Hi. I'm sorry, there seems to be a lot of confusion about my last author's note. I meant the 'doesn't wanna be friends' comment in correlation to Bad Romance lyrics. Meaning she wants his love, she doesn't want to be friends. If you look at that, I've corrected it.

Also, I just wanted to make it clear that this story takes place in the summer, between Battle of the Labyrinth and The Last Olympian.

Thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU SOOO MUCH for getting Accident's reviews into the 200s!!! I appreciate each and every review—anonymous or signed. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed! (Or just read!)

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians in any way shape or form. I didn't write it. I didn't buy it. I didn't sell it. I didn't do anything to it except OOC-ify the characters and put them up here.

"Percy, can you pull over right there?" asked Grover. I'd finally managed to convince him that I didn't hate him. Annabeth said she needed to shower, and Juniper said she got carsick, so Grover sat next to me with the map. I absolutely refused to let anyone else drive the car. (Guess I'm possessive.)

I complied with his request and pulled over at the gas station. "What's up?"

"We're running on vapors," he said. I looked at the meter and realized he was right. "It's a good thing that I noticed, because you clearly didn't." I smiled sheepishly, then stepped out of the car and headed to the fill up thingy.

I watched the counter and when it got to fifteen gallons, I stopped it. Leaning in the car, I told Grover that I'd go pay inside. It was kind of annoying not having a credit card, but whatever.

I paid inside and left the building. Sliding into the car, I said, "I absolutely refuse to stop until we've gone another 50 miles."

"Um, okay, good luck with that," said Grover. He had a weird look on his face, like he knew something I didn't.

***

He was right. We drove another 15 miles when Annabeth appeared in front of me, in an Iris-Message. Like, the thing was blocking the road. I screamed.

"What in the name of Hades are you doing, Annabeth! Do you not realize that I am currently driving the car that you are a passenger of? And that I could get us all killed?"

"Please," she snorted. "With that kind of monster attracting aura, you could get us all killed at any time."

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" I roared. Well, I'd like to think I did. I honestly don't think my voice is loud enough to be considered roaring. The car swerved madly. It was lucky that we were driving on a country road that was pretty much deserted.

"No need to yell. I just IM'd to say to pull over. Juniper and I have something to discuss with you guys."

The car swerved again. It slid to the left of the lane, then back to the right. I looked through the side window, trying to keep it under control. "Annabeth. Cut. This. Off. Right. Now!"

"Jeez, fine!" She cut through the mist.

I kept driving. "Why are you not stopping?" asked Grover.

"Payback."

"You're pathetic, you know that, right?"

"I don't have any other way." I made sure that I drove another twenty minutes. Luckily, she didn't IM again.

***

I screeched to a stop, just as I reached my 50 mile goal. Stepping out of the car, I called out to Grover. "Aren't you coming?"

His curly, goat-man hair was flattened. He blinked a couple of times and said, "Sure. Sure."

Hey, how was I supposed to know that driving at 160 and then opening the car windows wasn't a good idea? Blame Zephyr, not me.

***

"Care to explain why you IM'd me when you knew that I was driving the car?" I yelled at Annabeth. "Do you have a death wish? I mean, come on!"

She ignored me and stared at my face, like she was concentrating on something. After squinting for a minute, she shook her head like she was trying to forget something, she said, "Come to the coffee table. We all need to discuss something." Her speech was slow and…slurred, like she was drunk. I laughed nervously.

"Juniper, are you sure that she's not high or something?" I asked. Juniper glared at me, and Annabeth did too.

"I am not taking drugs and I am not under the influence of alcohol, as I am sure you are wondering. Please come to the table now!" she said loudly. I could tell she tried to cover her weird voice…issues, but it didn't quite work. Her voice was still slow and slurry. Plus, the words…it didn't seem like stuff she normally said.

"Okay?" I said, and I walked to the table. Juniper started talking.

"I think we need to ditch this RV. It's just slowing us down and using more gas. Besides, we won't need it soon. We can sleep in the car like we did yesterday."

"You're kidding, right?" I asked disbelievingly. "We can't just leave this thing on the side of the road. For one thing, we have a lot of stuff in here."

"That's what the boot of the car is for," pointed out Juniper. Annabeth looked like she wanted to say something, but then a strange look came over her face, and she went blank.

"Okay. Sure. And where will we sleep? In another day, I can guarantee that you will hate that car and its backseat."

"That'll be my problem. I can deal with it, and so can the rest of you. You've gone through worse."

"Uh huh." We had gone through worse, but it was fun having someplace to go at the end of the day. No, more than fun. It made the quest easy, and I didn't want it to stop. I mean, we protect the world everyday. Is it so much to feel…content once in a while?

"Percy, our first priority is to get to the Florence immediately. We can't worry about our own comfort or anything else until then. We're heroes, Percy. We are the greatest heroes of this millennium. We can't be selfish. Because, just because, of the way the fates worked it out." Grover said. His voice was quiet, but strong. He was absolutely not going to give up on this.

I don't know what I would have said then. I guess we'll never find out, because right then, the ground shook, in a rhythm. Like when Mrs. O'Leary walks, only a thousand times more forcefully.

Mrs. O'Leary is 12 feet tall. To be a thousand times more forceful than her, something either had to be much, much heavier than her, or much, much taller.

Looking out of the window, I could easily believe that this was both.

***

The fox looked just like a normal fox…if a fox was 200 feet tall. And if a fox had a full set of shark's teeth.

I knew this monster. Think, I told myself, what is it?

The memory came to me in a flash.

I was a sixth grade student in Yancy Academy. Mr. Brunner was instructing our Latin class in Greek monsters. Nancy Bobofit was snickering about something and Grover was sitting next to me.

"It was impossible to capture this monster. To get rid of it, Zeus had to send it into the sky as a constellation. Can somebody tell me which monster this is? Yes, Mr. Underwood."

"It's the Teumessian Fox, Sir."

"That is correct, Mr. Underwood. Who can tell me who defeated the monster in the end? Nobody? Ah, well, the thing was finally defeated by the magical dog Laelaps. Laelaps would always catch his prey and the Teumessian Fox could never be caught. To solve this dilemma, Zeus had to fling the pair into the sky—and that's how Canis Major and Canis Minor were created. That is all for today's class."

I looked at Grover, and he looked at me at the same time. I knew he knew which monster was stalking us.

"The Teumessian Fox," breathed Annabeth.

"We don't stand a chance," said Juniper. "Get ready to die," she said, with a quiver in her voice.

"We are the greatest heroes of this millennium. And we don't give up. Ever." I said. I was terrified, but you couldn't tell by my voice. It was strong. "Come on. Draw your weapons." For good measure, I pulled Riptide out. "We are going to fight or die. And if we die, I'll see you in Elysium."

Just as I said the last syllable of Elysium, the door flew open, and a monstrous claw probed inside the RV. I slashed at it with Riptide, and then turned to face the others. "Come on. We are going to kill an invincible fox."

***

The battle was raging. It was like fighting three armies with four people. Juniper had a long spear with a celestial bronze tip, and Grover had a wooden club. Where they got them, I had no idea. I could see Grover's reed pipes sticking out of his back pocket. They were the old set, not the ones he had been awarded by the Cloven Council. They were the ones that his daddy goat had carved for him. The ones he'd had on our first quest.

I stabbed at the Fox. It was not…Juniper was right. We didn't have a chance of a snowball in the Fields of Punishment.

The thing turned to me, baring its fangs and snapping feverishly. It wasn't afraid. Nothing could catch it. None of the rest of us had that advantage. But we still kept going.

Grover moved behind it, playing a melody like flies buzzing around a carcass in the forest. It was slow and cutthroat dangerous. It irritated the monster, and he spun around. The Fox snapped at Grover, still playing around with us. Juniper crossed around, so she was standing, like, 40 feet away from me and directly across from Grover.

"Hey! Hey, ugly! Look over here! Look what I have!" Juniper yelled. She gripped the javelin a little higher than the center, at the 'sweet spot'. She threw it really high, hitting the monsters butt. He screeched like—

I really shouldn't cuss.

He spun around and threw himself against the RV, tipping it over. Kneeling by it, it came halfway up him. I hope that tells you how tall he was.

The Fox started groaning in agony. I wanted to tell him not to overact. I mean, how much worse could it be than sitting on a tack?

Much worse, apparently.

In a flash, I saw Annabeth climbing up the tipped-over RV.

"Annabeth! What are you doing?" I hollered. She ignored me and kept climbing. I sighed and ran after her.

I started climbing the trailer, right behind Annabeth. I had a flash of Déjà vu. This was just like when we were on Polyphemus's island, climbing the cliff. Then too, we had been going to fight a huge monster.

Annabeth was on the thing's neck now. I could see her plan. Grover and Juniper attack from the bottom, while she and I attack from the top. I had to admit, it was a good plan. In fact, it was perfect…until things went wrong.

She grabbed the thick fur at his neck and gripped her knife by the hilt. I jumped onto the Fox's back. He was stunned that two people were actually on him, I guess, so he didn't react for a minute. But the next thing he did was purely on instinct.

He jumped another 50 feet into the air, carrying the two of us with him. I cut deep into his back with Anaklusmos and he screamed, spinning around in midair. The sharp motion twisted the sword out of my hand, and in skittered to the ground far behind Grover. It would take a minute or two before it would reappear in my pocket. Until then, I was stuck on a huge dog type of thing, without a weapon.

Annabeth slashed at the neck of the thing a few times desperately. Ichor dripped down his neck in huge beads, pooling on the ground in front of Juniper. She slid to her left to avoid the slippery liquid.

The Fox howled in agony. He snapped his head backwards and Annabeth flew off, landing in the dusty, sharp gravel.

"Annabeth!" I screamed. Juniper broke away from the fight and ran to Annabeth. She knelt over Annabeth, putting her hand on her wrist, probably checking for a pulse. I remembered 11 days ago that I'd done the same thing.

I jumped off of the Fox in disgust. Sliding next to Grover, I yelled, "We need to kill this thing!" He nodded, and together we advanced towards the head of the giant Teumessian Fox.

Grover, creeping up from the left, wasn't noticed. The Fox was too busy moaning over his injuries. Grover slammed the thing on his head; it was a solid blow, and the Fox howled. His head lowered to the ground until his chin touched it.

I don't think he ever saw Anaklusmos arc through the air.

I didn't stay behind to stare at the rapidly melting remains of the monster. I ran to where Annabeth and Juniper where. Behind me, I heard Grover panting to catch up.

When I got there, Annabeth's eyes were open, but I could tell that it was using a lot of her energy just to keep them that way. Her breath came in quick pants.

She looked at Grover and Juniper in turn, her face filling with desperation as he looked at each of them. She didn't seem to notice me standing next to her. All of a sudden she turned and looked at me.

The confusion and desperation cleared. She smiled the teeniest bit and asked, "Percy?"

And then her eyelids closed.

I understood in a minute what had happened. The disease hadn't gone into effect when we started the quest. The disease had started at the car accident. And it had been exactly 11 days, 11 hours, and 11 minutes since then.

"In 11 days, 11 hours, and 11 minutes, she will collapse into a comatose state...you will have one hour before she will succumb to the disease completely. Once your hour is up, she will be beyond help of any power—god, titan, or even Ouranos. One hour is all the time you have."