Annabeth

Percy came in, a forced smile on his face and he greeted us, "Hey."

Ladea was the first to react. "Daddy!" And leaped into his arms.

"Hey, happy birthday, sweetie. I had some . . . uh, technical difficulties," Percy replied, glancing at me as in We'll-have-'to-talk-about-this-later.

Piper was the first to recover, "Okay, come on, let's all eat some cake then." She put a persuasive charmspeak in her voice and the kids and everyone lulled over to the table and began eating the cake hypnotically, leaving me and Percy alone.

I did the honorable thing. I slapped him in the face and hugged him. "I was worried SICK, Seaweed Brain!"

He laced his fingers through mine. He explained everything before he drifted off. "I might have made a deal . . . with Harintok . . ."

"Deal? DEAL? Harintok? The Harintok? The invention gone wrong?" I stiffened, "Percy. He's wickedly smart. He nearly beat my mother and won her godly rights. I thought . . . I thought that he could be cast away in Tarturus for more than just 3 millena. You played a dangerous gamble. What was your deal?"

"Annabeth, chill," his eyes stared into mine, "12 noon tomorrow. I battle with him, a 5 second head start he gets in killing me."

"Per-sa-cy," I faltered, "You just played your death card."

"I know," he smiled, "But hey, he can't get much through 50 pounds of armor in 5 seconds, right?"

"Percy! Stop joking," I grasped his arm. "Have you seen his blade. It's one of the only 3 Styx ivory weapons in the world. From the River Styx. One touch can kill you. And you don't have your invincibility anymore. You'll have to have the right armor. Pray your father knows."

"Okay, then," he nodded. "5 seconds. 6 sets of armor. Works?"

"No. One touch will melt through all. Another will burn your soul. One more? Percy - you can't even go to hell. You'll be out of existence," I noticed his arm getting red so I let go.

"So . . . what can I do?" he seemed less confident.

"Wait," I say. I start praying to the gods like crazy, hoping them to freeze time so Percy and I could get the material. Just one more hour. Please. Everyone froze in time, though I heard Zeus's voice She owes us big time.

I figured I would. "We have one hour - we need to go. NOW," I pull him an we go for the car. We go quickly to our destination - Hollywood. And, we were heading straight for Hell, to the River Styx.

"What a great way to start the day, huh?" Percy mumbles as we pull up to see a annoyed empousa.

*Sorry I was going to post this earlier but my sister spent the whole day hogging the computer . . . my birthday is tomorrow, so I'll post 3 new chapters on Thursday! This is super short, but I didn't want to keep you guys waiting. :)*