"ANNABETH TO YOUR RIGHT!" Timmy screeched, pointing with his left hand at the Dracnae blundering towards me, fighting off a Cyclops with his right.

"Thanks!" I called out, swiftly slamming my knife into her stomach.

"Thalia! I got your back!" I cried jogging toward Thalia who had four monsters on her, two Dracnae, one Fury, and something I didn't recognize. Together we took on the Dracnaes. Then we moved onto the Fury who we had in a pile of dust before she even saw us coming. The thing neither of us recognized proved to be something a little more difficult but after some expert tree climbing and the help of a hand grenade from the Stoll Brothers we had it in a dainty pile of powder on the cool forest floor.

"Good work girls" Timmy grinned up at us, taking a swig of something that looked suspiciously like wine, but on closer inspection was Juicy Juice, and popping a grape into his mouth. Where he was getting this food I do not know, nor do I care as long as he shares.

"You know you're not so bad for a four year old," Thalia ruffled his hair and started jogging in place while I collapsed on a log. I half envied her. She was always so full of energy, so stunning even when she didn't try. I thought about my icky mess of tangled blond locks which I doubted still looked blond even though we'd only been out here for two days. My skin was grimy and sunburned, hers was tan and glowing, I was covered in scratches and scrapes, she had one bruise on her knee, my clothes were in tatters, my jeans already ripped, my knees already skinned, my hands already scraped, the sleeves of my shirt were pretty much nonexistent. Thalia's clothes all looked like they had just come out of the washing machine and had been ironed. It just wasn't fair.

"Thanks, you too…well for a girl I mean…" Timmy grinned at her and then turned his attention to me. "Annabeth are you tired? We can take a rest you know." His big eyes were so full of concern and sympathy. I looked up a Thalia her eyes held the same emotions. It made me really angry. I didn't need their pity. Thalia never pitied me. I didn't need sympathy. I am perfectly capable, I am fine, I don't care if I'm a mess and can barely move because of all those stupid monsters, I am Annabeth Chase and I can do-

"Yeah I'm really tired, can we take a rest."

Defeat. It's a terrible feeling.

I leaned my head on Thalia's backpack and shut my eyes, enjoying the crickets chirping and the absence of human voices. It was calming. We'd been traveling for two days. Argus had dropped us off somewhere in Tennessee and we had somehow ended up in the jungle (well actually Thalia said it was a forest but I'm calling it a jungle because it sounds a lot cooler and more dangerous), don't ask how though 'cause I don't know. Thalia told us we needed to head more north and since she's all Hunter-ey now we decided to trust her. Let me tell you, this is the worst quest I've ever been on. It's terrible. Horrific even. We'd already been attacked by twenty three monsters, yeah I counted, seven of which were unrecognizable and let me tell you very hard to kill. We were escaping with mere luck, my spirits were crushed and I had an odd feeling that it was because this was the first quest I'd been on without Percy. The only thing keeping me going was that at the end I would get to see Percy; that I would get to see his messy hair and green eyes again, that I would be able to hear that awkward chuckle again; his bad imitation of Mickey Mouse, to just see him again would make this all worth while.

"Annabeth?"

"Yes Timmy?"

"It's the journey that counts not the destination."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"We're never going to get to the destination if you don't try or have a better attitude. The journey counts more than the destination because you only get to the destination if you do the journey right."

"I'll take that as my cue to get up and start walking."

"I'm serious Annabeth think about that."

"Yeah, ok I'll make the journey good so we can get to the destination."

"You better or there's not going to be a destination."

I sighed and hopped up, tossing Thalia's silvery backpack towards her, slinging my own over my shoulder. I trekked ahead, enjoying the cool breeze on my burned skin and the leaves crunching under my sneakers. Sometimes Timmy really confused.

"Come on guys, we're going to get out of this jungle by the end of the night so pick up the pace" I beckoned for them to speed up. Timmy's little legs sped up to match the pace of my long ones, Thalia started walking instead of strolling in slow motion.

"Annabeth?"

"Yes, Thalia?"

"We're almost out of the forest, we should set up camp somewhere in here. We need to rest, none of us have slept in three days, that's not good and we need our energy."

"Can we sleep in a hotel?" Timmy's biy eyes lit up, well actually his whole face lit up, like a christmas tree.

"Um you see Timbo there aren't really any hotels out here." I winced as his expression fell.

"Oh" his little lip jutted out.

"…..I guess we could look for one." Defeat….again, aw crap.

"I knew we shouldn't have brought the kid! Him and Percy! They destroy your will power! BOYS!" Thalia cantankerously crossed her arms tightly over her chest.

"And what's wrong with that?"

"They make you weak!"

"Isn't it ok to be weak every once in awhile? Isn't ok to not be rock solid twenty four seven. Can't we be human for a little while?"

"Not at a time like this you can't!"

"Why not?" I kept my voice even, however Thalia's voice was verging on screaming.

"Because Kronos will use you! If you're weak he'll find you and he'll break you!" her voice rose, "Why do you think I joined the hunt? Do you seriously think I wanted to leave behind you? To leave behind my whole world? Luke? Of course not! I joined the hunt because boys make me….so pathetic. I can't afford to be weak Annbeth!" her voice broke. "You saw me last year with Luke. He makes me so weak it's sick. I can't be anywhere near that. It's not safe. It's not fair but it's not safe!"

I gaped at her.

"Well I highly doubt Percy would use me." I chewed on my lip. What was Thalia getting at?

"He would never." She agreed.

"And I'm pretty sure a four year old cracking my will power isn't going to end the world, Thalia?"

"Annabeth. You are so lucky. So lucky. You don't even realize it. Do you know how hard it is for the boy you love to be hated by all, to be worse than dead…to b-betray you? You have Percy! He'd never do a thing to hurt you. He loves you to pieces." Her chin jutted out and she angled her eyes downward. "It's not fair." Thalia started sobbing hysterically, like shoulders shaking, sobs wracking throughout her body, tears cascaded down her cheeks, falling in puddles on the ground, her knees wobbled and she teetered precariously. I was suddenly not so jealous of her anymore.

Defeated. Again. I don't like this emotion, it's something new to me and I'm not too fond of it. I'm not going to feel defeat though at the end of this quest. I refuse. I won't be defeated. I'm going to win. I hugged Thalia, standing on tiptoes.

"Thalia…." Timmy tugged on her hand.

"You gonna go all fortune cookie on us now Tim?" I grinned down at him.

"Yup."

Thank you guys so much for reviewing I really really appreciate. I don't really like this chapter and it doesn't make too much sense but reveiw anyways. Sorry in advance for mistakes. Constructive criticism appreciated, flames accepted though not always appreciated. Regarding my color metaphoric thing in the last chapter I think this is what I meant (though Timmy confuses me also and he's my own character! I know sad, right?)

white=yellow

Black=blue

grey=green

So nobody really likes grey Annabeth was saying, it's an icky color. So Timmy, regarding the fact that Percy's eyes are green and the fact that green is a very pretty color is saying that if you could have things green would you really want them yellow and blue? Ok yeah just forget it. If you get it, you get it. If you don't I'm sorry, I don't get it either.

If I don't get.....twelve reviews I'm not going to write the next chapter so clickety clickety on the review button. You know you want to! Love you guys.

Over and out.