Hermione's POV

I studied the piece of paper with the riddle written on it. A few of the lines had already come true. I was worried about Ron. I'd been thinking about it for the last two days. Speaking of two days, we only had two days left of the quest. I wondered if we'd actually be able to complete it.

I could hear the birds tweeting as I sat on a soft patch of moss on the side of a mountain. The sun shone down and the sky was cloudless. It was so peaceful. You would hardly think that there were monsters about trying to kill us, and we were on a quest, a very dangerous quest. There was only beautiful sunshine and birds tweeting.

"Right," I said, standing up. "We'd better get going." I picked my rucksack up and folded the riddle up and placed it in the side pocket.

Everyone else stood up too. We started walking up the small muddy path up the mountain. It was slippery – there had been rain last night and I had to be careful. We were walking along a ridge, a very thin ridge at that. Everyone was silent, not the usual babbling of voices, talking about camp and Hogwarts and plenty of other stuff. I wondered if it was because we only had two days left – Friday was our deadline and it was Wednesday now. My booted feet slammed against hard rock. We were off the muddy path and now we stood on a small thin ridge of rock.

I looked down at my feet, careful where to put them. "Put your feet where I do," I told the others. There were a few mumbles in response. Two straight cliffs lay at either side. We were very high up, almost at the top. It was getting less steep now, levelling out, but the ridge was getting thinner. I was being extra careful, holding my arms out to the sides to balance myself.

"Maybe we should turn back," suggested Harry.

"No." I shook my head. "We'll manage, come on. You're usually the brave one."

"I'm just worried that's all," Harry replied. "I'm worried that someone might fall off the ridge."

"Then we'll be careful," I said firmly.

"Alright," Harry sighed.

The ridge was thinning even more. I wobbled a bit, but Annabeth, who was behind me, steadied me.

"Thanks," I muttered.

I looked back to see if everyone was there, and that's when it happened. I put my foot on a rock and it wobbled and fell away. I fell after it, but I managed to grab onto the edge of the ledge. I held on for dear life, and Annabeth and Harry tried to help haul me up. They couldn't pull me and one of my hands lost grip. I was holding on with one hand. I wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer. My fingers hurt so badly and were slipping. I tried to hold tighter but I couldn't. One of my fingers slipped. And the next second I was falling. Falling down towards the ground, I was tumbling and twisting. Calls of "NO!" and "HERMIONE!" echoed around, but I couldn't respond, I was falling too fast. Fear pounded in my heart, I didn't know what would happen next, and then everything went dark…

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Annabeth's POV

"HERMIONE!" I screamed. Tears started falling down my face. She was my sister. I was only getting to know her, and now she was plunging to her death. I pushed that thought out of my mind. Somehow she might survive. But I doubted that.

"Come on, we need to keep going," Percy said solemnly. I slowly started walking after him and Grover, but Harry didn't. He looked worse than me.

"Both of my best friends are gone," he whispered. "BOTH OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE GONE!" He shouted loudly. It echoed around.

"Harry," I whispered. "You've still got us."

"I-I- I know," he sobbed. "B-b-but it won't b-b-be the s-same."

"Come on, Harry, we need to keep going," I tried to sound strong, but failed horribly. I fought back the hot tears that were falling down my face. The cold, bitter wind blew my hair in my eyes, wetting it with tears.

"I know," he sounded slightly stronger. He turned around slowly and followed me the now four of us walked slowly along the ridge, which was now widening. Rain started pouring down and soaking us, but still we moved on. The quest had to be finished, I knew that.

I wondered if Mom knew. She probably did. I looked up to the dark clouds. It looked like thunder was coming, and soon. Zeus must have been in a bad mood. We were at the top of the mountain now, it was colder up here. I sat on a rock and crossed my legs. Rain splashed down harder and I heard the rumble of thunder not far away.

"Come on," Percy said. "We'd better find shelter."

I mumbled a reply and followed him down the other side of the mountain. The path was very slippery now, and the wet soaked into my supposedly waterproof boots. Percy found a large rock sticking out from the grassy slopes of the mountain. It was dry and sheltered underneath, and we settled down there. Grover pulled a tin can out of his rucksack and started nibbling it. I pulled my legs up to my chest and stared out across the land. I could see the distant lights of a town about a mile away, we could get food there, I was sure I had some money in my pocket somewhere. I got lost in thought, staring away, a small hope deep inside me that Hermione was okay.

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Hermione's POV

My eyes fluttered open. I was lying on something soft. I lifted my head and sat up. My head hurt and I had a few scratches and bruises, but otherwise I was okay. I looked around. I was on a patch of moss, and I head the faint pattering of rain, yet I was completely dry. I saw a tall woman with grey eyes and long dark hair. She wore a long flowing white dress and had an owl resting on her shoulder. I instantly knew who she was.

"Mum?" I asked.

"Hermione," Athena replied.

"I fell…" I mumbled.

"One of my many owl friends saved you, Hermione," Athena said.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"You are my daughter, Hermione. You need to get back to your friends now; they will be worried about you."

"Yes, I'd better get back. Goodbye, Mum," I said. I turned away, as she showed her divine form and disappeared. I stood up and saw that I was at the base of the mountain. I headed up the side, hoping that everyone was still on it. I was getting wet now; it soaked my clothes and my boots. I kept on walking and saw a large boulder stuck in the side of the mountain. Percy, Harry, Grover and Annabeth were all huddled under it, asleep. I walked over to them and woke them up. They all sprung to their feet and looked shocked.

"Are you a ghost?" Harry questioned me.

"No, silly," I said. "I'm well and truly alive."

"But… how?" Annabeth asked.

"Mum saved me… I don't know why, she never told me," I replied.

"She watches over us, but I've never been that close to death before. If it ever happens to me, I hope she does the same," Annabeth said.

They all hugged me tightly, glad I was back. They thought I'd died, but mind you, so had I.

"Come on," I said. "We'd better get going if we're going to finish this quest in time."

We walked off, back together again. Nothing could split us up. We'd find Ron and Aphrodite, I was sure of it. We'd make the deadline.

A/N: Finally! This story is off hiatus! My inspiration has returned! Yipee! I love happy endings. This chapter is nice and long, and I'm already planning the sequel. Pretty please review! Please! I'll update in a few days' time hopefully.

Henny14