Back in the abandoned tower-block, Kronos was plotting.

On one hand, Percy Jackson was a fool and a danger, and he'd greatly offended Kronos in the past. A large part of Kronos still wanted to kill Percy for that. On the other hand, he was the perfect weapon. Not only was he quick and efficient, he was totally under Kronos' control, and unlike most in that position, was actually intelligent. Kronos knew that it would be hard to get another person to do his work like Percy had. And he needed to remove that girl, Annabeth, from the picture. It was possible, though unlikely, that she could trigger residual feelings inside of him, and Kronos couldn't let that happen. The quickest, and probably smartest, thing to do would be to simply send an errant strike of energy astray, and blow up the entire house. But, Kronos was a master manipulator, and he decided that Annabeth had escaped from Percy two times. She wouldn't be so lucky a third.

"Perseus," Kronos said, as the twenty-three-year-old came to stand at the doorway behind him. "I have a job for you," he continued, allowing a rare smile to caress his face.

"Yes, master?" Percy said mechanically.

"You're to finish off that Annabeth girl once and for all," he said, turning and standing up. He felt in his pocket for a celestial bronze knife. "You are to kill her with this, and bring me back her head. I need to see her head, minus her body, before me. Do this, and I will reward you endlessly. Do you get that?"

For a moment, Percy's original personality made a break for it, struggling for the surface, howling at the horrific crime he was going to be forced to commit. But the darkness caught up again, engulfing the errant strays of free will. Percy's throat convulsed once, and then he spoke.

"Yes master," he said, taking the knife and walking out of the room.

Kronos allowed his laughter to shake the already precarious structure.

Annabeth sighed and rolled over, unable to sleep. She'd gone to see Brad that afternoon, and he was fine. Recovering all the time, they expected him to be out of the hospital in a couple of weeks. It appeared that being half-god helped you heal quicker.

The house was dark, the only light present that which was streaming in through the window. It cast long shadows, and it was freaking Annabeth knowing that somewhere, perhaps even in her own backyard, there was a person who wanted to kill her.

Of course, she'd killed her fair share of monsters—that hadn't gone away when she got older, though the amount had been reduced. But this was different, this one was a friend, or used to be. Someone she used to kill monsters with. Someone who Annabeth would have trusted her life with…

It's not him, its Kronos. It's not him, its Kronos. It's not him, its Kronos. She repeated the mantra over and over in her head.

Eventually, she managed to fall into a half sleep, nightmares filling the void. In fact, she was having a particularly nasty one involving Kronos, purple, Percy, and a strudel, when the sound of the window sliding slowly shut woke her up. Her eyes blinked open, and she stared at the wall, where she could see the shadow of a person on the other side of her bed.

Oh my gods, he's here, in my room. Annabeth tried to calm her heart—feeling sure that he could hear it—and closed her eyes, hoping he wouldn't notice how tense she was. She was pretty sure he thought she was asleep. She'd just have to hope it stayed that way until the trap could be sprung.

Speaking of which…

Where are you Nico? she asked inside her head with a note of despair.

Nico and Thalia were, in fact, still standing in the shadow of the doorway, barely breathing. They heard the window shut quietly, and not so much heard as felt Percy creep around the room, the hair on the back of their necks' standing up.

Thalia looked at Nico, and nodded once. It was time. Too early, and Percy might be able to escape, too late and it would be, well, too late.

Nico nodded back, closed his eyes, and concentrated.

Percy was almost next to the bed. Annabeth's heart was beating at a furious pace, and he was sure she was awake. Still, it didn't matter. In his mind, the job was already done.

He bent down, knife poised above her side, just about to strike when—

Rumble.

The ground was shaking. Percy frowned, but pushed on, the knife completing it's deadly arc when—

Rumble.

Another rumble, so violent that Percy was pushed to the floor.

He growled, knowing he'd walked into a trap, and leapt forward, knife out-stretched.

A spear of rock ripped the carpet to threads, wielded expertly by Nico, and threw Percy to the ground again, before encasing him with solid, impenetrable earth. His last rage-filled howl was cut off abruptly, and the earth encasing Percy sunk back down, leaving a ragged hole in the floor. It was no longer Nico's problem, and he sighed and released the power, the strain giving him a mild headache as always.

"It's done," Nico said to Thalia, and she nodded and smiled, relieved.

"Hopefully they'll be able to prove that he didn't act on his own free will," she said, and then opened the door, going into the room.

"Annabeth? We did it!" Thalia exclaimed, happily. "Annabeth?"

She was silent, not a peep, and Thalia thought perhaps that she was still in shock.

Nico turned the light on, and Thalia gasped.

Percy had hit after all.

Annabeth lay motionless on the bed, a jagged celestial bronze knife hilt sticking out of her side, red blood from the wound soaking the sheets.