"Can you do it again?" I rubbed my pendant that was Jack and realized I was the only one of the three of us who wasn't armed. I willed Jack to turn into a sword and he appeared in my hands.

"About time!" he said angrily.

"I may need you as backup," I told him.

Percy noticed me talking to my sword and asked, "Can you use it?"

Jack cleared his throat (did he have a throat? What else would I call it? Clearing his...blade?). "I am not an it."

"Sorry."

"Um, not really," I answered. "But I don't need to. He uses himself." Or course, Jack would choose right then to speak up.

"Actually," he started. "The aura of these demigods and the Minotaur has pretty much rendered me incapable of anything but talking."

"Great."

"Here he comes." said Percy.

The Minotaur charged us faster than I would've thought possible. Percy and Annabeth held their ground, and so did I, although I wasn't sure why. As the Minotaur approached us, I got more and more nervous, and it took every ounce of my willpower not to turn and bolt. When the monster was only a few feet away, Percy and annabeth dove to the side.

I was so surprised by how quickly they moved, I would've been run down if not for Percy's quick thinking. He grabbed the front of my shirt and dragged me out of the way with him.

I was thrown to the floor, and quickly scrambled back to my feet, finding that Percy and Annabeth were already standing at the ready.

"Annabeth," Percy said out of the corner of his mouth. "Use the hat and get behind him. Magnus and I will distract him from the front." Annabeth pulled a Yankee's baseball cap out of her back pocket and put it on, disappearing instantly.

"Cool," I commented, forgetting we were fighting for our lives.

"Split up," Percy told me. "That should confuse him. He's not very smart. Hopefully he'll head for me, because he's angry with me for killing him twice."

I nodded once, moving to left while Percy moved to the right.

"Jack," I said through my gritted teeth. "Now would be a good time to go kill that...thing."

"I already told you, Magnus. No can do."

For a moment, it seemed like the Minotaur was weighing his options. He swung his gigantic head around towards Percy, and then back at me. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Percy silently mouthing words of encouragement, coaxing the monster to come his way.

That's when our not-so-brilliant plan went wrong.

Instead of charging Percy, who was more experienced, and probably a better fighter, the Minotaur came toward me. Why do I always have the worst luck?

Apparently, however, I do not have the worst luck ever, because when the Minotaur was right up close and personal, an invisible force slammed into me, knocking me aside. I saw the Minotaur's axe swing down before he realized I was already gone.

He looked just about as confused as I was when the tip of a bronze sword showed through his leather armour.

With a surprised moo-like sound, he dissolved into yellow dust.

And then, all of a sudden, Annabeth was sitting next to me, Yankee's cap in hand, and a large cut on her leg.

Immediately, Percy was beside us, concern for her evident in his face. He started rummaging through his pockets, looking for something while he scolded Annabeth for being such a careless idiot.

"Well, it was either get hurt a little bit, or let my cousin be run down by a monster, Seaweed Brain. Which did you think I'd choose?"

Percy looked up apologetically. "Sorry, Wise Girl. You're right. Ah, by the way...I'm sort of...out of nectar and ambrosia.

"Great," Annabeth sighed. "Just great."

"Don't worry," I said, relieved I could do something to help. "I've got you covered." I tapped Annabeth's wound with two fingers, willing it to heal. "Owie." I joked.

For some reason, they both winced, and Percy got up and walked down toward the ocean until the surf almost touched his shoes.

Annabeth was inspecting her recently healed leg, so I turned to her.

"Did I say something wrong?" I asked. "Did I offend him in some way?"

Annabeth watched Percy down by the shore, her eyes sad. "No," she reassured me. "It's just…" she sighed. "When Percy and I were first in Tartarus, we were trying really hard to stay positive and happy. So, we talked about this titan Percy had fought with Thalia and Nico, son of Hades, a few years back. They forced the titan back into the Lethe and he lost his memories. The titan became really kind and sweet, so they renamed him Bob and sent him to work for Hades. Bob heard Percy and I talking about him, and so he jumped into Tartarus to help us. He saved us so many times. The empousai, the arai, and Akhlys…

When we...faced an embodiment of Tartarus, Bob fought him with a giant named Damasen. They….they died so we could make it back to the world, and they haven't reformed yet because Tartarus won't let them. They sacrificed their immortal lives for us, and we did nothing to repay them."

I was still confused. "But how does that relate to what I said?"

Annabeth smiled fondly, but sadly. "Bob could heal almost anything with the slightest touch. So whenever he healed Percy or I, he would tap the spot and say "Owie." Almost exactly like what you just did."

"Oh."

I thought about that. The two people before me had stopped the end of the world from happening three times. They had experienced so much danger and hardship, it was amazing they were still sane.

"Well," Percy's voice brought me out of my reverie. "I guess we should go now, unless there's anything else?"

"Um, yeah," I said kind of uncomfortably. "You said that you were a son of Poseidon, and I was just curious….Could I maybe see some of your….powers?"

"Sure," Percy replied nonchalantly. "Although, we should find somewhere more private. The mortals might freak out and try to arrest me….again."

PS: I hope you liked this. I have one more chapter that I've already written, and there might be more. I haven't decided yet, but I left myself an opening.