Merry Christmas Eve! So today you're getting 2 chapters: one because it's Friday, one because (duh) it's Christmas Eve! Yay! Happy birthday, Jesus, even though your birthday is technically in April!

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Annabeth's POV

The first thing I did when I woke up was run to the bathroom.

I was lying on the floor, breathing in and out, trying not to barf. Sexy, right?

You're okay, I told myself. Not nauseous anymore. I started to get up, but my stomach rolled suddenly, and I promptly threw up in the toilet. I fell back, groaning.

A knock came at the door. "Annabeth? Did you just barf?"

"Shut up, Owen," I groaned. "I think I got the flu from Percy, okay?"

"...probably from all those make-out sessions," I heard him say as he left me alone. I rolled my eyes, but that only made me want to vomit again.

Another knock at the door. "Annabeth? Can I come in?"

I groaned again, but I unlocked the door to let my sister Juliet inside. She locked the door behind her, and laid down next to me. We both sighed. "What's up?"

I frowned. "Sick." Why did I feel like I was lying?

Juliet was quiet for a while, then she sighed. "You're not sick."

I turned my head to look at her, confused in my haze of nausea. "What?"

She turned to look at me too. "Come on, Annabeth. You've been throwing up every day at the same time for like four days."

Gods, what was she getting at? My brain swam in a daze of sickness. "I'm slow today, Jules," I said. "Please."

Her eyebrow raised. "Fine." She pressed something in my hand suddenly, then bolted for the door. "Don't freak," she told me. "Just do it, for both of our sakes." Then she was gone.

Confused, I looked slowly down at my hand. No. Juliet was crazy. A pregnancy test? There was no way, right? Well, there was that one time...

It was dark as I picked my way across the wet agora. The moon shone in a fat, round circle in the night sky. So did the stars. The grass was wet; it seeped through my shoes, all the way to my socks. So much for Vans being water-proof. Oh well. I would've had to throw them out anyway; scorch marks on sneakers don't prove well when your dad sees them.

My foot caught on something in the dark suddenly, forcing me to catch myself on the side of the house. I swore loudly, then covered my own mouth with one hand. Thank the gods I was invisible.

The window opened easily, silently. I slid inside, shivering with delight at the warmth.

Snoring filled the room. Of course. Thank Athena there was only one occupant. I tiptoed over to the bed, slipping into the warm sheets as quietly as possible. The body already occupying the bed stiffened instantly.

"Annabeth?"

I slipped off my hat wordlessly, founding myself once again lost in those hypnotizing sea green eyes. "Hi, Seaweed Brain," I breathed.

"Hi, Wise Girl." He greeted me with a soft kiss. His hand was warm as he cupped the side of my face. "What are you doing here?"

I smiled. "What, I can't see my boyfriend?"

"I didn't say that, now did I?" I smiled as he gave me another kiss, pulling me deeper into the sheets with him. We weren't kissing anymore; we were making out. His fingers twisted into my hair. His hand moved up and down my back.

"Annabeth, Alice could come back any second," he warned as we broke for air.

"So?" I said in between kisses. "She's won't come back for a while." We continued our make-out session. Suddenly we were both shirtless. I didn't care. His hands slid from my shoulders slowly down to rest on my hips. I shivered. It felt so good to have his hands on me. I pressed myself closer to him. He moaned softly against my lips. My body was on fire. My skin seared wherever he touched me.

I wrapped my arms around him, my boyfriend. My Seaweed Brain. Perseus Jackson kissed my brain out of my skull, pulling me into sweet, sweet darkness.

But now I stared at the pink stick, waiting, waiting. Waiting for that stupid little pink plus sign to change. Change to anything. Anything but this. Oh, gods. I dropped the stick, running a hand through my hair. My brain felt frozen. What was I going to do? What was I going to tell Juliet? What was I going to tell Percy? I sat back.

My brain suddenly whooshed awake, shooting a million steps ahead of my situation. First, lie to Juliet. Second, lie to Percy. I know, I should tell him. But he's a Seaweed Brain, for gods' sake. He wouldn't be able to handle it. So, leave him (I almost cried at the thought of those words). Hide the truth from him, maybe until he/she was old enough to meet his/her father. Maybe.

I shoved the stick in my pocket. #1: lie to my sister. I unlocked the door. My brothers and sisters were all distracted, as usual.

Sophie and Alec were having a 2:00 a.m. Trigonometry contest. Malcolm was teaching the basics of Algebra to one-year old Cadmus St. Cloud, but the kid wasn't paying attention at all. I didn't blame him. Algebra was mediocre compared to Calculus anyway.

Owen was eyeing me suspiciously from the other side of the room, but one glare from me and he went back to writing his quadratic equations. Even little Ashley was up, smiling at me from her bunk, where she was reading Sir Cumferemce and the Dragon of Pi.

Juliet appeared in front of me suddenly. "Well?" she demanded in a low voice.

I faked a grin. "Negative," I told her quietly.

She smiled, breathing a sigh of relief. "Awesome. I knew it couldn't be positive, anyway."

BANG. "OW! Godsdammit!" Alec ran over and opened the door, revealing Adam Blair from the Hermes cabin, rubbing a red mark on his forehead.

"Hey, Adam," I said, waving Alec back to Sophie.

"Sorry," he told me sheepishly. "Lost control." He lifted one foot to show me his winged shoe. "Message for you." He held out a scroll.

I smiled weakly at him. "Thanks, Adam." He gave me a mock salute, then flew away. I rolled open my scroll as soon as my siblings went back to their work. It was written in sloppy Greek, no surprise.

Annabeth, Meet me at the beach. Got to talk to you. –Percy

I tapped the message; it dissolved, as designed. I gave one last glance to my cabin before slipping out the door, my heart heavy.

Percy was looking super nervous when I showed up at the beach. The sky was still dark, the stars fading away. Our attack would start soon. He was sitting on a blue blanket in the sand, clutching something tightly in his fist. He looked up at me fearfully as I sat next to him, silent.

"Hey, Wise Girl," he greeted, his voice wavering slightly. My nickname paired with that beautiful grin almost had me in tears. Almost. I stared wordlessly at the sea, lapping gently at the sand, trying to plan my words.

Percy wasn't looking at me, so I didn't expect him to notice my change in behavior. His words came out rushed, nervous, and unsure.

"You know, the only reason I asked you to meet me here is because…the war's starting, and this time the Fates might decide to completely rip us off and kill one of us. So I finally did…this." He took a breath. "I'm sorry it took this long, but I have to tell you something, Wise Girl. I've never told anyone this, except for Tony, and only 'cause he's my second best friend—you know, next to you. Annabeth, you've been my best friend for years. Ever since the first day I met you. Through all our quests, all our adventures, the second Titan war. Through…everything. We've been dating for over three years now." My heart lurched. He remembered how long we'd been together. My eyes pricked. "And I…love you, Annabeth Chase. With everything that I've got. Since forever. For forever."

My words were stuck in my throat. I couldn't say anything.

Percy took a deep breath. "Please say something. " His voice was so scared. So naïve. So adorable.

I looked away. "Percy, I…can't. I'm sorry, but…I'm leaving you." As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted them. But it was the right thing, right?

I shot up, ready to run away in tears, but Percy caught my arm. "Wh-what?"

I could hear the hurt in his voice. The fear. "I'm leaving you," I repeated, blinking back tears. "I can't say why, but—"

"What did I do?"

It was so like him, to think it was his fault. His face was starting to crinkle, like a baby's. Mine was too. "You didn't do anything." I looked away from his beautiful face. "It's not you. It's me." Gods, I hated those words. They just popped out of my mouth. I hated movies that said that. And now I said that.

I tore my hand away from him and ran. I went straight for the woods, not caring that monsters lived there.

I sank against a tree, still sobbing. The dryads poked their heads out to look at me sympathetically, but I guess they knew I wanted to be alone, because they disappeared without another glance.

I glared down at my stomach. "Stupid baby," I muttered under my breath. "You made me lose everything."

But I swear on the River Styx something moved inside me. And not in that stupid Twilight-vampire-baby sort of way. (Don't judge me; I only know that because I spent too much time around the Aphrodite cabin—NOT by choice.) I knew that, no matter how much this baby took from me, I would love it, whatever it was.

Why? Because it was his baby. Percy's. Seaweed Brain's. And as long as I had something to do with it, he would never know.

"Ow!" Something flew out of nowhere and landed on me.

"OW! NICO!" I shouted.

"Sorry!" he yelped, rolling off my stomach. He stared at me. "Were you crying?"

"No!" The word slipped out in the wrong tone.

He raised his eyebrows, standing up and turning to go. "Fine, fine." I sighed quietly in relief, but of course that's just when my body decided to throw up again.

"Ugh, gross!" Nico complained.

I wiped my mouth. "Sorry." I sat back, breathing in clean air. I cracked open one eye when I realized Nico was still there. "What?"

He stared at me. "Annabeth, are you…?"

"What?" I glared, daring him to say it. But I couldn't lie to him too. I was too exhausted. I wiped tears away in annoyance. "You felt it, didn't you?"

He nodded. "My dad's the god of the dead. I can sense new life…to an extent."

"Please don't tell Percy," I pleaded.

His eyes widened. "It's Percy's?"

"Who else's would it be?" I demanded.

He held up his hands in an 'I surrender' motion. "Gods, crazy hormones! I'm still getting over it, okay?"

I sank back against the tree. "You're not the only one."

He sat with me. "When'd you find out?"

"Around twenty minutes ago," I admitted. "I've been throwing up every morning at the exact same time for three days. The only reason Percy and Tony haven't noticed is 'cause I'm good at keeping secrets."

Silence settled. I shifted nervously. Nico spoke. "So…what are you going to do?"

"Nothing," I said bluntly. "And no, I'm not dropping out of today's raid. Or else he'll find out."

Nico was quiet. "Why don't—"

"Annabeth! Where'd you go? It's time!" Malcolm's voice echoed to us through the trees.

I stood up. "Don't tell anyone or I'll sic Thalia on you," I threatened before I left.

Percy's POV

I felt frozen. She was long gone. I hadn't moved an inch. Everything was so cold. I looked down at my hand.

The ring sat there, silver with an emerald flanked by two diamonds. It had cost me my whole stash of drachmas.

"Percy!"

It took me a full minute to register that someone was calling my name. I turned. Tony was running up to me. "Where were you, man? C'mon, we gotta get ready!"

That jerked me back to reality. The war. Right. I got up. Tony was looking at me funny. "Percy, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," I mumbled. I shoved the ring into my pocket. It was time.

"Seriously," Tony pressed as I started strapping on my armor in the arena. "Something's up."

I caught her eye from across the arena. She looked away immediately. "Nothing's up," I said.

"You can't lie to me," Tony said. "I'm your best friend, man."

I walked past him wordlessly. Nico appeared next to me, hurrying to catch up. I thought I saw Annabeth flash him a deadly look. Weird.

"Are you ready?" he asked me.

"No," I answered. "But we should get this over with."

Juliet and Ashley were waiting for me at the beach. "The ship is ready," Juliet told me. She picked up Ashley, waiting for me to go first.

The ship was about the size of a common ferry. It was made of shining bronze, engraved with pictures of the gods. The masthead was a woman in a white chiton, looking strangely like the masthead of the Princess Andromeda, except for the face.

"It's Hestia," Juliet informed. "Your patron." [A/N: I didn't know who to actually put. If you think that's wrong, review saying so and if I get enough on one particular god I'll come back and change it. Promise.]

I looked at her quickly, but I didn't say anything. Elijah Andrews met me at the prow. "It's all ready," he said. "It rows itself. Cabin Nine programmed it with just about everything. Even an invisibility shield, but you can't use it for long."

"Percy." Brandon, Sunny, Emily, and Natasha were standing behind me, arrow-filled quivers on their backs, bows in hand. "We're ready."

"Good," I said. I had no butterflies in my stomach. I knew how to do this. I didn't like it, but I wasn't so clueless. Not to say I wasn't scared. I was terrified. Only a fool goes into battle fearless. Her words.

"Percy, on your command." Emily Archer's voice brought me back.

I cleared my throat. "Take your places." The archers nodded. I went over to the side of the ship. "GUYS!"

Everyone down below shut up and looked at me. I raised my voice. "Does everyone know the game plan?" There was a murmur of "yes". "This won't be easy! They'll have every monster in the book!" They were quiet. Attentive. To me. I was the leader. "But hey! We're demigods! The gods are on our side!"

"Now let's KICK SOME ASS!" Tony yelled, thrusting his sword in the air.

They cheered for us.

"Places!" Juliet shouted.

I willed the water to push the ship off shore. "Everyone ready?" I asked.

"No," Sunny answered.

"But we'll do it if it means keeping everyone safe," Brandon's expression clearly said he was doing it for his girlfriend Priscilla, locked in the Big House basement with a broken leg.

"Bear your arms, whatever that means," I announced. "Keep your girl in mind."

"Oh, I will," I thought I heard Nico mutter.

I'm sure everyone prayed to their parents when the enemy army came into view. Memories of the Battle of Manhattan suddenly flashed into my mind. Hellhounds and telkhines swimming, boats full of dracaenae, empousai, you name it.

I took one last look-around. Sunny, Brandon, and Emily were sitting under the prow, six arrows notched in each bow. Ashley from Cabin Six couldn't have been more than six or seven herself, but she grabbed a bow and ducked down too, giving me a curt nod that was too adult for her age.

"Hey. You're ready, right? No blanking out on us."

Juliet seemed so much like Annabeth in her bronze armor and blonde ponytail I almost called her that. The thought crushed my heart, twisting the knife in it painfully. "Yeah," I croaked. Juliet gave me a funny look, but she turned her attention to the horizon.

Tony elbowed me, waggling his eyebrows. I rolled my eyes. The enemy cheered suddenly, evilly. Even from how far I was, I could see two kids standing on one of the ships: a girl with white-blonde hair, and a tall boy with shifting armor. Her eyes, somehow seeable, glittered at me.

I uncapped Riptide and thrust it in the air. "FOR OLYMPUS!" I yelled.

My team cheered with me. For a second I felt like I could win this. This was our battle. We were going to kick ass.

I jumped off the ship, landing on the hardened water I wanted. I saw the water freeze a hundred feet ahead, and two people jumped on the ice.

I propelled forward, but was soon met by Johnny Nickels, who was doing the same, and Jessica Marina, riding on a wave of ice.

"Nice to see you again," Jessica commented as her frozen block of arm met Riptide. My blade left a gash in the ice. Ice and sparks flew when we struck.

The campers on the beach had to work like blurs to keep Johnny busy. I wondered absently what their attack was.

"FIRE!" Juliet's voice screamed from behind me.

I threw up a wave of water to keep the sudden volley of arrows from hitting us. But something slammed into my side, shoving me back so far that in about ten seconds I felt something scraping the heels of my Reeboks. I realized Jessica'd gone all ice-block and rammed me so hard I went all the way back to the shore.

I gritted my teeth, shoved her off, and slashed at her, leaving a big gash across her armor. Her face twisted in anger, and she swiped back, giving me a good lick on the cheek—which of course, didn't leave a mark.

I heard someone yell in pain—Tony? Nico? Annabeth? I couldn't tell. For about two seconds my attention was on everyone else. That was all Jessica needed. Her kick to the back of my knee brought me to the ground, my stupid, but instinctive swipe gave her my arm. If I wasn't invulnerable, she would've cut my head off, but I think she didn't know that, because her blade sparked off my neck.

I took advantage of her momentary surprise. I whirled, stole her sword, and gave her a cut across the cheek, then kicked her in the chest and threw her sword like a javelin. It went clean through her hand. She screamed in pain, clutching the wound as it began to freeze over. Her frosty, pale blue eyes glared at me with a murderous glimmer so strong she could've made the Furies proud.

A stabbing sound snapped me awake; I turned to see an armed empousa fall. Tony twirled his sword once, spearing another monster behind him. "I got your back, man," he told me, grinning.

"Thanks." I impaled a dracaena. We nodded at each other, then rejoined the fight.

It felt good to fight. I returned to the water, jumping on a wave like a surfer. I sliced through a couple telkhines, feeling good, then something skidded across my face and I found myself face-to-face with Johnny Nickels.

I readied Riptide. He raised his own sword menacingly. Our eyes were locked, his ready for revenge (for what, I didn't know), mine probably for victory. We stayed like that for what felt like hours. Someone could've whistled the Western theme.

But right about when we were about to strike—

"Johnny!" Jessica was screaming. "RETREAT! THEY HAVE US OUTNUMBERED!"

Johnny glowered at me, but he scooped up Jessica bridal-style, and sank under the waves, probably in a bubble. I gave them an extra push for good measure.

I heard everyone whooping behind me. Nico high-fived me once I got to shore, and Tony and me chest-bumped, yelling, "WHOOO!"

We'd won for once.

Or, at least, this time.

Duh, duh, DUHHH! Great surprise for Annabeth, but crappy at the same time. And how could she break up with Percy? I just think that's messed up, and I'm the one that wrote it! On the bright side, at least they managed to fend off the Order...for now.

Hey, but, I'll tell you a secret, guys: this whole chapter is basically a huge billboard sign screaming FORESHADOWING! You know, just in case you didn't see it. I have so many surprises in store for you :) And they're all waiting to jump out at you... So, go ahead and press the next button over there , and read on.