HELLO, PEOPLE. I'M BACK! And I'm ready to write the end! Sorry it's taken me so long to write this, but I had major writer's block. Anyhow, this is the best I could come up with for speeding up the time until Percy's 16th, and I think it turned out pretty good. Enjoy!

Percy's POV

The ground came rushing to meet us as we fell towards the earth, and I figured any second we were all going to be flattened. Everyone continued screaming except Jacob. He waved his hands around wildly, and suddenly I felt a powerful updraft pick us up from our fall. It carried us smoothly across the field toward the van.

Finally, Jacob gently set us down in front of the car. "Hurry!" Annabeth said, ushering us all inside. It was a tight squeeze, but we managed to get everyone in the van. Then Annabeth quickly drove off while thunder still crashed overhead.

We didn't say a word until we pulled up at the Chase's house. We got out of the car and Annabeth burst through the front door without bothering to knock. Her parents must have been asleep, because the house was quiet. We came in and sat down in the living room.

It was Nico who finally broke the silence. "Welcome back from the dead," he congratulated Jacob. They grinned at each other, and I figured they knew something we didn't.

"Okay, can someone please tell us what's going on?" Annabeth cried indignantly. "How are you still alive, Sparky? You died – we saw you."

"I'm glad you're so thrilled I'm back," Jacob replied, raising an eyebrow at her.

Annabeth went red. "No, it's not that, it's just – that – oh, I'm so confused!"

Tyson was poking Jacob curiously. "You are not dead," he observed.

"Okay, okay," said Jacob, holding up his hands. "Well, it wasn't really my doing. It was the panel that I happened to have the night I died. It was Hercules, Marin Luther King Jr., and Hades himself. They talked and argued about my death for quite a while. Hercules thought I should be allowed to come back, since I had died so nobly and I was needed for the quest. MLK said that it was unfair for me to cheat death so easily, and that the prophecy had said one would be lost, and they shouldn't argue with the Oracle. Then Hades finally ordered them to shut up and looked at me. He told me there were ancient laws that stated when a hero died selflessly, for the ones he loved, he could choose to rejoin them and live once again. Or I could go to Elysium right then. It was a hard choice, I'll admit, but in the end I decided to come back. Then Hades touched my forehead and I was back at the cliff where I'd died."

"But how'd you get back here so fast?" Grover asked.

Jacob snapped his fingers and a little tornado appeared on his palm. I could actually see it, and when I looked closer I realized I was seeing the tiny ice shards floating around inside. "When I came back, I could control wind currents," he said. "I don't know how. Maybe Zeus blessed me or something."

At this, Thalia straightened. She had been white as a sheet before – I guess she was still shaken from the whole jumping-off-Mount-Tam thing – but now she looked cross.

"Oh, well, I guess you guys haven't met," Annabeth said. "Sparky, this is Thalia, the lieutenant of the Hunters who's a daughter of Zeus. Thalia, this is Jacob Spark, your…half-brother."

The two rose and sized each other up, not hostilely, but just curiously. It wasn't until now that I realized how much they looked alike. Besides their hair, their features were similar: tight lips, eyebrows that curved down slightly, and those electric blue eyes that glowed with pride. When they shook hands, an electric current went down their arms and mingled at their hands. We gasped, but they just grinned at each other.

"So there really is another one," Thalia said.

Jacob nodded. "Nice to meet you, sister."

"Right back at you."

When they had sat down again, I said, "Okay, so maybe we didn't come up with the best possible plan to save the Hunters, but we did save Thalia, which is better than nothing. Right now, we have to focus on war preparations. We have to contact Chiron and tell him that Camp Half-Blood has to come down here, like, now. The Titan's army will be assembling, and they'll be preparing for battle."

Annabeth nodded. "We probably only have about three or four weeks before the army attacks."

Three or four weeks…my heart jumped. Today was June twenty-eighth. My birthday was August 3rd. If it really took that long, we might be fighting on the day of my sixteenth birthday.

We kept on discussing tactics for a while, but I wasn't really paying attention. When Tyson started yawning and we decided to let him sleep, and Annabeth and Thalia went to contact Chiron. Grover and Nico went to the fridge to find something to eat, and Jacob was about to go with them, but Rachel grabbed his arm and pulled him into an empty room. I smirked, then I left and went outside. I had to think about everything.

Four weeks…I wasn't ready. The final war against Kronos was staring me in the face, and I knew I wasn't good enough. I didn't have enough training. If I faced Kronos, I would fail. I would die.

I didn't know why it was hitting me now, instead of earlier, before we went to Mount Tam, but suddenly my knees grew weak and I felt like breaking down out there in the yard. I couldn't do it. I knew I couldn't. How was I going to get enough training to face Luke in just a month…?

"Percy Jackson."

The voice made me jump, because it wasn't one I recognized. I turned. Standing behind me was a tall figure wearing a long cloak with a hood that covered her face. I could tell it was a girl by her voice, and the fact that her long hair fell out of the hood. She kept her head lowered, and for some reason the hood obscured her face, so I couldn't see it clearly. Magic, I thought.

The woman gave me a stiff bow. "By the order of my queen Hippolyte, you and your comrade Jacob Spark have been formally invited to journey to the Land of the Amazons, to train with our people in preparation for the battle against the Titan Lord Kronos. You will reside with us for only as long as we shall train you, and afterward you will be escorted back to your own land. You have twenty-four hours to arrive in our kingdom or we will consider our invitation declined." She bowed stiffly again, said, "Please consider it," and then dashed off as quickly as she had come.

"Wait!" I said. "What-"

But she was already gone.

--

When I came back inside and told the others of my encounter with the strange woman, they all stared at me disbelievingly. "An Amazon invited you train with her people?" Thalia exclaimed, shocked. "Oh my gods…but that's impossible! The Amazons never leave their kingdom, and even if they did, they've never invited males to train with them before!"

"Are you sure it was an Amazon, Percy?" Annabeth asked.

I nodded. "She said 'The Land of the Amazons' and 'By order of my queen Hippolyte'".

"This is great!" Grover said, grinning. "With a little Amazon training, you guys will be ready to face anything! They're supposed to be some of the greatest fighters in history!"

"It would be stupid to refuse," Nico agreed. "Plus, if you guys were to train with them, you could maybe convince them to come back and fight with us."

This idea rejuvenated everybody, and soon they were all begging the two of us to go.

"Hold up!" Jacob said. "First of all, where is the land of the Amazons?"

"Think, Sparky," Annabeth said. "It's going to be a place that's big and bland, a place that no one would go to unless they had a really good reason. And it would have to be a place where the Amazons could hide out and have good resources…"

"The Everglades," I guessed. She nodded.

"Well, that presents another problem," Jacob persisted. "How the Hades are we gonna get to Florida in twenty-four hours?"

Suddenly something strange happened. I felt a presence next to me, and when I looked, I saw the hooded guy who had given us the limo in Nashville. He reached into my pocket and held up the sand dollar my father had given me for my birthday. "It's time," he said, in a voice that sounded strangely familiar, then he handed it to me and disappeared.

Meanwhile, the others were debating with Jacob whether he could carry them on wind currents ("Not across the whole United States!"). None of them seemed to have noticed the man. I said, "I can get us there."'

They all stared at me. "Are you sure?" Rachel asked.

I nodded. I didn't know how, exactly, but I knew I could get us there. Annabeth saw the sand dollar, and she nodded, understanding.

"Well, then, there's no time to waste!" said Annabeth. "We've got to get you guys down to the water, and fast!"

--

It was early morning in San Francisco when we finally got down to the bay. We stood on a large dock, making sure no one was around, and then I took out the sand dollar and held it between my palms. Father, please help us get to Florida, I prayed silently. The sand dollar began to glow like a pearl, and I dropped it into the water.

For a moment nothing happened. Then, as I watched, a huge, pearly white bubble began to form in the water. It rose up, and the top opened. It was similar to the ones Annabeth, Grover and I had used in the Underworld, but it was big enough to hold two people, and I knew it would travel in water instead of on land.

We said our goodbyes. I clapped Grover and Nico's hands, got a bone-crushing hug from Tyson, and then kissed Annabeth long and hard, wishing that I never had to let her go. "I'll come back," I whispered in her ear. "Promise."

She nodded. Jacob kissed Rachel a final time, and for the first time I saw her blinking back tears. Then I turned to all of them. "You guys are our last hope to face the Titan's army," I said. "Call everyone you can think of, and assemble them for battle. We'll begin war as soon as we return." We waved to them and jumped into the huge bubble. It closed back up at the top, and then dove into the water. It glowed slightly as we began to race through the bay, bathing the ocean in a milky white light.

--

Jacob's POV

I'd never been in a giant bubble traveling through the ocean at hundreds of miles an hour before, and I have to say it was quite an experience.

I didn't know how we were getting to Florida by water, as it seemed kind of impossible, but the bubble didn't seem to travel like most underwater transporters. It zoomed along the ocean floor, not allowing us to see much of anything, and when we did it was only a glimpse of a flounder or some kelp. All the same, it took us four hours to reach the Everglades. We spent the time talking about swordplay, battle plans, and Kronos. When the bubble finally resurfaced out of the water, I was tired, hungry, and a little seasick.

Unfortunately for me there wasn't even a town nearby. The bubble had dropped us off in a seemingly endless field of sawgrass prairie. The only thing that stood out to me were a few small islands of trees in the sea of grass. It was the Everglades, all right.

Just when I was wondering what the Hades we were gonna do now, a woman was suddenly standing next to me. I jumped; the woman had appeared out of nowhere. It might have been the woman Percy had mentioned before, but her hood was down now. She had dark skin, long brown hair tied in a complicated ponytail, and startling green eyes; not sea green like Percy's, but darker, more vibrant green, like the leaves of the trees.

"You came," she commented, staring at us unflinchingly. It was impossible to hold the stare; it ate at you until you felt like she could read your every thought. Percy nodded, and the woman gave the tiniest of smiles. "I am sorry I was curt before," she said to him. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Thalestris. I am the general of the Amazon armies, and preceded only by Queen Hippolyte." She sounded proud, like she felt it was necessary to tell us everything about her ranking.

"Armies?" I said. "Since when do the Amazons have armies? You guys have been hidden out here for centuries. Why would you need an army?"

"My queen will explain all of this," replied the woman. "For now, follow me." She turned, and began to run through the prairie. We followed her.

Thalestris was fast. If my muscles hadn't needed to stretch so badly after being cramped up in that bubble, I probably couldn't have kept up with her. As it was, we were lagging behind the whole time and eventually I just picked up a wind current and glided across the grass to keep up. I loved my power over wind. It felt as though the air was my servant, constantly at my side and ready to help me whenever I needed it. I would have to teach Thalia after this war was over. A power like this was too cool to keep to myself.

Thalestris eventually stopped at an island of trees that looked no different than the others to me. The wet, marshy ground got more solid under our feet as we walked under the trees, and the air felt slightly cooler.

Thalestris stopped by a tree and turned to us. "Before I show you our kingdom, you must swear to me that you will never tell anyone of our dwelling. The Amazonian kingdom has been kept secret for many years. You are the first males that have ever been invited into our city. You must never reveal its location to anyone. Swear on the River Styx."

We exchanged a glance, and then swore. Thalestris nodded. "Then come," she said, and touched the bark on the tree. Suddenly, an entrance opened in the undergrowth and trees, melting out of nowhere just like Thalestris. It seemed to be a tunnel, because I could see light coming from the other end. She walked swiftly through it, and we followed.

We came through the tunnel, and Percy said, "Oh my gods."

"Welcome," said Thalestris, really smiling for the first time. Welcome to the kingdom of the Amazons."