Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or any related characters! Please, please, PLEASE review if you read; all feedback is greatly appreciated. You all are awesome, and thank you for reading my story!

They decided to wait on the other side of the pool, the corner farthest away from the entrance. Thalia had wanted to wait on both sides of the entrance so when Annabeth came through, she would catch an electric spear against her head, but Percy had vetoed that. He didn't want to risk hurting Cyrene or Nico in the process, and Annabeth would most likely be expecting that. So, as a result, they crouched on the other side of the pool and waited to hear, smell, or see Annabeth.

They waited for about an hour. The room was aggressively comfortable despite the Pool of Tartarus' souls sitting right in the middle of it. The temperature was perfect and even the marble floor began to feel comfortable as they waited. Grover was starting to fall asleep, but Thalia and Percy remained vigilant. They were waiting right behind the Pool so they were out of sight, but were crouched with their weapons out. They were ready to attack and stop Annabeth if she decided to immediately sacrifice Cyrene. The battle plan was: Percy and Grover charge, while Thalia positions herself in front of the Pool. Percy was to attack Annabeth/save Cyrene, Grover was going to find a way to free Nico, and Thalia was going to be the safety. If Annabeth managed to get past both Percy and Grover, Thalia would be ready to stop her. However, as the room got more and more comfortable and Percy began to get sleepier, he turned towards Thalia. Talking to her always seemed to either wake him up or put him to sleep, whichever one he needed at the time.

"You can go to sleep if you want, you know. It's probably nighttime outside, and we've had a long day."

Thalia raised an eyebrow as she looked at Percy. "I'm good, unless this is an excuse for you to fall asleep."

Percy feigned surprise. "Whaaaat? Of course not."

Thalia smirked and they lay in silence for a while. Percy looked at her again. In the faint light of the pale white steam/smoke coming out the pool, Thalia seemed to glow once more. Without looking at him, she asked him, "What?"

Percy's petal glowed pink. "I know you said you won't tell me, but I was just thinking about the nightmare Melinoe had shown you. You said I was in the dream and you felt good about shooting me with arrows at the baths. I wanted to apologize for whatever I did to you in the dream, if anything. I would never do anything to hurt you, even if a huge spider-lady told me to."

Thalia looked towards Grover. "Don't try to trick me into telling you, Jackson. I plan on taking what I saw to the grave with me."

Percy looked to the marble floor glumly. "Oh."

Thalia played with her spear a bit. "But…it's okay. You didn't do anything."

Percy's petal glowed a light blue. Thalia looked at the petal and smiled. "On another note, I think I know what some of those colors mean."

He raised his eyebrow towards Thalia. "Yeah?"

Thalia's smiled widened as she shifted positions and faced him. "Yeah. I'm sure I don't have all the colors just yet, but this is what I put together. When your petal glows faint red, it means you're feeling irritated. When it glows a solid red, it means you're mad, and I'm guessing that when it glows a dark red, it means you're furious. If it glows a deep orange, it means you're feeling pleasure."

Percy remembered Mormo and felt like smacking himself. Heat rushed to his face. "Oh, man."

Thalia smirked and kept going. "When it glows regular yellow, it means you're happy, but when it glows a deep yellow, it means you're nervous or antsy. Purple means love, a deep violet means heartache, and a pink means you're caring for someone."

Percy stared at Thalia. He had no idea if that was right or now, but regardless, he didn't think she paid that much attention to him and the petal. But she did. And Percy wasn't sure why. She probably knew how he was feeling more than he did. He felt grateful, but then felt weird inside. He dismissed it as a side effect of the pool.

Thalia grimaced and pulled at her hair. "What?"

Percy realized he was still staring at her. He shook his head and improvised. "Sorry, I just didn't think that yellow means both happy and nervous."

She rolled her eyes. "I think it's pretty cool. The same color with two different hues, meaning two different things? I love it. It's subtle."

Percy wasn't so sure. He wasn't even sure why Calypso gave him the petal in the first place. But Thalia interrupted his thoughts. "But I'm not done. I have two more. A lime green color means you're disgusted or grossed out. I think…and I'm not sure…but a green color means determination or willpower? Like the superhero Green Lantern's ring."

Green Lantern. Percy loved reading about that superhero; his favorite was John Stewart. His face lit up. "You read comic books?"

Thalia's face grew into a devilish grin. "Of course! When I was younger, I loved my Death to Barbie shirt. Part of the reason why is because I hated the traditional 'girl' activities and I loved reading comics. I used to pretend that I was an Amazon. I've been collecting them on my adventures with the Hunters."

Percy couldn't believe it. Annabeth could not stand comic books because they took the reader to a fantasy world that would lure them into a false sense of security about life, fate, and evil. "What?! Which one is your favorite?"

"Probably the Killing Joke. It changed the tone of comic books forever and dared to go into a much darker place, and the sales reflected that. It also changed Batman's entire continuity."

He was in heaven. He and Thalia talked comic books for another hour.

"So anyway, that's why I think Black Panther would beat Batman."

Thalia made a face. "Booooooooooo." She stuck her tongue out and gave him a thumbs down, making Percy smile.

She took a breath. "Batman would definitely beat the Panther as long as he had ample preparation."

"What?! You could say that about anybody, then. Stilt-Man could beat Superman if he had 2,000 years of quote, ample preparation, end quote."

"No, he would still definitely lose. Because f# ! Stilt-Man."

Percy's petal glowed light red and Thalia grinned at the sight of it. Percy gritted his teeth. "Black Panther is a king. Bruce Wayne is a billionaire. They're both in great shape, but the Panther knows just as many fighting skills, is just as intelligent, but has an unbreakable suit and has a nation behind him."

Thalia shook her head. "No. Batman-"

Both of them froze and immediately summoned their weapons. Grover woke up suddenly, but before he could make a noise, Thalia clamped her hand over his mouth. Percy and Thalia had smelled the scent of lemons and had instantly gotten ready for battle. Annabeth's hair had the tendency to smell just like lemons.

In a momentary panic, Percy didn't smell any cinnamon rolls and felt like he was back in his mother's apartment. He slowly peered from behind the pool to see Annabeth carrying Nico by his Egyptian magic bonds. Annabeth now had on a black t-shirt with khaki pants and combat shoes. Her hybrid sword was strapped to her belt and she looked exhausted. Her hair looked wild as if she rolled out of bed. Dirt and soot had stained her face, and her eyes were wild, as if she was being hunted. Her blessed Yankees hat hung off her belt. Percy wondered if they had ran into another monster on the way here. But his petal grew a light blue when he saw Cyrene, still asleep, on Annabeth's back. That girl could sleep through anything. However, she had the Egyptian spell of protection on her, which Percy assumed helped mask her scent of cinnamon rolls.

Annabeth placed Nico down, who was rolling and thrashing. "You can't do this! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!"

She took out a gag and fitted him with it. "Sorry, Nico. You've done your part." Annabeth's voice scraped across the cavern and pierced Percy's heart. He admitted to himself that he missed her, a lot, but with Cyrene right there, he was ready to stop her.

Annabeth stepped to the pool and Percy climbed forward to see what she was doing. She put her hand on one of the markings, and the pool started to shake. Percy and Thalia scrambled back with their weapons, but they saw the white steam/smoke curl into a ghostly mirage of Arachne. Her gruesome sight was enough to make Percy sick. Thalia growled in her throat, reminding Percy of Mrs. O'Leary.

Arachne had their back to them and regarded Annabeth. Then, she spoke in the same horrible voice he heard in Annabeth's vision. "You brought the girl. Wise choice, Athena-spawn. Percy Jackson will pay for raising his hand against me."

Percy and Thalia were on their toes, ready to sprint out and attack. Just as Percy expected, Arachne said, "But first…eliminate the demigods behind this-"

Before she finished, Percy, Thalia, and Grover charged out with a collective yell. Annabeth's eyes went wide and immediately ran to the corner and put Cyrene down. Grover sprinted towards Nico. Thalia took her post right in front of the pool. Annabeth took out her hybrid sword and stood in front of Percy's sister. Percy leveled Riptide towards Annabeth.

For one eerie second, they faced each other. Percy thought about her killing him in his nightmare and promised himself that it wasn't going to end that way this time. In contrast to her confident, smug self in his nightmare, this Annabeth looked on edge, like she was trying to find the best way to escape instead of her usual, which was finding the best way to pick an enemy apart.

Percy growled. "Get away from my sister."

Annabeth shook her head. "I hoped you would understand, but now I realize that I am truly alone on this. You should not have gotten in my way, Percy. Move, or I will move you."

"Not a chance." Percy charged and Annabeth got ready. Both Percy and Annabeth tried for a tomahawk strike, resulting in their blades clanging in the air. In an unbelievably nimble move and faster than she should've been able to act, Annabeth leapt and backflipped, kicking Percy's chin on the way up. The hit sent his neck snapping back and his body flying five feet back.

He rubbed his chin and looked to the side to see Grover attacking Nico's bonds, trying to get them off. He turned to see Arachne shaking with anger.

"Fools." With that word, the ground split open and huge spiders that were about four feet tall and six feet wide crawled out of the ground. Percy didn't know how she had so much power while still in Tartarus, but he figured if she could hold Matthew and Bobby hostage all the way in California, she would be able to summon beasts here. Grover put his Nico Project on hold and caught a few knives that Thalia threw at him. They got ready and the spiders charged them. Grover was leaping, kicking, and slicing, but Thalia was the real powerhouse. She was hitting them with lightning, spear strikes, spear thrusts and power punches (a punch laced with lightning).

Thalia yelled at Percy, "FOCUS!"

Percy's petal glowed green as he turned back to Annabeth. However, she was gone, along with Cyrene from that corner. He turned to see her jogging to the Asopio Pool. She was about ten feet away from it, with her hybrid sword in hand. Percy scrambled up, touched his wrist, and expanded his shield. He threw it on a frozen rope like Captain America towards Annabeth's legs. He would've thrown at her face, but he didn't want to risk hitting Cyrene. The shield flew at sixty miles per hour and took Annabeth's legs out. When she fell to the ground, Cyrene went flying to the side, along with Percy's heart. He sprinted towards her, but he knew he was too slow to reach her.

However, a hand shot out and caught Cyrene in the air. Thalia had grabbed her and pulled Cyrene into a close embrace as she continued to blast the spiders. "GO, PERCY! BEAT HER."

Annabeth stood and looked at her surroundings. She then trained her gaze back onto Percy. She bit her lip and shook her head as if she didn't want to do whatever she was going to do next. "Please, Percy. This is for my brothers. You have to stop this. I don't want to fight you."

Percy shook his head. "And this is for my sister." He analyzed her body language. Her legs were tensed, ready to pounce at any point in time. She raised her sword and charged Percy. A direct charge was out of character for her, but Percy prepared to counter it just in case his doubting was part of her plan. At the last second, she turned and kicked him in the chest, sending him stumbling. She tried to run her sword through his leg.

Percy struck downwards with Riptide, knocking her hybrid sword to the ground. Annabeth immediately hit him with a body nerve shot to his core, and then a punch to the face. Percy staggered, his entire core numbed from the nerve Annabeth struck. She took the opportunity to draw her knife. She bent her knees as if getting ready to wrestle. Percy attacked with a feint towards her shoulder, but Annabeth saw straight through it. As if he had told her ahead of time, she dodged the fake shoulder attack and countered the sword flat coming at her head. She let the strike go past her a bit, grabbed Percy's wrist, and flipped him.

Percy landed hard, and decided that the room was no longer comfortable for him. He silently apologized to Thalia for flipping her. He tried to get up, but Annabeth stabbed him in the shoulder with her knife. Percy's body flung back to the floor with a painful cry. She straddled him as the knife was in his shoulder and punched him right in the nose. He heard a sickly crunch when she hit him. He hoped his nose wasn't broken, but it sure felt like it. Stunned for a good second, Percy saw Annabeth run and scoop up Riptide and her hybrid sword. She went to attack Thalia, who was starting to struggle with Cyrene in her hand. Percy put his hand out and weakly said, "No…"

Time seemed to stop. Annabeth had gotten a lot better with fighting and was even integrating some of Percy's tricks from Camp Jupiter, as well as some martial arts. She was stronger and faster than he thought she was, and Thalia, with Cyrene in one hand, was going to have a hard time fighting her. Percy refused to let Annabeth get any closer to Thalia and Cyrene and thrust his hand out. This was one of the things that he and Annabeth were brainstorming about regarding the applications of his powers. Annabeth held the view that controlling someone's body was un-ethical, but Percy decided to bend the rules of ethics just this once.

He felt the water in Annabeth's body and with a pained grunt, willed all of the fluids within her body towards him. Annabeth froze in her tracks, and began to convulse. Percy saw the blood pushing against the back of her skin. He felt her muscles moving towards Thalia, against the blood that was coming towards Percy. He maintained the control as he stood up, removing the knife from his shoulder. Thalia glanced towards Percy, blasted a huge spider and then ran to put Cyrene in the corner. She set her down and activated her protection spell. Cyrene was awake now, but she smiled at Thalia. Thalia gave her a quick "Hi," and rejoined the battle. Cyrene laughed.

Percy looked back at Annabeth and saw Riptide in her hand. He grabbed his shield from the ground and ran to her as Annabeth's blood was still reaching towards him. He grabbed her knife by the hilt and threw it at Annabeth's knee baseball-style. It impaled her in the back of her thigh, and when he was close enough, he released Annabeth from her blood hold.

She fell forward immediately with a guttural scream and, with Cyrene's safety justifying it, Percy hit Annabeth in the back of the head with his shield. She crumpled and Riptide went clanging against the ground. He scooped it up and leveled it towards Annabeth, giving her a wide berth. Out the corner of his eye, he saw Thalia kill the last spider and flank Annabeth on the other side. She leveled her spear towards her. "Give it up, Chase. You're beaten."

Annabeth removed the knife from her thigh stoically. She grabbed her dagger in her right hand and her hybrid sword in her left. She looked at Percy and Thalia on either side. Percy saw that she was talking silently to herself. He knew that she only did that when she was trying to calculate something quickly. He was going to signal for Thalia to wait, but she began to charge. Percy didn't want to leave her out to dry, so he charged as well, keeping his eyes on Annabeth's entire body.

When Thalia and Percy swung their weapons, Percy didn't plan for he and Thalia to swing their weapons at the same place; her shoulder. But they did. Annabeth ducked like a panther and managed to dodge both weapon strikes. She sweep-kicked Thalia and swung her hybrid sword at Percy. He deflected the strike, but she followed up with a kick to the core. Immediately, she spun around and kicked Thalia in the face. She quickly turned and parried Percy's attack. She gave him two sharp low jabs with her sword that Percy barely parried and while his attention was low, she dragon-fist punched him in the chest with perfect form, sending him back a few feet. She promptly backflipped and landed on Thalia's shoulders as the latter was getting ready to attack her.

On Thalia's shoulder, she closed her legs and flipped to the ground, bringing both women down. She tried to choke Thalia out with her legs, but Percy came running at her. She released Thalia and fought Percy with two blades while Thalia was gasping for breath. Percy felt like he was attacking a mind-reader, someone who knew exactly what he was going to do before he did it. Riptide was a golden blur of paranoia and protection. Without seeing them, he was blocking attacks with both his shield and sword, having to pull out all the stops to even stay alive. At one point, she tried for a kick to his head, but Percy was expecting that. He blocked with his shield, pushing her leg over to the right. As expected, it threw her off balance and he kicked her in the stomach. Her knife and sword fell out her hand as she flew to the ground. Percy stood over her with Thalia at his side. They held their weapons and pointed them at Annabeth as if they were victorious in a Camp Half-Blood sparring session.

Annabeth propped herself up with her arms and looked up at them. She looked at Thalia tacitly, then made eye contact with Percy. "Please stop, Percy. My brothers will die if you keep trying to attack me."

Percy's heart strings twisted and he thought about Matthew and Bobby years ago, playing with toys and yelling at their father about which one was which. He felt bad, but Thalia sneered, ichor coming down her lip. "Save it. You're finished."

Annabeth seemed to disagree, because she used her hands for balance and double kicked Percy and Thalia in their knees. Annabeth scrambled up and punched Percy. Her follow through from the punch put her in the position where her back was to Thalia, so in the same move, Annabeth followed up with an immediate backwards elbow to the face. Ichor spattered from Thalia's nose as she stumbled back. When both Percy and Thalia were recovering, she picked up her hybrid sword and faced them, ready to fight. Her blonde hair was starting to stain with blood and was sticking to her skin from all the sweat. Percy and Thalia recovered and charged Annabeth at the same time.

In a spectacular display of skill, Annabeth was moving so fast and striking so expertly that she held her own against both Percy and Thalia. Her body was moving non-stop, punching, kicking, blocking, striking with her sword and flipping it in the air at the last minute. Meanwhile, Percy and Thalia were attacking viciously, trying for non-lethal attacks. About 97 percent of their attacks were either dodged or blocked, but every now and again, they would get a swipe or a hit on her.

The double team only lasted about 36 seconds, and ended when Thalia tried for a run through with her spear. Annabeth spun her body, forcing the spear out of Thalia's hand and striking Percy with it in the same spin. Percy went flying. Thalia called Percy's name, and Annabeth took the opportunity to slam the flat (not the edge) of the sword into Thalia's head. Annabeth sheathed her sword onto her waist while Thalia staggered. Annabeth responded with three solid core punches (doubling Thalia over), an uppercut (snapping Thalia's head back and straightening her body up), and then a roundhouse punch (sending her to the ground). Ichor flew out of Thalia's mouth as she fell.

Percy's teeth were shaking. He put "getting hit with an electric spear" at the top of his list of least favorite activities. However, when he saw Thalia fly to the ground with blood coming out of her mouth, the Wolf erupted inside him. He stood and gripped Riptide. His shirt was ripped in a few places, and blood was coming out of his mouth. Pain reverberated through his entire being, but his senses were focused. He heard Lupa in his head tell him, "No enemy should best you, Son of Neptune. If anyone beats you, it will be because you have let them. Do not let them. End her."

Annabeth turned and saw Percy walking towards her. She now had blood coming down from a lot of places on her face. Percy decided that this wasn't the same old Annabeth he knew. This was something else entirely.

She put her hands out. "I'm so tired. I don't want to fight you, Seaweed Brain. You were my world and I loved you. Whether I deserved your love or not, Matthew and Bobby do not deserve to die like this."

Percy took deep breaths. "Loved?"

Annabeth dabbed her fingers over her face, looking at the blood her fingers came back with. "I don't have room for emotions right now. I'm making the logical choice in saving Matthew and Bobby. And I will kill you if I have to."

Percy headed to her. "You can try."

Percy felt the Wolf in every strike, movement, analysis he made. Percy had gone to attack her. Annabeth sighed and ran towards him. She tried a run through of her sword through Percy's chest. Percy knocked the strike away and spun away from her, trying to knock the flat of the blade in the back of her head again. However, she was expecting that and tried for a backwards sweep kick. Percy put one leg up to avoid it, and kicked her in the back of the knee. She cried out, then threw herself towards him. She caught him in stomach, sending him back a bit. She raised her sword and crept towards him. She struck high and Percy parried high. A small shockwave of force erupted when their blades met. After he parried high, she struck low, but Percy brought his sword down on the top of her head before she could complete the attack. She seemed unfazed and gave Percy an uppercut punch with her free hand and a sword strike to his side. Riptide flipped around his fingers expertly and blocked the side strike. He opened his palm and struck her in the nose. Her neck flipped back and her hands reflexively went straight to her bleeding nose. Percy tried for a low swipe, but she kicked his hand away, elbowing him in the face while his face was low. He staggered back. He couldn't help but admire her pain tolerance.

Percy tried for his most powerful strike and Annabeth tried for hers. Percy's was an overhead downward swipe that usually made his adversaries fall to a knee from its force, while Annabeth's was a long upwards strike that got the adversary's arms in the air and vulnerable to any finishing body shots. They tried their most powerful attacks and their swords met. In a huge CLANG and a small resulting shockwave, Percy was suddenly disarmed. In that split second though, he realized that he was still holding Riptide. But…he wasn't. He hadn't been disarmed.

Riptide was broken.

That last strike saw Annabeth bring her sword up to Riptide's downward arc and the sheer power of her sword strike had broken off 92 percent of Riptide's celestial bronze body. It went flying and clattered twenty feet away from them. Percy was now grabbing the hilt of a broken blade that extended only a few inches from the hilt. The top of that remaining piece was jagged and coursed with light blue tendrils of frost. Annabeth's Stygian ice on her sword had simultaneously froze Riptide and broke it within the same strike.

For a second, Annabeth seemed as stunned as him. But she quickly regained her wits. She sheathed her sword and with her fists, gave Percy two solid jabs in the face. She leapt straight up in the air, and gave him a solid one-leg kick to his chest. Percy fell to the ground. He heard Grover cry out in victory and he figured that he had succeeded in freeing Nico. However, Annabeth wound up like a baseball pitcher and threw her knife on a rope at Grover, impaling him in his shoulder. Grover cried out and went down. Nico struggled to get up, but was too weak due to a lack of sleep and a lack of walking. Annabeth sprinted to him as he was struggling and gave him a very strong kick in the face. Nico flew ten feet and landed hard, out of commission.

Percy looked around at the seemingly impossible; Grover, Percy, Thalia, and Nico were laying on the ground, defeated and Annabeth stood victorious. She walked over and scooped Percy's sister up. With one touch, she disabled Cyrene's Egyptian protection spell. Cyrene began to cry as if she knew what Annabeth was going to do to her.

Percy struggled to find new strength as he tried to get up. However, he felt like he was carrying the sky on his way up. Annabeth was now walking to the Asopio Pool, rocking Cyrene back and forth. She gave one last sad look at Percy and then trudged into the flowers.

She was three feet away. She reached out and touched Arachne's picture, making the monster disappear into white smoke. Percy figured that Annabeth did that to prepare to bring her back to life. He thrust out his hand to stop her blood, but he was too weak to grab hold. He pushed through everything and charged towards Annabeth. His charge, though, was more of a pathetic limp. Everything on his body hurt or stung or was bleeding. It was times like these when he wished he still had the blessing of Achilles. Annabeth put Cyrene down and watched him limp towards her.

Percy was trying to think of any way out of this, any loophole, anything that could save Cyrene. He cried out, "ANNABETH! What did Arachne swear to you? Exact words?"

Annabeth frowned. "What does that mean?"

Percy screamed, "TAKE ME! You said Arachne wanted someone of pure heart. I can take Cyrene's place and bring Arachne back to the world of the living. What better revenge than…*caff*…to imprison me in Tartarus while she's ali-"

Percy doubled over, coughing up blood. Tears ran down Annabeth's face. "I can't."

Annabeth immediately sprinted to him and kneed him in the chest, sending him down for the count. She straddled him and punched him multiple times. Every blow made Percy think about another good memory in the few months Cyrene was on this planet. He needed to save her. Percy couldn't see straight; he saw four Annabeth's floating around him. Suddenly, he felt her kiss him and felt tears on his face.

"I had to make it look good. I'm sorry, Percy. I'm so sorry for everything. I messed up with this. I should've came to you years ago. I should've trusted you enough. I just couldn't see you meet a fate worse than death. I thought I was done, I thought I was broken and I'm…I'm sorry. But I'm flipping the script. I'm thinking with my heart for the last time. Thank you for being there and showing me that there's always a way. I did love you, I do love you, and I will always love you."

In an unexpected move, she pushed an ambrosia square into his mouth.

Percy swallowed it with difficulty, but his vision cleared up. She bore into his eyes with her gray ones.

They were moving a million miles an hour.

And for a moment, Percy thought that he saw the old Annabeth in her eyes. The Annabeth he fell in love with. The Annabeth who wouldn't go down without a fight.

In a stark contrast to her emotional spill a few seconds ago, she hissed at Percy, "Six seconds. She'll be right where Thalia is. You hear me? Six seconds."

She pushed another square in her mouth and kissed him again.

Percy was so confused. Thalia was laying by the ground next to the pool. He wanted to ask who the "she" that Annabeth mentioned was; was she actually going to go through with this? Was she actually going to sacrifice Cyrene.

Annabeth sprinted to the pool.

Percy heard Arachne's voice fill the chamber. "Finally. Poseidon-spawn, I will be back to this realm of the living and I will torment you. I will find your parents and consume them. I will raze Camp Half-Blood to the ground once again. And you will have your girlfriend to thank for it."

Laughter echoed through the room as Annabeth ran towards the pool. Arachne reminded him of Kronos with her malevolent voice. Percy used his new strength to struggle so he was in a sitting position.

"No…no…Annabeth, no…."

Percy couldn't feel his heart. He contemplated bringing Cyrene's bodily fluids to him, but he didn't think that would be healthy. He prepared to do it to Annabeth, but he remembered her telling him that he had "six seconds."

What did that mean?

Annabeth slowed to a jog as she picked Cyrene up. His sister had been crying amongst the flowers, but once Annabeth picked her up, she stopped crying and yawned. Annabeth looked at Cyrene and Percy cried, "NO!"

His body ached. His mind felt like it had been stabbed with a sword. But he ran towards Annabeth anyway. Thalia reached weakly towards Annabeth, trying to stop her. Arachne's laughter still sounded through the entire chamber.

In a decision that melted Percy's heart, Annabeth turned from the Pool and jogged towards Percy. He stopped his advance towards her and watched as Annabeth jogged to him. She stopped in front of Percy gave Cyrene a kiss on the forehead. Annabeth then pushed Percy's sister into his arms.

She unclasped her Yankees hat from her belt and put it on Cyrene's head. Though the hat completely enveloped Cyrene's tiny head, the baby turned invisible.

Percy could breathe again. His heart glowed with warmth as he finally held his sister in his arms. Cyrene was warm, and she still smelled just like cinnamon rolls. He felt her limbs thrash around as she began to fight with the air. Percy couldn't stop his tears from coming down; this Cyrene was not going to dissolve with the wind.

He looked up to get ready to thank Annabeth, but he saw her sprinting towards the pool.

He put it together a half second too late.

Percy screamed, "ANNABETH!"

Annabeth touched Arachne's picture and the monster began to form out of deathly white smoke. In a half second, Annabeth climbed the pool and balanced on the edge of it. She turned back to Percy and gave him a tearful smile, then a farewell salute. She then bent her knees and leapt into the air. In mid-jump, Annabeth turned her body horizontal, clasped her hands together, bent her arms behind her head and bent her legs towards her back. In one motion, Annabeth extended her body so she was like a torpedo and dove into the Asopio Pool.

It broke Percy's heart because he had taught her that move one day when they were at the pool. She had asked him to teach her how to dive.

A quarter second after Annabeth had jumped in, Arachne fully formed out of the white smoke and swept the room. Percy assumed Arachne saw him with a broken Riptide, his friends on the ground, and no Cyrene. The ground began to rumble. She began to laugh and hissed, "Finally. I can feel my essence being pulled back to life. Prepare to die."

Arachne's image disappeared and liquid form the pool spilled onto the floor, forming into a figure.

Annabeth had sacrificed herself to bring Arachne back to life.

And Percy had six seconds.