautiful maiden. She smiled at me once more before she pushed my chest gently, causing the raft to move away from Ogygia. She turned around and started to walk back to her cave and I couldn't help but feel a sense of loss as I willed the water around him to push him away from the island, gently enough so that the Moonlace beside me wouldn't fall off of it.

As the island nearly disappeared into the mist, I saw her turn around once more and smile at me one last time before the mist completely covered it up. I turned around and sat down, placing the Moonlace in my lap. I knew that I had made the right decision to leave that place but it hadn't been an easy one.

I could have escaped a destiny that had been pushed onto me by the gods. I could've lived a happy life on that island, immortal and content. I remembered the anger I had felt during my fight with Athena, the rage I had felt when I thought about how callous the gods were when it came to the lives of their demigod children. Sure, some were good. My Dad tried to help when he could. Others? Not so much.

My anger at that time had been temporary, something of a tantrum because of the circumstances. Thalia and I had been so close to getting decimated by the gods merely because they feared the choice we might make. This time, I felt even more angry as I thought about what I had left behind in choosing to embrace my destiny. I tried to calm myself a little and tried to think like Annabeth would.

Maybe all of that was just the wrong way of thinking about it. If Kronos took over, then there'd be no safe place left. He would dominate everything and that would be the end of that. The Titans would rule the world and there'd be no hope for anyone.

Are all the Titans bad? All the time? Calypso's words rang in my head. I thought about what Typhon had said to me a few days ago, about how he was at the mercy of a destiny that had been thrust on him by his own mother.

What about Luke? He wasn't much better, was he? Instead of gaining freedom, he just went from being at the mercy of the gods to the mercy of the Titans. Perhaps not a better situation to be in but just different. Yet, he had been convinced of its worth, enough to want to kill me. I used to feel angry about that and I probably wouldn't stop feeling angry about that. At the same time, I could understand why he harboured such hatred towards the gods. My death would've just been a minor casualty in a war where all would prosper at the end. Or so Kronos would've told him.

I willed the sea around me to push me towards Camp Half-Blood and I felt the raft changing direction as I sat on it in silence, dwelling upon these thoughts that had begun to plague me in the past few weeks. I wondered how Annabeth was feeling. At least I kind of knew what she felt for me. If anything, her impromptu goodbye kiss at Mount St. Helens had confirmed that. I wanted to tell her that I felt the same way and I knew that I'd have to as soon as I got back.

Is this how it's always going to be? I sighed, ignoring the dolphin that had begun to swim beside my raft. Would Annabeth and I always have to go through this, where we'd go on quests together and not know if the other was going to make it back to camp alive? Would we always be the ones who'd clean up after the gods? Fearing for our lives every single day and being at the whim of the gods who would, on a whim, decide that we were too powerful for our own good and kill us?

My Lord, I have a message from your father. Lord Poseidon wishes to tell you that he is proud of you and that he loves you.

I couldn't help but smile as I thanked the dolphin for the message before it submerged, presumably swimming away. Poseidon had never told me that he loved me. I guess he still hadn't, seeing as this was a message from a dolphin. But at least he wanted me to know. I assumed that he was proud of me for having made the decision to leave and I couldn't help but think that he understood why it would be such a hard decision for me.

I guess thinking about all of this had caused enough time to pass that I could make out the coast of Camp Half-Blood. The smile I had on my face quickly turned into a frown when I realized that it would be difficult to explain where I'd been these past two weeks. It would just be difficult to explain to Annabeth without her blowing up at me.

Moreover, I didn't think I could properly explain how I go the pendant or the Moonlace. Chances are that Chiron would want them to be properly examined and I felt like they were supposed to be private gifts from Calypso to myself, as a testament to the fact that there had been…..something between us. Even if it didn't last very long. With that in my mind, I kept the pendant in my pocket as I willed the waves to bring me to the shore quickly.

In no time at all, the raft reached the beach, and I carried the Moonlace carefully, walking over to one of the Tree Nymphs that were lazing around nearby. Their eyes widened as I walked towards them and I simply smiled, placing the Moonlace in front of them.

"Till I return, can you take care of this for me?" I asked.

"How…is this possible? They told us you were dead! The sea itself has been mourning for you!" One of them said, placing her hands up to her mouth. I simply smiled at them and bowed a little.

"It's a long story, ladies. I'll indulge your curiosity after I return if that's okay with you." I could tell that they wanted to continue with their questioning, but they restrained themselves, simply nodding at me. I turned towards the direction of camp and began walking there, hoping to get a tight hug and even a kiss from my favourite girl in the whole wide world.

Annabeth POV:

Don't get me wrong; I was elated that Percy was back. Two weeks of moping around and hoping he would run out of his cabin every morning, ready to challenge me to a swordfight, had brought me to the bring of depression. I hadn't been able to eat and sleep properly. I hadn't had any contact with Hephaestus nor with Grover nor with Tyson so you can tell how I felt about the whole thing. I felt like a miserable failure.

So, imagine my surprise when that Seaweed Brain turns up at his own funeral looking confused about what the hell all of us were doing. Of all of the things he had done to surprise me, this one definitely took the cake. If there was any hero to walk into their own funeral looking confused as hell, it would be him.

Yet, I couldn't stop myself from just running over to him and giving him the tightest hug, I could give him, not wanting to let him go at all. It had nothing to do with the fact that I had a massive crush that I had on him or that I had kissed him just two weeks ago. Wouldn't you want to give your best friend the tightest hug if they returned after you thought they were dead? I didn't want to let go but I had forced myself to pull away from him to ask him where he had been.

Well, from there, things took a bit of a turn for the worst. We had gone quickly from discussing where he had been for the past two weeks to talking about the quest. I could not quite place my finger on where he could've possibly been marooned so I had made a mental note to look into that later. When we started discussing his plan, that's when I had the absolute worst meltdown that I've ever had when talking about a quest.

YOU ARE THE MOST ANNOYING PERSON I'VE EVER MET!

That is what I had said to him and the guilt started building up in my chest as I stared up at the ceiling, lying down on my bed. I had left the meeting right after that and had stormed back to my cabin. My siblings, of course, knew better than to talk to me while I was riled up in that way. I sat up and began thinking about what I had said and how I had felt.

I had said that to the guy who had stayed behind in that volcano so that I could get away safely. He was the one that had trekked all the way across the country just to save me, even though he had not even been selected for that quest. So, I had to do my best to see past his annoying insistence that the red-headed mortal girl follow us on my quest and lead us through the labyrinth.

I had nothing against mortals. At least, not too much. It's just that few of them really understood us demigods. Percy's mom was a big exception to the rule and perhaps that's why I got on with her better than I did with my own Dad.

As I thought about it more, I realized that I didn't really have a right to be angry at Percy. I had felt the jealousy bubble up inside of me at his suggestion, but I also realized that Hephaestus had been the one to tell him about it. He wouldn't have brought it up if we could safely traverse the labyrinth, especially since Grover and Tyson were still missing.

Still, the waves of jealousy were coursing through me. He hadn't mentioned our kiss at all. He hadn't even hinted at the fact that we would talk about it later. Granted, maybe he intended to talk about it more privately? I don't know what went on in his mind. Did he regret the kiss because of that mortal girl? It was hard not to think that he wanted her along for more reasons than her ability to walk through the maze.

I got up and walked over to my desk, looking down at my copy of Homer's: Odyssey. I sat down and began to flip through its pages. I had a bit of time before dinner and I'd have to read through some of the stories in there to figure out where exactly Percy had been. I knew he was hiding something from m-us and that wouldn't be useful for any of us if we were to survive.

But you're hiding your prophecy from him, aren't you? A voice told me in the back of my head and I tried to push those thoughts away as I focused on trying to find what I needed.

Percy's POV:

I fiddled with the pendant in my hand as I mulled over Annabeth's reaction to my return. To be honest, I hadn't really expected that sort of reaction from her. I expected her to be really happy about my return and embrace me with hugs and kisses. I had meant to pull her aside and talk to her in private but, well, Chiron had other plans for us.

I had kept a few secrets from them. I didn't tell them what had transpired between Typhon and myself. I also didn't tell them about my time at Ogygia, though I was fairly sure that Annabeth had an inkling of where I had been. Chiron had pretty much admitted that he knew where I had been sent to. I also kept my thoughts about the gods and Luke to myself. I'd have to talk to Annabeth at some point and get her take on all of this.

In the meantime, I had to just contend with sitting in my cabin until dinner, hoping that I'd get a chance to sort things out with her. Maybe I would even tell her how I felt and while I was fairly certain she would reciprocate, I also knew that there was a chance she wouldn't. That kiss she gave me might've been an impulsive move, after all. To be sure, she wasn't usually impulsive but even a Daughter of Wisdom had to go with the flow at times.

She still has feelings for Luke. She knew him longer than she has known you. She'll always choose him over you. A voice spoke to me and I shook my head, trying to drown it away. Unfortunately, my powers wouldn't let me do that and I just placed my head in my hands, trying to figure all of this out.

My eyes focused on the pendant and I realized that on the back of the red skull, there were a couple of words scrawled in Ancient Greek. I squinted, trying to make them out and realized that they read:

Seek me out with all your heart and I will come before you.

I thought back to all the times I had nearly died in the past few years. At Mount St. Helens, I would've been decimated if Typhon hadn't come to my aid. In terms of swordsmanship, Luke still had the edge over me. I had a feeling that I could take him on better now but my 16th birthday wasn't far off and I didn't feel like I was nearly strong enough to face against the rising threat.

All this time, I hadn't been taking advantage of the fact that I was born with powers beyond just swordsmanship. That's what Hephaestus had said, hadn't he? That I didn't know my own power? He was right; I didn't know it at all. I hadn't bothered trying to understand it. Sooner or later, that would backfire on me.

Sure, I could maybe get strong enough to take on Luke. He had been the best swordsman that the camp had for over 300 years. But he'd get possessed by Kronos and I would need a lot more than just swordsmanship to save myself and my friends when the time came. My eyes narrowed as my resolve hardened.

I walked over to my door and locked it so that no one would disturb me. I put the blinds up so that no one could spy on me. I didn't need people seeing this and I don't think anyone would really approve. I also didn't want Annabeth to get wind of this. She would not approve, after all.

I quickly wore the necklace and let the red skull simply rest on my chest. Immediately, a wave of nausea hit me as I felt the power of the pendant envelope me. To be sure, nothing was happening to me but it almost felt like I was back in the underworld again. It took only a few moments before the feeling subsided and I could concentrate fully, becoming comfortable with wearing the damned thing.

I began to think really, really hard about who I needed to summon and I could feel the power of the pendant responding to my heart. Before I knew it, a ghostly figure had begun to form right in front of my very eyes. I didn't think it would be that easy to use this but at least something had worked in my favor for once.

The ghostly figure exuded the aura of a warrior from Ancient Greece, a warrior who had seen many battles and had gone through many trials in his life. His was hanging by his hip and his arms were folded, as if he were about to lecture the person who had summoned him. Despite his intimidating posture, he had a wide smile on his face and had the same sea green eyes that I did, only he looked older and stronger than when I had previously seen him.

"Hello, Brother. What can I assist you with?"