Nobody moved for a minute. How had she done that? She hadn't been able to cut off his head with a sword - he was supposed to be invulnerable.

Percy unfroze, but he seemed to be moving slower than normal. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her out onto the fire escape. Blackjack was waiting, hovering in midair, his huge wings beating at a slow rate. He helped Annabeth onto his back and then climbed up behind her.

Blackjack spun around with surprising dexterity. Annabeth would have slipped over the side if Percy's arms hadn't been around her. They left Manhattan and followed the East River to the north shore of Long Island.

Percy didn't say anything, but Annabeth could feel waves of agitation rolling off of him. What the hell had just happened? Based on what she knew about the Curse of Achilles, even breaking his nose the first night should have been impossible. Stabbing his ear should have definitely been impossible. Was he still invulnerable? Or had Annabeth somehow messed that up for him?

Blackjack started losing height, he swept low over a valley, touching down lightly on a great sloping lawn. A huge house was sitting close to them. At the bottom of the hill maybe two dozen cabins were sitting in a shape like the Greek omega. There was woods, a lake, and a scattering of Greek style architecture – an amphitheater and a dining pavilion ringed with columns. A handful of kids, most between the ages of 10 and 16 were milling around, playing basketball, cleaning weapons, wandering through fields of strawberries that were ripe even in the winter.

"Percy?" Annabeth asked. It was the first thing she had said to him since the ear incident.

He didn't answer, instead walking straight up onto the porch of the big house. Annabeth followed him, not liking how the house seemed to be staring down at her in a very human way. Percy disappeared through a doorway.

"Holy shit," she said as she rounded a corner. A centaur was towering over her, his head nearly brushing the ceiling.

"Chiron, this is Annabeth. She can hurt me apparently. Is Nico here?"

"He was at the arena earlier," Chiron said.

Percy backed out of the room, careful to face Annabeth the whole way. Annabeth felt her shoulders slump. He didn't trust her anymore. Did he really think she was going to try to hurt him?

Chiron frowned at the door Percy had just disappeared out of. He looked troubled. "Annabeth. Nice to meet you." He sounded like one would if they had met at a funeral.

He walked out onto the porch. Annabeth groaned and followed him. This seemed like another situation where she wouldn't get any actual answers. Annabeth leaned forward against the porch railing watching the shrinking figure of Percy disappear into an arena. Another figure stopped fighting and greeted Percy. The exchanged a few words before starting to spar.

"You're mortal."

Annabeth couldn't decide if it was a question or a statement. "I think so. We never actually got around to figuring that out."

Chiron considered that. "What happened?"

Annabeth explained how she had punched him in the nose and how she had tried to pierce his ears as a joke.

"What about when he taught you how to fight?"

How had he known about that? "I tried and failed to cut off his head."

"That's troubling." Chiron did indeed look very troubled.

"I was wondering… I mean Percy said that his fatal flaw was loyalty and he explained it as in he would sacrifice the world to save his friends, but what if that means that he places his loyalty in the wrong person and that's what gets him killed. Like if the fact that he trusted me is what let me hurt him. Or if he trusted someone enough to tell them his vulnerable spot and that's what gets him killed."

"And you're wondering if you're going to cause his death."

Annabeth nodded, eyes still on the two boys sparring. The speed with which they were moving so fast, Annabeth was worried that one of them was going to get hurt. She corrected herself. She was worried that Percy was going to get hurt.

"Did Percy tell you where the spot is?"

"Yeah, I asked if it was his… Wait, do you know?" Percy obviously trusted Chiron, but did he trust him that much?

"I have my guesses, but I'm not certain." Chiron sighed. "He's been making the same dumb joke for six years and then shuts up immediately afterward, like he said something important he should not have shared."

Annabeth smiled. "His jokes are the only reason I know anything about him." A massive dog the size of a small elephant bounded into the arena and knocked down the two boys. Annabeth looked at Chiron, worried, but Chiron seemed completely unconcerned.

"What's the deal with this?" Annabeth pulled the dagger out of the inside pocket of her jacket.

Chiron looked at it. His face seemed to age a hundred years. "That belongs to the only person Percy ever mistakenly trusted. It ended up killing a lot of demigods at the Battle of Manhattan. But it also saved the world."

"Oh," Annabeth said, her voice small.

"I'm glad he gave that to you. It has been sitting in cabin for years and he just stares at it. It wasn't healthy. I'll take you down to his cabin. You probably won't be killed there." Annabeth didn't like the casual way he said that. And she definitely didn't like the probably.

Nevertheless, she walked next to him down to the arc of buildings around the central green. She got a few weird looks from the kids. She had to step double-time in order to keep up with Chiron's horse legs. Chiron left her outside a low building with seashells stuck into the walls.

"I'll go talk to Percy."

Annabeth looked around the green briefly at the strangest collection of buildings she had ever seen. One for each god she guessed, and she recognized some of the pairings. The Demeter cabin was the one surrounded by plants, Ares must be the bright red one with barbed wire.

She walked into Percy's cabin. It smelled like him – or maybe it was more accurate to say that he smelled like the cabin. The scent reminded her of the beach on a stormy day, the sharp smell of salt mixed with something she could not place. She glanced around. Some sort of horn hung on the wall. A busted shield leaned against one wall. A windchime made of metal fish horses – hippocampi – hung from the ceiling, shimmering in the soft green light that made it look like they were galloping through water. A collection of deep-sea plants in shining colored jars was on the windowsill.

The weirdest thing was the Pegasus laying at the foot of one of the bunks, hooves and wings tucked into his sides.

"Hey, Blackjack."

He whinnied indignantly. Annabeth couldn't speak horse, but she got the message: You aren't Percy.

Annabeth scratched Blackjack's muzzle for a few minutes before he started giving very pointed looks towards a trunk jammed in a corner.

"I'm not going through Percy's stuff."

Blackjack nickered and nudged her in the direction of the trunk, causing her to lose her balance. She walked over and undid the clasps. She pointedly didn't look at the pictures decorating the inside of the lid. She grabbed a yellow apple and held it up. Blackjack pinned his ears and shook his head. There was a box of a dozen donuts. Hadn't Estelle given Blackjack a donut that one night? She held up the box. Blackjack flicked his ears forward and made a strangled neigh that sounded an awful lot like donut.

She sat down in front of him and crossed her legs. She popped open the box lid and picked one up. Blackjack stretched his neck out to grab it from her hand with lightning speed. He did it so fast that she was afraid of getting her fingers caught in his teeth. It looked like he swallowed it whole. He nuzzled Annabeth's shoulder.

"I'm not giving you another one."

"You went through my stuff." It was a statement not a question. Annabeth whirled around she had not heard him come in. Percy was standing inside the doorway, holding his sword in a not so casual way.

"The horse made me do it."

Blackjack stood up and flapped his wings.

Annabeth shoved the pegasus' head away. "Stop lying."

"Why're you here, Blackjack?"

He watched Blackjack for a couple seconds then rolled his eyes. "Liar." He nodded his head toward Annabeth. "What did Chiron tell you?"

"To stay in here and try to avoid being killed."

"That's it?"

"Well, he asked if I was mortal and then he asked what I did. And I ran a theory by him, but he did nothing to confirm or deny it."

"What theory?"

"I had an idea. How your flaw could be connected to your Achilles curse. Who's Nico?" Annabeth asked nervously.

Percy's expression became guarded. He skipped over her theory and focused on Nico. "He's a son of Hades. He's the one who helped me get the curse. He can also sense when someone is close to death. And he's good at swordplay."

"Why does that matter?"

"When I'm stressed, I fight and he's a worthy opponent."

"No, the Hades thing."

"Well, I won't be dying in the next few days for starters. And he was obviously unable to cut off my arm. Not for lack of trying."

Blackjack picked up the box of donuts in his mouth and tried to sidle out the door. Percy tried to stop him but fighting a horse without hurting it was past his skill level – especially when the horse had no qualms about hurting Percy. Blackjack made off with the box and Percy spit some feathers out of his mouth. Blackjack had bashed him in the face with his wing on the way past.

"So, I'm the only one that can hurt you?"

"Seems so."

"That's so…" she trailed off when she saw him looking at the floor. "Percy I'm not going to hurt you."

He passed the sword from one hand to another and back again. "You can say that, but that won't stop it from happening."

Annabeth reached out and took his hand. She ran her thumb over her knuckles. She flipped his hand over. There was a scar shaped like an asterisk on his palm. "Percy, I swear…"

"Don't do that."

"Percy…"

He took his hand away and slid his back down the wall. He pushed the sword away from him with his foot. It skittered across the floor with a sound like nails on a chalkboard, but sadder. "If you met the gods that are in charge of the world, well, you probably wouldn't dare make a promise like that. They're all twisted. And even if you don't mean to hurt me, it'll happen. Everyone I love ends up dead. I just feel like if nobody was close to me, nobody would get hurt. If I... if I let go of the people I care about then I can't do anything to protect them. Or someone will use them to try to get to me. Or…"

Annabeth sat down next to him. She had no idea what to say. If he had been shouldering all of this since he was twelve, Annabeth had no idea how he had remained upright for ten years. Annabeth pulled him into her. "Perce, I hate to tell you that I'm not going anywhere." When he slouched down with the weight of the world on his shoulders, he was the perfect height for her to kiss the top of his head, which she did.

He buried his face in her neck and dry sobs racked his body. Annabeth wrapped her arms around him tighter.

When he pulled away, his jaw was set, and Annabeth was surprised by how normal he looked. He stepped over his sword, completely ignoring it. He faceplanted on his bed.

"I'm sorry," he told his pillow. "You should go."

It took Annabeth a minute to realize he was talking to her, not the pillow. "What? No!"

"I don't want you to get hurt because of me. You should go."

"And I don't get a say in this?"

Percy looked up at her. He looked mad. "I'm trying to be a decent person here."/p

"No, you're not! You're just being insufferable!" She knew he was probably trying to make her mad, so that she would leave, but she was not planning on it. She fought for what she wanted, and right now, what she wanted was Percy.

He didn't answer, just looked at her. Something mad was flickering in his eyes, making him look unhinged.

"And I suppose you couldn't have made this decision weeks ago?" she asked.

"I hadn't exactly planned on the last 48 hours!" He sat up and gestured wildly with his arms. "Look," his voice cracked. "I just… I care… I care too much to see you get hurt." He rushed the last sentence, like he was trying to combine it into one word.

"What the hell do you think you're doing right now?"

"Blackjack can take you back to your dorm."

"Fine." She walked out the door. She turned around once she got outside. He was staring at the ceiling. She opened her mouth to say something, but the words wouldn't come. She had no idea what she would say even if she was physically capable of talking.

Campers were blatantly looking at her. Some at least had the decency to pretend that they were not, but for the most part, they were abandoning all subtlety. Annabeth realized that the argument hadn't exactly been quiet. The entire camp had probably been able to here, and she was certain everyone who had not happened to bear witness would hear about it before dinner.

Annabeth felt nauseous. She looked around for Blackjack, but she couldn't see him anywhere. She sank down to the ground and tried to focus on not throwing up.

What had just happened? Had he just broken up with her? It was kind of a dick move, considering they hadn't been officially together. As much as Annabeth wanted to hate Percy Jackson for what had just happened, she couldn't. And she couldn't shake the feeling that they were supposed to be together – platonically at the very least. But Percy had made it pretty clear that she was not going to be part of his life anymore. His reasons may have been stupid, but he was determined.

Something ruffled her hair. She knew it wasn't Percy, but she could not help but be disappointed when she saw Blackjack. The pegasus looked forlorn, as if he didn't like how things had ended up either.

He waited patiently while Annabeth scrambled up, very awkwardly without Percy helping her.

"Take me home, I guess."

Annabeth really did not want to tell Piper about any of this. The girl would alternate between threatening to strangle her for giving up and threatening to kill Percy for being a dick. Which he was not really, he was just trying to do the right thing, however much it hurt. Which Annabeth could appreciate if it wasn't her that it was happening to./p

The answer struck Annabeth like a bolt of lightning. Who she really wanted to talk to about this. Who would understand completely and maybe even be able to give her some advice. They were skimming the shore of Long Island, the city rising up before them like a jumble of children's blocks.