"Simple," Nico walked over to me. "I'll will the underworld to reject the water, while you will the water to go back to the ocean,"

"I'll try that…" I muttered, touching the water with my fingertips.

Go back, go back, go back, go back…I hissed at in my mind. The water warmed under my touch and I nodded to Nico.

"Good," Nico thrust his hands into water also, finding the ground. He closed his eyes and muttered something in Ancient Greek. I could feel the water rising, obeying him and me.

"Whoa," Annabeth breathed.

"Yeah," Grover said.

"Don't look Perseus, just concentrate," Nico barked at me.

I nodded, yelling in my head, GO BACK! GO BACK!

"You did it Percy!" Annabeth said after two minutes. "I mean…you both did it!"

"Huh?" I opened my eyes. The underworld was spotless. Not one drop of water was in it.

"Yes!" Annabeth threw her hands over my shoulders, embracing me.

"We stopped World War III!" Grover jumped up and down.

"Sure," Nico yawned, bored.

"Thanks, Nico," I smiled at him. "Now, Annabeth, Grover, let's go"-

"Excuse me? Annabeth and Grover only?" Nico cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah," I said. "I may have said you can come. But then, I say a lot of things, you know?"

"You better take that back," Nico's hair started flying as the underworld's ground started to have cracks.

"Percy…" Grover bleated.

"Um…" Annabeth cringed.

"Whoops," I said sorely, forgetting this was his home turf.

"TAKE IT BACK, PERSEUS JACKSON!"

A huge rock broke off from the ground and shot straight at me. Annabeth threw me down, the rock barely missing my shoulders.

"Ok! Ok! I take it back, I take it back!" I yelped.

"Good." Nico's hair fell again as he calmed down. The underworld closed up the hole in the ground.

"You ok, Percy?" Annabeth asked in a small whisper.

"Yeah," I took her hand as she helped me up. "We're done here. Let's go,"

-X-

"Texas again, eh?" Grover smiled.

Yes, we were back. The bullfight was only a couple days away.
"So, now we're in charge of finding Thanatos and Hypnos," Annabeth was telling Nico.

"Ah…I understand now," He nodded. "And you and Jackson are dating?"

Annabeth blushed red. "Yes,"

"Always knew you would," Nico sighed.

"You're not still angry at me for breaking the promise…are you?" I asked Nico.

"A bit sore about it, but I was just a kid then," Nico shrugged.

"Alright," Grover stopped, pointing right. "The bullfight is this way,"

"How do you know?" Annabeth asked.

"They just brought the bull in. Did you know it learned how to cuss in Spanish?" Grover could hear the bull's thoughts.

-X-

Thalia's POV:

"Thalia, just come back! You'll never find him," Luke's tired voice said.

"I will! I'll send him an iris message," I replied, walking around on the streets of Texas.

"Just…come back, please," Luke pleaded.

"Sorry. I can't Luke. Love you," I shut off the phone. It's amazing those things work in the underworld.

-X-

Percy's POV:

"You hungry?" I held up some grapes for Annabeth.

"Um…I'll pass," she grinned.

"Ok, your loss," I shrugged and gobbled some down.

I was SO hungry. We were staying at a Greek Hotel (actually made for the gods as they state in their brochure) with a monster force field. It's a new hotel, built for protecting half bloods. Annabeth said Chiron had said something about it a couple years ago, how they were starting to make safe havens for traveling half bloods. I wasn't complaining. This was heaven, and the grapes tasted…well, grapey.

"You're eating those like a dog," Annabeth cocked her eyebrow.

"'Cause I was working like a dog in the underworld," I replied, getting up and washing my mouth.

Grover and Nico went sightseeing, while Annabeth and I stayed in the hotel. But I warned them not to go outside. It was sightseeing…protection -for- half- blood- Greek -style. They claimed it was really cool, but I said I'd pass. Annabeth thought it was stupid, and stayed with me.

"And I was playing fetch with Cerberus…but he eventually got bored because he could see nothing in the water," Annabeth chuckled.

"Yep," I dried my hands on a towel. "Good times,"

I walked out of the bathroom and jumped on the bed, grabbing the remote. I turned on the TV. Annabeth came over and sat next to me, hugging her knees. I stopped at the music channel, where the song Forsaken by Within Temptation was playing. The song had a sad, bitter tone.

"Wow…what a beautiful song," I said quietly.

"Huh?" Annabeth looked at me.

"The words are…just…they really hit me, you know?" I leaned over to look at her.

"How? It's so..."

"Depressing?"

"Yeah,"

"I've been feeling that way for some time," I stared at the ceiling.

"Why, Percy?" Annabeth asked.

"I don't know…I just don't have a good feeling inside the pit of my stomach," I said. "Like…I just angered something huge,"

"Don't think like that," Annabeth said. "Then something bad really will happen,"

I stared into her eyes. They looked tired and weak…but I could tell she was alert. I sat up, groaning slightly.

"Thanks Annabeth," I said, grimacing. "But it's something involuntary…"

"…no. Your mind controls your emotions. Never let your heart take over your mind," Annabeth shook her head.

"What?" I turned to her sharply.

"That's what I've been doing my entire life," she said softly. "My mind uses logic, which gets things done. My heart is a reckless thing, that I unfortunately posses,"

"No…that's wrong, Annabeth." I shook my head, smiling slightly. "Without your heart, you wouldn't be able to love, or feel. You'd become an emotionless, uncaring person, who had no sympathy for anyone or anything,"

"You think so?" Annabeth hung her head. "I thought that I was reckless because I let my heart take over,"

"Not reckless. But you should have a rein on your heart," I smiled.

She looked at me, her eyes threatening to spill tears. I got up and walked in front of the TV, shutting it off. I then proceeded to stand in front of her.

"Don't cry," I hugged her, putting my head on hers as she sobbed on my shoulder.

There's a lot about Annabeth that I didn't know. A lot of broken memories, I could tell.

"I love you, Percy…" she said between sobs.

"As do I," I said quietly, kissing her lips, as her tears spilled down on my face.