Ok, back to PERSEUS!

-X-

Percy's point of view:

Thalia came back looking completely upset.

"…Thalia?" I asked her, after I had stuffed my face with enough food for five pigs. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing…"she murmured, hugging her knees. She had a faraway look in her eyes. "…Luke's going to be thrown into Tartarus,"

"…I'm so sorry, Thalia," Grover bleated quietly. "We all tried though."

I felt uncomfortable. If Thalia lost Luke, it was like me losing Annabeth… I didn't want her to feel that way.

"Is there anything we can do?" I asked her quietly.

"No. It's all up to him right now," Thalia said, shaking her head slowly.

"Oh! Something I've been meaning to ask you," Grover sniffed. "Artemis. The Hunt,"

"…oh…that," Thalia shrugged. "Dad ordered Artemis to release me from it,"

"Ordered? Can he actually do that?" Annabeth asked her.

"Yeah. She was happy to let me go. Especially after she found out that I had feelings for Luke. But it was so minor at the time, it was less then a crush," she waved a hand around. "So I'm out of the hunt. They were too…I don't know…bland, I guess. They were tough, but not punk tough. It's hard to describe the Hunters,"

"Well…" I coughed. "Does Luke know about this?"

Thalia snorted. "I doubt he even knows I joined in the first place! He hardly knows a thing about me…"

"Then why do you love him?" I asked, cocking my eyebrow.

"Because…he used to know me!" Thalia whined.

"But he doesn't know the present you," Annabeth pursed her lips. "What if you changed? Will he accommodate?"

"I don't know ok?" Thalia stood up. "Maybe we're soul mates! I just don't know!"

She walked out of the room. Poseidon stared at her walk off as he walked in.

"Um…"

"Don't ask Dad,"

"Sure," he smiled, the familiar smile-wrinkles appearing.

Suddenly, I felt a searing pain run across my arm. I didn't scream, biting my tongue, tears coming to my eyes. I looked down at my arm, the tears blurring my vision. But even through the tears I saw it; the dash that ran on the surface of my wrist.

"Oh my gods! Percy, what is that?" Annabeth gulped looking at my hand.

"It's nothing!" I said quickly. I think I knew what it was. My counter for my years in the Underworld, my days on earth.

"Perseus…just tell them," Poseidon shook his head. "They must know anyway,"

"…Can I tell them alone? Or Dad, can you tell Grover and I'll tell Annabeth?" I asked him quietly. In truth, if this was going to hurt Annabeth, I didn't want Grover to see her cry or something. "Nothing personal Grover,"

"I just want to know what it is!" Grover stood up. "You can tell me now Lord Poseidon,"

I took Annabeth's hand and led her out of the room. She pursed her lips and stared at me.

"Percy, what was that?" she asked.

I peeked into an empty room. The kitchen. Eh. I might pig out and forget again. Moving on.

"You'll find out," I whispered, clenching her hand more. She started to look frightened or prepared for the worst.

Finally, I found the living room. If you would even call it that. It had a bed, a couple of see shaped couches with ocean water painted on the walls by…I think Michael Angelo.

We took a seat on one of the couches.

"Annabeth," I started. "What I did was to protect you all,"

"What did you do, seaweed brain?" she hissed at me, getting annoyed.

"I made a deal with Hades," I whispered.

"What?" Annabeth's eyes widened and her grip on my hand became tighter.

"I should have stayed dead," I stood up, shaking her hand from mine. She let it go. "But Hades wanted me to finish my quest…with a twist,"

"Percy…what did you do exactly?" Annabeth asked me hoarsely.

"Every day that I am on earth," I swallowed. "Is a year worth of service to Hades,"

Annabeth stared at me in shock. "W-what?"

"When I die again…if I die at this moment, I must serve him for one year," I dared look at her face. She was still shocked.

"So…one day equals one year?" she asked me. "And what about after the quest? Why would you want to even live after that?"

I smiled wryly. "Who said I would live?"

Annabeth let out a whimper. "You're…going? After the quest is over…you're going to die again?"

"Pretty much," I ran a hand through my hair.

"Percy," she bit her lip. "How you could you do something this idiotic?"

"…it was stupid?" I echoed.

"YES!" Annabeth practically screamed.

"I wanted to see you guys so badly…and Zoë told me to do it!"

"Zoë?" Annabeth cocked her head.

"Yeah, her soul (I think) appeared in Hades' hand," I waved a hand. "She said he offered her the same! And Persephone was standing and acting all sad after I refused the first time,"

"Persephone? It's summer!"

"She came early,"

"She never comes early, Percy. NEVER. Demeter wouldn't let her,"

"Well, she did,"

"I don't like this,"

"Can I just finish?" I yelled.

"Fine," she grumbled. I took that as my invitation to continue.

"So anyway, Persephone and Hades both looked pleased when I reconsidered"-

"So you said no first?"

"ANNABETH!"

"Sorry, sorry!"

I took a deep breath. "So you're saying I should have stayed down there? You didn't want to see me?"

"You idiot," she laughed sadly. "When I die, I want you to be right there waiting for me. If the quest takes…a year for example, that's about 300+ days of serving Hades!"

"…oh," I never thought of it that way. "We just got to finish the quest early then,"

"Then you'll leave," Annabeth said quietly.

"…Yeah," I shivered.

Annabeth laid her head back on the couch, tears stinging her eyes.

"Please don't cry," I rolled my eyes. "Death is eternity, right? We'll see each other!"

"Unless Hades makes you a god!" Annabeth sniffed.

"…make me a god?" I echoed. Wait. That sounded like Kronos making Luke a god. No way. Kronos didn't have THAT kind of power! Why didn't we notice that before? Only a huge god could have done that!

"Annabeth…" I bit down what I was going to say. If I was going to accuse Lord Hades of turning evil and turning against all of Olympus, I had to have proof.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry, ok? I guess I wasn't thinking clearly down there," I shrugged.

No. I was. And Persephone…what if it wasn't Persephone? Gods and goddesses can change shape, can't they? And I've never seen her in my life…which could easily mean that…

But wait. Perseus said "Lady Persephone" so that must be her! Maybe another god was shifting as her! But…gods always have something that tell them apart. Athena, her gray eyes. My dad, I'm guessing his smile or aura of power. Zeus, probably his aura too, or his hair. Something always sets them apart from humans. But what set that woman apart?

"It's alright," Annabeth said in a whisper. She stood up, about to walk out of the room.

"Wait!" I tugged on her hand. She looked back.

"You understand why I did this, right?"

"Not for the quest?"

"No…of course not,"

"Percy you idiot!" she smiled and hugged me. My brain was still whirring. Was this all a trick. Was I really even dead? Well, yeah. If Luke was being thrown into Tartarus, then I was dead.

"I'm tired," Annabeth drew away. Her face paled.

"What?"

"If we sleep, we lose more years"-

"I really don't care about the years I spend with Hades. Who knows. Maybe I could help the gods win a future war," I shrugged.

Annabeth nodded uncertainly and kissed me quickly. "'Night,"

"Night,"

-X-

Dreaming. Cold voice. Aura of darkness. Something I can't unlock…something I'm missing. What is it? I was running in black. I kept bumping into walls, and every time I did, a new gash spread across my arm. I counted thirty-eight.

"Oooh…thirty-eight little booboos for baby Jackson," the voice cackled. "Luke was a fool. But you were worse!"

My head started to explode.

I jerked away suddenly, panting, sweat matting my hair to my forehead.

"Just…a dream…" I wiped my face, still panting. I then noticed something on my bed. I strained in the dark and was surprised when I found out who it was.

"Annabeth?"

She slept at my feet, breathing slowly.

"Hey," I shook her shoulders. She blinked once and awoke.

"Oh…Percy…Erm…" she coughed in her hands, flushing and embarrassed.

"What are you doing?" I cocked my eyebrows.

"Heh…must have lost my room or something," she mumbled.

"Annabeth…you wanted to sleep here tonight, didn't you?"

She looked at me and in the faint light, I could see her eyes gloss. Oh boy, here we go again. What is up with girls and crying? Well actually…what is up with EVERYONE and crying?

She nodded mutely.

"C'mere," I opened my arms and she crawled into my grasp. I kissed her forehead and whispered to her. Finally, I could sense her beginning to sleep.

"Hey, don't you want some blankets?" I whispered in her ear.

"Huh…? Oh, yeah. Sure," she broke away from me and jumped under the covers shivering. "Night Percy,"

"Night, Wise Girl,"

It's been a long time since I called her that.

X---xxxx---X

This was a pretty long chapter to make up for the last one. YAY! REVIEWS REVIEW REVIEWS. 10 Reviews or the next chapter is a no go. And let me tell you, the next chapter is definitely one of the most important. Mark Verop's warning. She's never ceased to surprise you yet, has she? –purrs- Yep. Her genuine thoughts keep this story rolling. SO ROLL ON WITH THE REVIEWS!!