Explanations and Crazy Dates

"What the heck are you doing here?" I asked, sitting on a stone in a fire. We were all in a circle now on the cave after resting. Flames danced around with red and orange tints as Deadalus gave me a faint smile. "Are you supposed to be working on bridges for eternity in the Underworld?"

Deadalus laughed, "I am doing that." I was about to ask how when he raised a hand. He gave me this faint look that suggested he was about to explain it all. Knowing I hated waiting for answers as much as she did, Annabeth placed a hand on my knee. She blushed when Deadaulus's eyes caught the movement and stared. She blushed and pulled away.

Cough first, Deadalus looked among our group of four; Tyson, Grover, Annabeth and I. "First of all, I have been working on bridges and have increased the number of souls entering the Underworld by 30,000 more in one minute. Hades was very pleased. Anyways, I visit my son here on the week-ends, he lives on the Islands of Blest as well as my nephew. The gods took pity on them and they were half-bloods too so they sent them here. Hades is letting me stay longer when he heard word that your friends arrived."

I gulped, "What could he want from me? I'm just trying to find Labyrinth monsters that escaped and need to be killed." Deadalus's eyes didn't go wide with shock. He didn't start to panic at the idea that the Labyrinth's destruction had released new monsters into the world that could be harming a lot of people. Instead, he nodded as if he knew everything.

"Hades knows," Deadalus replied calmly. I wondered why the earth didn't shake at the sound of his name. Then as if reading my mind, "We're safe in the Island of Blest because this is part of the Underworld. We can freely say Hades but not other names of the Gods. He'll talk to you tomorrow Percy. Time moves like it does in the actual world so don't worry. It's that way because the Islands of Blest is to serve the life for heroes that they should've had if they hadn't been half-bloods."

Grover and Tyson then, stood up so Annabeth and I followed. We passed by a boy who had a contraption of wings on his back that looked as if they wouldn't let him fall like the first time. I remember him in my dream but decided to say nothing about it. "What is there to do?" I asked casually as we stepped into the light. I was anticipating some illusion that might distract us and make us lose track of time like the Locus Hotel. So far we were safe.

"There's a beach we can go to, grab some food," Grover continued but Tyson was already jumping up and down with excitement.

"Beach, we go to beach," he stomped his foot down as if the decision was already made. I couldn't hide the fact though that my stomach was rumbling pretty hard and I was still a little tired from all the travel, even if it had been in the sea where I am my strongest. For the moment, I was in the middle of the island and couldn't feel the deep pulse of the waves so I was pretty weak.

"I think Annabeth and I should eat Tyson, it's been almost a full day since the last. Then we'll come back with you and tell you about what happened and you can fill us in." Grover and Tyson nodded their heads. Grover gave me directions to the nearest place to grab food before they both left Annabeth and I standing there. I turned to face her to find she was blushing. "What?"

She gave a small smile and casually ran her hand through her ponytail. Her baseball kept stuck out of her pocket and her clothes appeared cleaner than they had been the last time. She shrugged but when I didn't stop staring, she gave in. "Fine, Seaweed Brain, I was just wondering, is this a date?"

"Well, sure, why wouldn't it be?" I stated, then she kissed me and I knew it was the right answer.

Sitting in the restaurant, Annabeth casually took a sip from her milkshake as I bit into a French fry. We were having a great time, talking and laughing as if we were too normal teenagers who-you know- didn't have a whole future of the two worlds resting on their shoulders.

"Did you find it weird, passing through the Hercules statues after what he did to Zoe?" Annabeth asked casually. She glanced at me lightly. I hadn't thought about Zoe, truth was, I hadn't seen her or the rest of the Hunters for a long time. Thalia was with them too. It had slipped my mind that Hercules had been a jerk to her.

"I know, I just remembered it now too," Annabeth whispered. She stole one of my French fries and dipped it in her milkshake. She ate it before saying, "Where are they, do you know?" I shrugged, there was no way to say where the Hunters were because they kept close together and normally avoided the rest of us…especially boys.

Now I remembered too that Hercules had been the one to lead us to the cave. He had flirted with Annabeth and my cheeks began burning. "I can't believe I didn't hit him," I mumbled. "I should've after he talked to you like that." But Zoe fought her own battles, she was a lot stronger now since I last saw her. She fought her own father and stood up against him. Zoe was tough and took care of herself. I knew she didn't want help from me, a man, when it came to her hate towards Hercules.

Then, just as if he was listening, Hercules popped in and gave us a sly smile. His eyes lingered a bit too long on Annabeth, which infuriated me. "Hey babe. Hey dude." He had put on a tee shirt that read 'Watch out, I'm hot' across the chest. Annabeth was gagging at it which made me smile. At least she didn't find him charming.

"Have you heard of the powers here on Islands of Blest?" We both shook our head because we were like tourists who didn't have a map. Hercules smiled and he knew he had us. "Well, if the living carve their names on a palm tree, the two can find each other when they are forced to separate. In death, they are both brought here and they'll be together forever. Interesting right?"

Then, Hercules was dragging us out of our seats and to a part of the island filled with just palm trees that seemed to go on forever. "They pop up only for couples who the island thinks will withstand the troubles of life to be together." Suddenly, the earth rumbled and a tree shot through the air in front of us. Hercules stared at Annabeth, "Must mean you and I babe."

Annabeth was too distracted staring at me to listen to him. Instead, she stepped towards the tree, grabbing my hand, and pulled me with her. Our hands both instinctively traced along the bark. Hundreds more just like it with carved initials stuck out. "So, if we were to get lost," Annabeth stared up at the leaves, "It would bring us back together?" Hercules nodded his head. She stared at me with a deep blush, "What do you say Seaweed Brain?"

"I say if there's a way to get you back to me, I'm taking it." Annabeth reached into her pocket and pulled out her dagger. She did the honor of scratching our initials into the bark with a heart surrounding it. She stepped back and I smiled, "Something I'd thought I'd never do but," I took her hand, "It's worth it."

"Just don't tell anyone about this or else," she replied with a laugh.