At this point, I had two choices; to try and fight the evil goddess, or to run.

"So Annabeth, aren't you going to fight me? Don't you want revenge?"

I now understood why Percy hated Ares so much. Ares was (in Percy's opinion) a rude, cruel, hot-headed guy who loved violence and bloodshed. His sister was worse and way more sinister. Every primal instinct screamed, Do it! Fight her! Concurrently, though, I knew Hazel was injured, and there was no way I could fight her. I needed a plan, and fast.

"Look, Ares is fighting Diana!" I exclaimed.

She turned around, looking for the fight that wasn't occurring. I grabbed Hazel by her wrist and ran. "Hey! Get back here!"

Ok, it wasn't my best plan but I had to do something. Unfortunately, I was running out of steam way too quickly. I had to get Hazel away from Enyo. I found a skateboard, some rope, tied the rope around Hazel's waist, then started skating.

Hazel weakly groaned. "Why aren't you fighting her?"

"I'm not going to let you die. I can't let her kill you. It's my fault this happened, but I'm going to fix it."

"Annabeth..."

Suddenly, Enyo was rollerblading down the street. She was gaining on us! I started fumbling for the nectar vial.

"Here, drink this nectar. Shadow travel us back to Camp Jupiter."

Part of her hand phased out for a moment, then stabilized. "I can't... I've already used a lot of strength. We'll never make it!"

"I know you're fading, but you've got to hold out a bit longer."

I didn't want to do this, but I forced the contents of vial down her throat.

"Mmm... Tastes like jambalya..."

She then threw diamonds at Enyo's face, shadow traveled us to Camp Jupiter and then promptly collapsed. We were at the mess hall, where the others were in a meeting.

"Annabeth, are you okay? You look like you narrowly escaped Death himself!" Percy commented.

"What happened?" Jason asked.

Leo was concerned. "Did the interview go alright?"

I explained how Hazel was nearly killed by Enyo. After she woke up in the infirmary, I confided to the gang about what happened during the interview.

"You did what?!"

"Not so loud, Frank." Jason gritted his teeth. "Some legionnaires are sleeping."

"I know, it was not the wisest idea. Arguably one of the most stupid decisions I ever made. But I feared that he wouldn't hire me if he knew I was with child." I sighed. "Why can't I be oblivious to the truth? That would make things so much easier..."

"But wouldn't you have found out that you were pregnant simply by noticing the signs?" Hazel asked.

"Around that time, I wasn't suspicious at all."

Leo blinked twice. "Wait, if you weren't suspicious that you're pregnant, then who was?"

"Percy. All because I confided to him about my menstrual woes."

Ok, confession time. I assume you're all familiar with a woman's monthly cycle, right? Except that in my case, my monthly cycle, wasn't really monthly. When I had menarche (my first period), I was twelve years old, and it was shortly after the Quest for the Master Bolt. For about a year or so, my cycles were regular and I had kept track of them by writing it down on a piece of paper I had folded in my pocket. However, after the Quest for Artemis (in which I feared for my life), I realized my cycle was late. Like eight weeks late. Then I started losing the piece of paper that had my cycles on it. The stress of the Second Titan War, being a demigod, and life in general was wrecking havoc on my cycle. It came late, then early. And then, after the Battle for the Labyrinth, I started seeing even stranger (and arguably worse) things occur. Over the course of my life, I've suffered from most, if not every menstrual disorder under the sun, and suffered from secondary amenorra (absence of periods for three or more months) four different times; once after the Quest for Artemis, again after the explosion of the Princess Andromeda, during the first three months of Percy's eight month long leave, and once more in the weeks leading up to, during and after our time Tartarus.

Basically, my menstrual cycle is wacko, and after the Battle of Manhattan, I no longer bothered to keep track. I just rolled with the punches, taking whatever came and kept on going. I learned to be prepared whenever Auntie Flo decided to come visit. Never had I suspected that I would be pregnant. Of course, I had no idea how wrong I was. It was about three weeks and five days after the affair in the lake. Me and Percy were on the beach. I was relaxing in the shade and thinking about how Auntie Flo had yet to show up. Then Percy came up to me. He noticed my sad expression.

"Annabeth, what's wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing." I shrugged it off.

He put his hand on my shoulder. "Come on. You can tell me."

"My period hasn't arrived yet."

I turned away, so I didn't see his worried expression at first. He slowly spoke, "Annabeth... You're... you're not pregnant, are you?"

I laughed. "Come on, Percy. Flo is always late. I'm sure she'll come in a few days or weeks."

"May I remind you that we just had unprotected sex that no other mortal being even knows about?"

"Percy, chill. Everything will be fine."

"How can you be so sure?"

I massaged his shoulders. "Just trust me."

"What if I'm right?" He paused. "And what if Athena knew?"

"I thought she learned to tolerate our relationship."

"I thought she never did." He sighed. "If you're not gonna do it to reassure yourself, then, could you reassure me?"

"Sure, Seaweed Brain."

However, I had forgotten. The reason? I was filling out an application to get a job at Molotov Architecture and Design. I had forgotten to take the test while trying to become an architect, civil engineer and construction worker. I applied for all three positions. Since it had been about two years since we last came to Camp Half-Blood, we decided to visit. We were right outside Poseidon's cabin.

"You don't want to take the test, do you?" Percy asked suspiciously.

I nodded. "No, because it'll probably turn out negative."

Oh gods. Not only was I in severe denial, I was ignorant and presumptive. So Percy had bought it for me.

"You really want me to take this test?"

"Yes... Annabeth... I know you may think I'm crazy, and perhaps I am, but please, just do it. If not to reassure you, to reassure me. And if I'm wrong, you can jeudo flip me."

"Alright, I'll take it."

I decided to go to the girl's room during lunch, when it would be deserted. I hoped nobody would notice my brief absence. I did the test and had to wait three minutes. I counted to 180 and then turned the test right-side up.

"Well, here's the moment of truth." I said to myself.

I looked at the test. It was positive. I loudly gasped. I was tempted to scream aloud. Instead I mentally screamed in my mind. Oh gods! Mom's going to kill Percy for this! Will she?! I can't believe this!

"Annabeth, are you okay in there?" Percy asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I lied.

Well, Percy will know one way or another. I thought to myself. I exited the bathroom and told him the results. Then, well, you know the rest.

"Wow. Just wow." Piper said.

Jason looked at me curiously. "So you got the job?"

"I did. Starting next Monday, I work from nine to six five days a week."

"So how are we going to make this battle with the evil maiden work with Annabeth's new job?" Frank asked.

"I'll stay in New York." I answered.

Percy was surprised. "Really? I thought you'd want to stay and continue the war against Diana."

"This job is going to be very taxing on my body, and engaging in battle immediately afterwards wouldn't be very good for me. Also, this saves Hazel some strength by having her rest instead of going back and forth from coast to coast five times a week."

Percy was concerned. "Are you sure you'll be alright on your own for a week?"

"I may be pregnant, but I'm not helpless. I got pepper spray, two weapons, and Khione's medallion."

Hazel stood up. "You sure that's not your pride speaking?"

I smiled. "Pretty sure."

And so it was done. I was the only breadwinner, living pretty much alone. I tried to pretend that everything was normal, but after Hazel took me to my apartment, I stood alone on the back deck and I realized that nothing was normal. I was the daughter of Athena, in which my mother had lost her mind, I was pregnant with Percy's child (who would be a legacy of two gods) and fighting in a war against an evil maiden whom we know so little about. No one could know about any of this. I was truly alone. I looked at the moon, which was slowly waxing and illuminating the sky.

"Oh Artemis, I know you can't hear me, but I wish I didn't feel so alone."

The moon briefly glowed brighter, but I believed that my prayer went unheard.