Helloooo again! It was Percy's bday a couple of days ago, I wonder how many of you noticed. :) Be warned, this chappie just might cause you to rip me into pieces. Just remember: I have a plan :D Do enjoy the following text!

Annabeth's POV

Next morning, when I woke up, I didn't remember where I was. Above me, little crystals like stars glittered in the bright light, that shone from outside.

'Oh, yeah,' I thought to myself. 'I'm in Ogygia.'

I tried to raise my hands and, to my surprise, I could do it with no effort. I smiled to myself. Soon we'd be off this island. 'And far away from Calypso,' I thought. I had seen how Calypso looked at Percy - with googoo-eyes. I didn't necessarily like it. The worst thing was, that Percy didn't seem to mind it at all. He was all smiley when Calypso was around. Never to mention Rachel. Just when I'd thought I was higher on the list than Rachel, Calypso came to the picture. Just my luck. But the fact was, that neither one - not Rachel, nor Calypso – could love Percy as much as I did. I just hoped, that Percy knew that.

"Good morning, Annabeth!" came a cheerful greeting from the cave entrance.

"Morning, Thals," I answered my best friend.

Thalia walked to my bed and sat on the edge.

"Can you sit up?" she asked.

I wasn't sure, so I tried. With some effort, I managed to heave my upper body against the headboard.

"Not quite, huh?" Thalia said and smiled reassuringly.

"I'll manage."

"Come, I'll help you up. Everyone else is already having breakfast," she said and lifted me up. She helped me change and even offered to brush my hair. I was grateful, of course, but I'd still wanted to be able to do it myself. I had a certain pride. Well, hubris, pride was my fatal flaw.

After helping me tidy myself up, Thalia walked me out, where a little picnic table had been put up. Around the table, the smiling faces of my friends and Calypso greeted me. I was surprised to see, that even Percy had managed to get up and he was eating toast happily, chatting with Rachel and Calypso. The difference between his appearance now, and my memory of him yesterday was unbelievable – his pale cheeks had a healthy gush of pink on them and his whole appearance was cheerful and full of energy. I suppose Calypso had worked some extra magic on him. There she was, smiling at me. Ugh, why did she have to be so damn beautiful all the time?

Thalia helped me to the chair beside Percy and sat on the other side of me.

"Good morning, Wise Girl," Percy smiled warmly at me.

"Hey, Percy," I replied with the same wholehearted smile.

"Sweet dreams?" he asked.

"Divine," I grinned.

Calypso offered me some toast from across the table. I grabbed one and flashed one of my intimidating smiles at her. To my annoyance, she didn't seem to be troubled of me at all. She was perfect to no limits. Ugh!

I tried to hide my annoyance by engaging in a conversation with Percy.

"How are you feeling?" I asked him.

"Good," he shrugged. "Still not able to stand, but I'll be fine in a few days."

"That's great!" I shrieked.

Then I remembered the thing I had to discuss with Percy. The time was ticking nearer and nearer inevitably. I tossed the bad thoughts away with the ancient gesture of my hand in a fist over my heart, pulling the evil away. I needed to focus on the positive things: we could save Grover if Percy would get better soon.

Of course, the gesture of warding off evil was not left unnoticed.

"What's wrong, Annabeth?" Percy asked. He placed his hand on my cheek. Concern colored his face.

"Nothing... Just thinking of Grover," I said hastily. Well, it wasn't actually a lie, since I had thought of Grover, but that wasn't the actual reason for me to act so noticeably.

"He'll be okay, I know he will," Percy said and gave me a little peck on my cheek. That made me a little bit better. But only a little bit.

After breakfast we took a stroll in the gardens. The flowers spread their intoxicating scent in the air. It was beautiful. Thalia rolled out a picnic quilt beside a flower bed, where Calypso was planting another colorful flower. An orchid? Percy and I lay down and Rachel and Thalia sat with us. We chattered and laughed, just like there was nothing wrong. There's something in Ogygia, that makes you forget all the bad things in life and get you all laid back. I guess it's healthy, not worrying too much. Maybe that's why we'd gotten better in a really small amount of time.

So there we were, chilling in the garden of Calypso, drinking sodas and nectar, having the time of our lives. Right then, even Calypso didn't get on my nerve, even though she was within ten feet radius, her caramel hair braided over her shoulder, pottering in her garden.

"Has this place changed at all? I mean, since you left before?" I asked Percy. He was deep in his thoughts and he jumped when I addressed a question to him. He looked at me, clearly considering what to say.

"Not at bit," he finally said and turned his face away from me again, looking at the clouds passing by.

"Oh, okay..." I said. I really didn't know what to say to that. He sounded so happy.

"Have you ever regretted leaving this place?" I asked.

For the longest two seconds in the world, he thought about my question.

"Never," he said then. He looked at me, his face sincere. And I didn't believe him.

The chatter continued in the same high-spirited tone as it had started. The nectar was doing its job in our bodies and in a few hours I felt almost as good as new. Percy, too, seemed to be feeling well and he tried to sit up. He did pretty well. In a minute, I was the only one left lying down. I sat up as well. I felt strong and healthy. The feeling rose the same anxiety as at breakfast. I'd need to speak with Percy in private and it had to be soon. It was inevitable. We had to save Grover.

"Percy, have you heard anything about Grover?" Thalia asked. Again, I wondered if she could read minds or something.

"No, I haven't. I'm really sorry, Thals," said Percy. Thalia hung her head and sighed.

"He'll be okay, Thalia. Don't you worry," Rachel comforted her and patted her shoulder.

This little gesture seemed a bit odd to me. I'd never thought of Rachel and Thalia as close friends before, but there was something in the way Rachel comforted Thalia, that made me doubt my own knowledge. Well, I guess nearly dying united people somehow.

Calypso came to us.

"Percy, it's time for you to get back inside to rest," she said.

"I don't need rest. I feel fine," Percy insisted, but Calypso wouldn't take no for an answer.

"I was under the impression, that you have a friend waiting to be saved. If that's so, you'll need to get strong quickly," she said and pulled Percy off the ground. This time he let her do it without any arguments.

"Should we bring Annabeth inside too?" Thalia asked. I hoped they would, because when left alone, we could possibly discuss the matter of a potential breakup.

Calypso looked at me. I tried to keep my face as neutral as I could.

"Maybe it would be wise. She is stronger than Percy, but definitely not fully recovered," she said and Thalia and Rachel pulled me up and The five of us started to walk back to the cave.

I prayed to the gods: 'Please, let them leave us alone so we can talk.' I wondered how many of the gods were still listening to me. I had made Hera mad some two years ago, Poseidon had never liked me, never to mention now, my mom had forsaken me, Zeus and Mr. D never cared of anyone... I wondered if Hermes was still mad at me about Luke. I hoped not.

Thalia and Rachel set me down on my bed in the cave, and tucked me in. That was highly unnecessary.

"Now be a good girl and go to sleep," Thalia said in a mockingly motherlike tone and planted a kiss on my forehead.

"Yeah, yeah," I grimaced.

They left the cave, chatting with Calypso. We were alone.

And I was terrified.

'Oh gods, oh gods! I gotta do this now! I can't! I love him! No, I still have to do this. What am I gonna do?'

I had to take a bull by the horns and get this done. I just didn't know how to do it without hurting Percy.

I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of my bed. I hadn't tried to walk on my own since I'd arrived in Ogygia, but I had to do it now, in order to get to Percy, so I stood up, holding on the headboard for support.

"Percy, are you awake?" I whispered. I didn't want to wake him up if he was asleep.

"Nope," came the answer from his bed.

"May I come over there? I'd like to talk," I asked. Was it only me or was my voice small and feeble?

"Sure," Percy said.

I carefully stood up straight, letting go of the headboard. I staggered a bit, but managed to stay up. I took one small step, then another. When I realized, that I was strong enough to walk, I started taking bigger steps and in a minute I was by Percy's bed. He sat up, his back against the headboard and motioned me to sit down. I sat cross-legged on the bed.

"So, what do you wanna talk about?" Percy asked. I suppose he'd gotten the message about wanting to talk about something specific.

It was my time to speak my mind now. I needed to tell him, that we needed to obey our parents and break up. It would hurt him. It would hurt both of us. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. There was no way to say this. Even the thought of breaking up with Percy sent a rush of panic through me.

I heard a weird noise, a sob of some sort. I wondered where the sound came from. Then I felt Percy's finger on my face, just below my left eye.

"Annabeth, what's wrong?" he asked, as softly as ever.

The sound had come from me.

Percy pulled me in his lap, his arms crushing me to his chest.

"Hey, it's okay, honey. Tell me what's happened," he said.

I'd never heard him call me 'honey'. It was kinda funny. It sounded weird coming from Percy. But soon he would have no reason to call me that. I was about to ruin everything. I had to. We needed to save Grover. I tried to make my breathing even. Then I pulled away a bit, just to gaze into Percy's eyes.

"Percy, before I say anything, I want you to understand, that I love you more than anything," I said and hiccuped.

Percy looked puzzled. I could tell he didn't have a clue of what was going on.

"I love you, too. But..."

"No, I want you to say, that you understood my last sentence," I interrupted him.

"Yes, I understand. What is this, Annabeth?"

Percy's eyes were dark with concern and doubt. The jade sea green of them almost gray, just like the way his father's were when he got angry. I would make Percy angry and sad today.

"I... It's just that... We... I don't even know where to start," I mumbled.

"Calm down, Annabeth, you're trembling. What's wrong?" Percy asked. He smoothed my hair.

His touch made me calm down a bit, but as soon as I realized I wouldn't be allowed to enjoy his touch in that way made me burst into tears again.

"Oh, come here," he pulled me back into his chest and trailed little kisses on top of my head.

Gods, this was going to be even harder, than I had ever thought it would be. I calmed myself down, pulled away from his chest and tried again.

"Okay," I said bravely. "Just remember what I just told you. That I love you, alright?"

"Of course," Percy said, still really confused about this whole situation.

"So, I have been thinking. We need to save Grover, right?"

"Yes."

"And in order to get away from this island we'd need to take a ferry. Right?" I asked again.

"Yes..." I assumed he was getting closer to the thought I had in my mind.

"I'm quite sure, that Poseidon wouldn't let us pass through his domain alive again. And if there's a legion of monsters waiting for us on the 'Monster Doughnut' -island, we need as much force as possible. Right?"

"Yeah... But-,"

"Thalia couldn't possibly handle all of them alone, so I thought, that if we got our powers back, we could help her and we'd have better odds in saving Grover. Am I correct?" I asked.

Percy's face turned from confused to horrorstruck. Yet, he nodded. Of course I was right. Still, I hated to see the hurt on his face.

"So, what you're saying is..." Percy trailed off.

"I don't think we have any other option," I said. I knew he knew what I meant.

Percy was quiet. His face grew emotionless and his eyes went blank.

"Percy, I..." I tried, but he silenced me with a motion of his hand.

I knew it. I had hurt him bad.

He was silent for a long time. Or at least, it seemed like a long time to me.

"I swore upon the river Styx," he finally said, his voice trembling with some emotion I wasn't sure about. Anger? Hurt? His face didn't give anything away.

"I know. I'm so, so sorry Percy. Just remember what I said at first," I pleaded.

"Then why are you even talking about this?" he asked.

Boys, how stupid, yet adorable they were!

"You need to think about Grover, Percy. And don't you even dare to think, that this isn't hard for me. Because it is. It kills me, Percy. But I can't see another way to save him. We'd still have a long, full life with each other. Only as friends, not... more than friends. I'm not sure what we are. Boyfriend and girlfriend? In any case, we could be friends, just like we were before and when we'll die, we can live together in Elysium forever as a couple," I explained him the whole plan.

"It still wouldn't be the same..." Percy grumbled, but he seemed to sooth a bit.

"Percy, if there was any other way, I wouldn't even think of leaving you," I said.

He looked into my eyes.

"Yeah, I know," he said and sighed.

"There's no hope then?" he asked.

"There's always hope, Percy. It's still inside the Pandora's jar. Hestia will take good care of it," I tried to pull a joke, but it seemed kinda lame.

"Very funny, Annabeth," Percy said, with no smile at all.

"I know. I'm just so, so sorry!" I said again. "And I love you."

Percy pulled me back in his arms and kissed me. This kiss reminded me of the one in the boat, when I'd heard we were sinking. Like we only had this much time left. I hated to break the kiss, since it would be one of the last we'd be sharing, but I had to say one more thing.

"You do understand what we have to do in order to get our powers back?" I asked. Percy nodded.

"We have to talk with Hermes," he said. "He comes here from time to time to send messages to Calypso."

"Really? Well, I think I'd still want to get it done and over with, so we probably should call him like now," I said.

"I suppose you're right..." Percy said. His voice trailed off at the end. Then he did one of the most unpercylike things in the world – he burst into tears himself.

I was momentarily stunned. I had never seen Percy cry before. I had always been the one crying my eyes off when I was upset. Percy had seen me cry a thousand times. Still, I was shaken when he started crying.

I wrapped my arms around him. The way he'd become so emotional made me want to cry, too. I fought it. I wanted to comfort him, not appear as a person who needed comfort, though comfort was the first thing I would've asked right then.

"I love you, Annabeth," he said, sobbing. "I have something for you to remember, too."

"What is it, Percy? I'll remember anything you want me to."

"The song I sang for you back in the tent, remember?" he said, his voice quite even now.

"Yes." How could I possibly forget that?

"Think of it when you're lonely. That way, you'll always remember how much I love you, even though I can't say it to you out loud. That way I won't break my promise to the river Styx. And you."

I couldn't take it anymore. There was too much love in his words. His words were marinaded in sweet, sweet love. We cried together silently, holding each other. This would be the last time we could do so.

Thalia's POV

I don't know why, but I was concerned about Annabeth. Since she'd woken up here on Ogygia, she'd seemed... different. I would often catch her just gazing into the distance, dwelling in her own thoughts. She sighed a lot. But especially I'd noticed the silent grief in everything she did. Like she knew she had only some time left before she'd die or something. That didn't necessarily lighten up my day.

Calypso was more than welcoming, of course. She was open and joyful and always asking us how she could please us. I guess it was because she didn't get that many visitors. She'd taken interest especially on Percy, whom she already knew. Calypso took extra care of him and it showed: Percy was recovering in maximum speed. He'd soon be ready to fight monsters. Then we could go save Grover!

Grover... I hadn't heard a thing of him since the night we left our campsite a few days ago. I was growing anxious. Things just weren't the same without him here. I hadn't been able to think my head straight, since the times were kinda hectic now, so I still had a crush on Grover, but I wanted to be loyal to lady Artemis. You could probably say, that I was still screwed.

"Chicken or pork, Thalia?" Calypso asked.

We were preparing for dinner in Calypso's dining room. Well, it wasn't actually a dining room. It was another cave in the cavern where the 'bed chamber' was too. I was folding napkins on the table and hadn't been listening to Calypso and Rachel's conversation at all.

"Thalia?" Calypso asked again.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was daydreaming. What did you say?" I said.

"Would you rather eat chicken or pork tonight?" she asked and smiled.

"Err... I don't mind," I shrugged and continued with my work.

Calypso left the dining cave, muttering something unintelligible. Rachel came beside me.

"What's in your mind, Thalia?" she asked. Even though we weren't that close, I was kinda happy that someone asked me how I was.

"I was just thinking about Grover," I said. I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell Rachel what exactly I was thinking about him.

"I see," she said. "You must really like him, huh?"

Was it that obvious? I felt a lump in my throat and, afraid that my voice would break, nodded.

"That must be really hard for you. Since you're a hunter and stuff," Rachel mused.

'Tell me about it,' I thought bitterly. Why did life have to be so difficult?

My expression probably betrayed me, because Rachel pulled me into a comforting hug. It was such a simple gesture from a friend, but yet she was so sincere and I felt like she really cared. I fought tears. I had my dignity. Only Annabeth was allowed to see me cry. Well, Percy almost dying on Olympus was an exception. Then I'd let all people present to see me cry.

"Thanks, Rach," I said, when she after several minutes let me go.

"No problem, I don't like to see people sad," Rachel shrugged. "Besides, that's what friends are for." She smiled reassuringly. I realized I had gotten another friend for life. I went back to fold the napkins. Rachel sat down on one of the dining chairs and a can of soda appeared in her hand. That was one of the extraordinary things that happened in Ogygia. The food cooked itself, the clothes were washed and folded by an invisible servant. It had taken me a whole day to realize it.

In the middle of my work, Calypso came back with an armful of candles. She set them on the table and started to put them in the chandeliers, that hung from the ceiling.

"Should someone go check on Annabeth and Percy?" Rachel asked.

"Yes, I suppose it would be wise. It's dinnertime," Calypso said.

I offered to go, since I was finished with the napkins. I didn't need to go anywhere, though, because they were walking through the cave entrance, Annabeth supporting Percy. In another situation the fact, that Percy was somewhat able to walk and Annabeth was actually strong enough to support him would've made me happy as ever, but gods, how they looked! Both of their faces were puffy, their eyes were red like someone'd just poked them in the eye with something rather poisonous.

'Oh no,' I thought. 'Who has died? Not Grover, please, not Grover!'

"What's happened?" Rachel asked. Although she was caring and all, she still had the habit to blurt stuff out of her mouth before considering what she should say.

I watched as both, Annabeth and Percy's faces filled with hurt. Annabeth, who was still under the weight of Percy, hid her face into his shoulder. Rachel and I took two chairs and sat Annabeth and Percy down. Then we and Calypso gathered around them.

"Has someone died?" Calypso was the first to speak. "Your friend..."

Percy shook his head.

"No one's died," he said, his voice thick. He'd been crying a lot. Both of them had. That disturbed me. I'd never seen Percy cry before, so this was a shock.

Annabeth lifted her face up. After sitting down, she'd hung her head, never meeting our eyes. Now, we all could see hers. They were emotionless. That was even worse than Percy's agonized face.

"We've decided to obey our parents," Annabeth said slowly. Her voice was thick, too, yet blank. I could see she'd sealed away her emotions. She did that, when she didn't want to seem weak.

I didn't know what to say. Neither did Calypso or Rachel. There were no words.

"Gods, I am so sorry," Rachel said.

I looked at Calypso. A small tear trickled down her cheek. I felt tears fill my eyes, too.

"Would you like something to eat? We have prepared the dining room for us tonight," Calypso said carefully.

Both of them nodded.

"Come here," Annabeth said and lifted Percy up from his chair.

They walked to the dining table and we brought them the chairs we'd taken away. We all sat down and started eating in silence. Beside the table, there was a small fire burning. We scraped some of our food there. When it was my turn, I prayed to every God I knew – the Olympians and the minor gods, too; Dike, Janus, Hecate... Anyone, whom I remembered.

When we were finishing, Percy was the first one to break the silence:

"We need to talk to Hermes. Do you think he'll come to you soon?" he asked from Calypso.

"He just visited, so I'm afraid he won't be coming over anytime soon," she answered.

"Do you mind if I asked him to come now? We'd like to do it quickly," Percy asked.

We all nodded. How could we possibly not let them?

Percy took a deep breath and scraped the last of his food in the fire.

"Hermes! I want a word!"

Sooo... Am I doomed? Are you going to murder me into my bed tonight? Or did you perhaps like it? Or love it? Or something... Just a reminder: Reviews are my fuel!
Athena's cabin wishes you a nice day!

Peace, love, PJO!

Luv,

AC