Once again, only a few hours since the last chapter was posted, but I really want to get as much in as possible. I think I can post two new chapters by Saturday. Here's the first one. Enjoy!

I woke up the next morning feeling better than I had in a long time.

We made breakfast and continued walking, as usual, but this time we were all cheerier and more talkative. Percy was here. He was with Annabeth. The world was going to be okay.

We talked about the stags for a while, and after I told them about my dreams, they concluded that Artemis had done it to satisfy Kronos, and that she wasn't really trying to hurt us. Grover still looked stricken when he discovered they were Artemis's stags.

We made our way across Colorado, heading towards Denver, and before long we began to see civilization again. This brought our spirits up even more, and we forged ahead, determined to make it there by tomorrow. Our feet ached and we all needed some decent food.

When we stopped for lunch, I found Rachel. "Hey," I said.

"Hi," she replied, munching on dried beef.

"Are you upset?" I asked. When she looked at me with feigned confusion, I jerked my head towards Annabeth, who was polishing her knife.

She sighed. "Of course not, Percy. I'm happy for you. It's just…" She paused and glanced at me before continuing. "I know it would've never worked out between you and me, what with you and Annabeth and all, but I just wish…I don't know."

I nodded. "No, it probably never would've worked out with me and you," I said, staring at the sky. Then a slight smile crossed my face. "Now, Sparky…that's a different story."

She went pink. "What does that mean?" she snapped.

"Nothing, nothing," I said, holding up my hands in defeat. "But all I'm saying is if you would give him the chance to-"

"Oh, shut up," said Rachel. She walked away, muttering to herself.

Later, when Jacob and I were sparring, I suddenly brought his face close to mine. "So…now that I've got a girl, what about you, huh?"

We went through another string of blows. "What do you mean?" he said. "There's no other girls besides-"

I blocked his sneak attack and kept coming at him. "That's right," I said. "Rachel. Do you like her?"

His face went red, and he pushed me especially hard, knocking my sword out of my hands so hard it sunk into a tree trunk. "Swear you won't tell anyone?" he said finally, lowering his sword.

"Swear," I said, amputating mine from the bark.

He sighed. "I don't know," he said. "I mean, I do, but there's a lot of problems. She's older than me, she's mortal, and…" he stopped.

I said, "What?"

He turned even deeper red. "And…she kinda likes you."

"Don't be so sure," I said, winking at him. Then we walked back to where the group was resting.

Later that day, when we were walking towards Denver, a huge, oversized raven suddenly descended from the sky. It shot toward Rachel, and she screamed. Jacob yelled, "No!" and tackled her so the bird missed her head by inches. It squawked angrily, and Jacob waved his hand and caused a blast of lightning to vaporize it.

"You guys okay?" Grover called, but they weren't paying attention. Jacob was on top of Rachel, and for a minute, they stared into each other's eyes, unaware of anything else. Then Jacob suddenly cleared his throat and got up. "You okay?" he asked Rachel.

"Yeah," she replied, glaring at me for no apparent reason. Then we kept walking.

As we got closer and closer to Denver, I got more and more hopeful. We were almost there. If we could just make it a little longer, we could get some decent food, maybe get a hotel, find a ride to Frisco…

As night began to descend on us, Tyson and Grover suddenly stiffened. "Bad smell," murmured Tyson.

That's all the warning we got before the monsters attacked.

They came out of nowhere, hellhounds bursting out of the trees, four or five Laistrygonians coming out of the bushes, dracanae charging up from the valleys. They instantly surrounded us, and I knew we were about to be dinner.

I heard the flutter of wings, and two ridiculously ugly ladies came to rest in the middle of the group of monsters. Oh, great, I thought. They can fly now.

We drew our weapons as the monsters closed in. "Won't be needing those, dearies," cackled the first Gorgon. "You'll be dead before you can use them."

I moved forward, but Annabeth stopped me. "The Gorgons are bound by ancient laws," she said. "They can't attack until one of us does."

I had to think of a plan, and fast. A desperate plan formed in my head, and I went for it. I called to the sea. I felt the familiar tug in my gut, but I held it back for a moment.

"Go ahead, attack us," purred the Gorgons. "And we'll slice you apart before you can-"

I released the power. A wave of water crashed out of nowhere and took out a quarter of the monsters, leaving a wide gap in the circle. "Come one!" I yelled to my friends, who were sopping wet. We sprinted towards the city while the Gorgons screamed, "GET THEM!"

We ran as fast as we could, trying to find anything that could save us. But we were too tired and slow. The monsters chased us all the way to a narrow cliff.

We finally lost them then, but I could still hear them behind us, and I knew if we kept running, we'd never shake them. Jacob had the same idea. "Guys, run for it," he said.

"What?" I said.

"You've got to get out. They're trying to get me. Can't you feel it? I'm Kronos's last chance of changing the prophecy. He's the Lord of Time. If I willingly give myself to him, he can probably accelerate my age so that I'm sixteen. He knows I'm the only one who would even think about doing that. But I won't. You guys run. I'll make my last stand here. If I kill them, I'll meet you in Denver. If I don't…" he glanced down the cliff, where sharp spires of rock awaited at the bottom. Then he turned on Skysoarer. "I'll go down fighting."

"Sparky, no. You can't do this. Please." Annabeth was crying, and Grover had tears in his eyes too. I knew why. Thalia had probably made a similar speech when she'd sacrificed herself, nine years ago, on top of Half-Blood Hill.

He touched her shoulder. "I have to," he said. He turned to me, and suddenly the chilling lines of the prophecy rang in my head: One must be lost to achieve your true goal.

Jacob nodded, reading my thoughts. "The prophecy comes true. You may be trying to save the Hunters, Percy, but your true goal is to defeat Kronos on your sixteenth birthday. That's what you have to do." He gave me a smile, and I smiled back. "Thank you for training me. I couldn't have had a better teacher."

"Jacob…" I started. I couldn't stand that he was doing this. The entire quest, I'd been worrying about who could be lost in the prophecy, and sometimes I'd secretly wished it would be Jacob. But now I realized I couldn't let him die. He'd become a closer friend than I'd ever dreamed, but I couldn't think of how to tell him.

He turned to Grover. "I know it doesn't look good for the satyrs right now, man, but I know, somehow, you'll pull through. Carry on Pan's legacy. It's what you were born to do."

Tyson was next. The Cyclops was sobbing; obviously he understood what Jacob was about to do. "I know it's tough for you, big guy," Jacob said, "But you're the bravest Cyclops in the world. Never doubt that."

Tyson crushed him in a hug, "I will miss you, Sparky," he said.

Jacob patted his arm, then turned to Nico. They stared at each other for a second, then Jacob clasped his hand. "I hope you find what you're looking for," he said. Nico just nodded.

Last was Rachel. Jacob looked down for a second, then said, "Rachel…"

Before he could say anything else, Rachel rushed forward and kissed him full on the mouth. His eyes widened, then gently closed as he put his arms around her waist. After a few seconds, they broke apart. "Kick some monster butt for me," she said, smiling. She wasn't crying...Rachel barely ever cried…but she looked terribly grieved. Jacob just nodded and let her go.

I could hear the monsters coming. They were getting closer. Jacob ushered us away. "Go!" he said. "Hurry!"

I took one last look back, then I dashed off into the tall grass. The city was maybe five miles away. We ran for about thirty yards, then we turned and watched. I put my arms around Annabeth, and she sobbed into my shoulder.

The monsters back Jacob to the edge of the cliff. One of the Gorgons growled something. Jacob gave a bold reply. Then the Gorgon screeched angrily and ordered the monsters to attack. He fought bravely for a moment, but seemed to gain that he could never defeat all of these monsters alone…we couldn't have if we had all been together. But then suddenly he screamed, a terrible cry filled with rage and power, ten times stronger than the one he had uttered on Half-Blood Hill.

There was a rumble of thunder so powerful it shook the ground beneath our feet. Lightning came from everywhere and nowhere. It struck not only Jacob's sword, but his entire body, his whole being. The monsters, the Gorgons, everything was sucked into the electrical void he had created. There was a final explosion, and I knew that none of the monsters would be bothering us for a long, long time.

The light emanating from his body faded. The grass around him was singed. All the monsters were gone without a trace, not even a little yellow dust.

But the power he had used, throwing his utmost being into an attack, was too much for his body. I watched as his eyes closed and a small smile crossed his face. Then he slowly fell back and tumbled off the cliff.

"JACOB!" screamed Rachel. I covered Annabeth's eyes as the boy's body hit the bottom of the cliff. You don't want to know what I saw then.

A single tear slid down my cheek. I brushed it away quickly. I didn't want the others to see that the great Percy Jackson was crying, especially Nico. We slowly turned and started running. I don't know where our energy came from, but in less than half an hour we were in the middle of Denver, everyone except me and Nico sobbing uncontrollably.

I looked around at the city. Then I finally turned to my friends. "Come on," I said. "We need to find a place to rest." I started walking down the street, and though I tried to push it away, the realization hit me so hard I thought I was going to pass out for a second. There were only six of us left. We were over halfway through the Quest to End All Quests. And Jacob Spark was dead.