Author's Note: Um…so first of all, I would like to apologize immensely for the super huge delay. I deserve to have rocks thrown at me or something. But you know what? School was being extremely annoying, and I barely had any time to do anything OTHER than school. But now, it's summer vacation, meaning I have lots more time! Another thing: this chapter required a bunch of research, so I had to do that, too. (Anyone from St. Paul, I apologize in advance if I butchered your city.)

Now, I have a couple of thank-yous to hand out. 1) Evelynyamine, for that PM that prompted me to work harder on this chapter. You're awesome for that, and I thank you so much for it. I promised you that this would be the next thing I updated. It was. 2) JP Lacey, who left me the BEST review of ALL TIME. I seriously love you, you wonderful, wonderful person! You made me feel better about my writing, which I thought wasn't that good. People, go read her story The Halls of Larson on FictionPress. It's so amazing. She's a great writer.

Oh my gosh, you guys are flipping amazing for still, like, wanting to read this after I've been so terrible to you. I thought you deserved a long chapter, so here's a 6,000-word chapter for you guys, as a token of my appreciation for not giving up on this story.

Thanks so, so, so, so much!

Disclaimer: No, I'm not Rick Riordan. He can actually write a whole story in a year. It's taken me three so far.

I hope you like it! I worked really, really hard on it!

Chapter 12: We Fight Two Teens to the Death

It turns out that Annabeth was a pretty good driver.

The six of us managed to squeeze into an old silver Toyota Camry, hoping that whomever it belonged to wouldn't mind too much. After all, we were saving the world (and my lungs) from a new ice age.

I grabbed shotgun, trying to avoid the claustrophobia party in the backseat (and alright, to sit next to Annabeth), and Jessica, Nico, Thalia, and Grover crammed together, double-buckling. On the highway, Jessica sighed, catching Annabeth's glance in the rearview mirror. "There are so many teenagers in this car…" she muttered. "There's no way we're not getting pulled over."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Not if I drive properly," she pointed out.

Somewhere in Ohio, I drifted off. And my dreams were the worst yet.

I was in an unfamiliar city, walking alongside two people: a tall man and a young girl. They each wore sunglasses, despite the fact that it was overcast and dusk. The girl's hair was gathered up into a ski cap, and she looked around, like she was scared of getting caught by someone. "What are we doing here?" she asked, irritated.

The man clicked his tongue at her. "I thought you would be excited about the festival," he mused. It's early this year." He had this evil glint in his eyes that I couldn't place. "And besides, they're coming. Soon, that silly little curse of Achilles will be ripped away from Mr. Jackson."

My heart dropped. His voice was unmistakable; it was Mr. Price, the man who had started this whole thing. Had he and this girl somehow found a way around my invincibility? They couldn't have. And what festival were they talking about?

The girl scoffed. "Because your first plan worked so well, right?"

"Shh," he told her, putting a finger to her lips. He tensed, his head whipping around like he had noticed something. "I do believe we have an eavesdropper," he mused.

The girl looked straight at me. "Again," she growled. "Why can't you mind your own business, Jackson?"

The scene suddenly shifted, blurring and spinning around me. When it finally settled again, I found myself standing in the middle of that same snowy forest. I could feel every bit of the harsh cold that managed to blow through my jacket and bite into my skin. It was dark, like nighttime, but the white snow was still easy to see in the moonlight.

I didn't want to be here. I knew what would happen. And it did, once again. I heard Annabeth's shrill cry of pain, followed by her weakening groans. I ran to her again, goosebumps rising on my arms that had nothing to do with the bitter cold. And I found her, lying on the ground, the snow turning dark with her blood all around her.

"Annabeth, no," I murmured, rushing to her side, pressing my hand against the huge gash in her side to stifle the bleeding. But there was just too much blood. Her face was turning gray. "You're not going to die on me," I told her. My voice didn't sound as confident as I'd meant it to.

Annabeth gripped my hand painfully. Her hand was sticky. It sent chills all over my body. I was in the middle of a horror film. Annabeth groaned, "Don't…trust her. She's the…traitor. I never would've guessed…"

"Who?" I pleaded. "Who's the traitor?"

She tried to pick up her head, and opened her mouth to say something, but her eyes rolled back into her head, and her grip on my hand went completely slack.

It was my turn to grip her hand. "No!" I cried. "No! Annabeth, come on! Don't die on me!" I could feel my eyes stinging. She couldn't die. She…she just couldn't die.

All around me, I could hear laughter—laughter coming from several people, like the whole forest was laughing at me. That infuriated me to no end. My girlfriend was drying in my arms and someone dared to laugh? "Come here and laugh to my face, you cowards!" I shouted.

A male voice answered after another chuckle. "Oh, Perseus," he taunted. It was Price. "This isn't real, of course. It's just a dream. But it'll be a reality soon enough. Don't worry."

With Annabeth bleeding out in my hands, watching her face get whiter and whiter, my heart burned despite the ice within me. "I dare you," I growled.

The laughter started over, louder, more malevolent. "I'll take that as a challenge," Price's voice mused. "You take this as a warning—try to keep your eavesdropping to a minimum. I believe you were punished for it LAST night, weren't you?"

His voice was dripping with fake sympathy, but in spite of myself I felt nauseous at the mention of my "punishment." I managed, "You're not going to kill her. Or me. Or anyone."

"Enjoy your last day with your girlfriend, Perseus," Price's voice chuckled. "You don't have much time left to spend with her. I'd make the most of it, if I were you."

His evil laughter echoed through the trees as I held Annabeth's cold, lifeless body.

I jumped awake with a gasp. That gasp turned into violent coughing. With a twinge of panic, I realized that it was getting a lot harder to catch my breath after a coughing fit. It was like there was barely enough room for air in my lungs, and I had this perpetually cold feeling in my chest. I was shivering.

Annabeth stole a glance at me. "You alright?" she whispered.

I felt disoriented. It was dark out, and I had no idea where we were. "Where are we?" I asked, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"Just crossed the border into Minnesota," she murmured. "How are you feeling?"

Even in the dark, her blond curls seemed to glow. Every time the headlights of another car flashed over her face, I caught dark circles under gray eyes from lack of sleep. I couldn't believe that she would…die, in my arms. A cold shiver went through me.

Annabeth frowned at the windshield. "What's wrong?" she pressed.

"Nothing," I muttered, shaking my head. "But I think…I think one of those girls might be in Minnesota." I explained the small part of my dream that didn't include her death, because I still refused to believe that would happen.

"You think it's the same girl from before?" Annabeth asked.

"She had to have been one of them," I decided. "She recognized me from another dream." I quickly filled her in on the other dream, leaving out the gross details of my getting sick. "And the man was my teacher, the one who put the curse on me in the first place," I explained.

Her frown deepened. By now, I knew what each of her frowns meant. I knew her annoyed frown, her confused frown, and her frustrated frown. Now she wore her worried frown. "How would they take away the curse?" she asked. "That's impossible. Even if they can weaken it, they can't remove it."

I had a bad feeling that they're plan to kill Annabeth would have something to do with it. She was my anchor to the mortal world. If she died…I have no anchor. I pushed that thought out of my mind. Nothing would happen to her. I wouldn't let anything happen to her.

Annabeth must've seen how unsettled I was about it, because she offered me her hand. I took it and laced my fingers through hers. My arm tingled all the way up to my shoulder.

"Everything's going to be fine," she murmured, staring out the windshield. "You're not going to die. I won't let you." She smirked at me.

I managed a smile back, but I had to bite my tongue to keep from responding with, I won't let you, either. Instead I asked, "Can we turn on the radio? It's too quiet in here."

Jessica groaned from the backseat, "No radio. We're sleeping."

I glanced behind me and found my sister resting her head on Nico's shoulder with her eyes closed. Nico was asleep, too, resting his head on hers. Grover and Thalia were completely knocked out as well. "Fine," I conceded. "No radio."

"Thanks," she mumbled.

Annabeth and I laughed. "She's a character, huh?" Annabeth smirked.

"Tell me about it," I chuckled.

"Arrêtez de parler de moi," she muttered. "Je peux vous entendre."

I had no idea what she had said. "Can you speak English, please?"

"Stop talking about me. I can hear you," she translated. She followed it up with, "Why don't you guys go back to holding hands and whispering sweet nothings into ear other's ears or something?"

I didn't think I was warm enough to blush, but my face felt surprisingly hot. "We don't do that," I muttered.

Annabeth laughed. "Yeah. And besides, we never stopped holding hands," she added with a wink.

Thalia smirked from the backseat. "Imagine Percy whispering sweet nothings into Annabeth's ear," she laughed. "Good one, Jessica."

Even Nico and Grover laughed.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, now that everyone's awake, I'll turn on the radio."

"Fine," Jessica surrendered.

I found a station playing The Offspring, which Jessica protested against. But Thalia, Nico, and I overruled them.

The entire rest of the ride, Annabeth and I managed to keep out fingers intertwined. I wasn't going to let her go.

Annabeth did a pretty decent job getting us all the way to Minnesota without attracting attention. But a few miles outside of St. Paul, we ran out of gas and had to walk it.

Nico spoke up as we walked toward the city. "So how are we going to get to Alaska from here?" he asked. "We don't have a car anymore."

"We'll think of something," Thalia murmured. She stole a worried glance at me. "How are you holding out?"

I'll admit, I was feeling pretty drowsy and achy and out-of-breath, like I'd run a marathon. I tried not to let anyone notice, but everyone managed to see through my charade. I shrugged, even though I felt like throat was closing. I filled my lungs with as much air as they would hold (which wasn't much) and let it out in a sigh. "Okay, I guess," I decided, though my voice sounded like I was picking up laryngitis on top of everything else. "Whatever that was that Grover gave me seemed to do the trick."

"Told you," Grover said with a smile.

Annabeth fell into step with me, and she laced her fingers through mine. Her hands were so warm. Or mine were cold. The latter was probably more accurate. But her touch made my heart race a little faster; it never failed. I squeezed her hand and smiled at her. Then I remembered Price's warning: You don't have much time left to spend with her. I'd make the most of it if I were you. My last day with my girlfriend.

"No," I whispered.

Annabeth frowned at me. "No what?" she asked. "Why do you look so scared?"

I blinked back the horrible images of Annabeth from my dream and put my smile back on. "I'm not scared," I shrugged. My voice came out a little shaky. That prophecy line, too—The one you love shall die with a friend. I wasn't sure who the friend would be. Why was I even considering it as a possibility? No one was dying on this quest, not me, not Annabeth, not anyone.

Annabeth didn't look like she believed me, but I reassured her that I was fine and that she shouldn't worry.

St. Paul was a cool city. Probably not one I'd choose to live in, but I liked it a lot. Although with all of the snow and ice everywhere, I kind of felt…unwelcome. The place seemed icy and evil and sinister, like Khione's little ice followers were lurking around every corner. Besides, Price promised we'd meet him here.

We were on our guard, but Annabeth still managed to point out every piece of architecture she could find, as per normal. Her eyes lit up as we passed this huge glass building. "The Como Zoo and Observatory!" she beamed. "It's gorgeous!"

Jessica lifted an eyebrow. "It's a greenhouse," she said simply, like she was looking for something significant about it.

Thalia patted her on the shoulder. "Annabeth's a huge architect nut," she explained.

Honestly, I never really cared much about the facts. But I glanced at Annabeth and how delighted she was in seeing this place, and it hurt to think about this being her last day. Just in case it was, I listened a little better to her. I found myself drinking her looks and features, trying to memorize them. I wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to me, resting my cheek against hers.

She shivered a little bit, and her expression was a little hard to read, like she was concerned but trying to laugh it off. "Wow, you're really cold," she noticed. She touched my cheek. "You're freezing."

I was. Literally. But it was weird that now I felt cold to the touch, considering I'd been feverish a few days ago.

Jessica froze in her tracks, looking ahead of her. Her face was pale and her eyes were wide. It was a very similar expression to the one she had on when she had pulled us off the bus in New Jersey. She was staring at a large, elaborate display, kind of like a castle made of ice and multicolored lights. Lots of people were crowding around it, like the whole city had come to see it. There must've been some sort of festival going on. The festival. That must have been what Price had meant in my dream.

Thalia frowned. "Winter Carnival," she mused. "Odd that they're doing it in June and find nothing weird about it, huh?"

She glanced at Jessica, who had gone white as a sheet, and shaky. "Jessica, something wrong?" she asked.

My sister blinked, like she was waking up from a trance. "N-no," she stuttered. "W-why would anything be wrong?"

"Because you're shaking like a leaf," Nico pointed out.

Jessica shook her head, but I caught her stealing a glance at me. She turned her head back before anyone noticed, but she had given me a look of pure panic. I had the feeling she knew something, and it was scaring me that she wouldn't tell. Maybe she knew that she would shoot someone here. Would it even be here? We weren't in a forest…but my dreams were messing up my head. It was making me paranoid, keeping me on edge. "Come on," she said, her tone forcefully lighthearted. "Let's check this place out. I have a feeling we'll get some clues here."

So did I. But I didn't like it.

Thalia was right. The Winter Carnival seemed to be a pretty normal thing here in St. Paul, but it couldn't have been normal in June. The people here must have forgotten that up here in the Northern Hemisphere, June was a summer month. The Mist had to have been pretty powerful.

We were surrounded by all sorts of ice sculptures, some as big as ten feet tall. It looked like a parade was about to start. As we got closer, though, I started to feel worse. My head throbbed with pain. The brightness of the snow hurt my eyes. I could feel that massive brain-freeze from capture the flag coming back. I found myself leaning heavily on Annabeth without meaning to. Annabeth wrapped her arm tighter around my waist but said nothing.

"What's this carnival for?" Nico asked.

Grover shrugged. "Apparently the legend is mythology-based," he explained. "Boreas, king of the North Wind, found this place and decided to make it his domain."

Annabeth frowned and shook her head. "Boreas lives in Quebec," she corrected.

Jessica spoke up. "You know how mortals mix things up," she muttered. "But legend has it that Boreas found this city and called it his domain, deciding to hold a carnival for ten days dedicated to winter. But this other guy, the god of fire, Vulcanus Rex, storms the place at the end, and Boreas goes back up to Olympus to wait through the summer." Her expression was hard. "The mythology's wrong; I know. But that's what they're doing."

I gave her a wary look. "How do you know that?" I asked her.

"I've heard of it," she answered quietly.

I wanted to ask her where she'd heard of it, but she was no longer facing me. It was like she had decided to tune me out. Her face looked apprehensive and conflicted. "Can we watch the parade?" she finally asked.

Annabeth and I looked at each other. It seemed like a pretty…ironic question for her to ask. I didn't want to watch the parade. Honestly, I wanted to lie down and take a nap. Secondly, I wanted to get to Alaska so I could reverse this stupid curse before it completely overwhelmed me, and I wasn't too far from that; I could feel it. And third, Price and that girl were lying in wait for us at that festival. "Jess, is it really necessary that we watch it?" I asked wearily.

She looked at me intently. "If we watch it, maybe we'll find some clues about these Khione followers," she explained. "Maybe we can find some way to reverse the curse ourselves, without even going to Alaska."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "The only way to reverse the curse is to destroy whoever gave it to you," she said gravely. "The curse dies with them."

Jessica closed her eyes. She looked like she was on the verge of panic and was trying to calm herself down. Why did she seem so unhinged? "I just…really feel like we should go to the parade," she said with conviction.

Nico frowned at her. "Why?" he asked.

She just shook her head. "I…I don't know."

Grover took a deep breath. "Well, it can't hurt, can it?" he asked, his voice reluctant.

I had a feeling it would hurt, a lot, but I decided to follow Jessica into the crowds. But I had a horrible feeling that my sister was leading us into a trap. Immediately I scolded myself for thinking that. She's your sister, Percy, I reminded myself. She wouldn't try to kill you. She came on this quest to protect you. She's trying to protect you. But I couldn't help but think that Jessica had some ulterior motive up her sleeve.

Especially when we were met by two teenagers who looked eerily supernatural. They looked like siblings, with similar dark blonde hair and eyes that had all of the warmth and color of ice. They both had scabbards strapped to their waists and wore short sleeves despite the harsh cold. I was on guard immediately.

The girl cocked her head to the side. Her eyes seemed to freeze my insides even more. That intense stare of hers—no, it wasn't a stare. It was a glare. "Price told us about you, Perseus," she mused. She shifted her gaze to Jessica. "And you, too."

Nico glared back at them. "We hear Price is here," he told them.

"We need to see him," Thalia added.

The boy drew his sword. It was made from Stygian ice, like Avery's had been. "'I'm afraid we can't let you do that." He pointed the blade at me, letting the tip rest against my throat. It burned my skin like dry ice, and I let out a gasp of pain.

Annabeth unsheathed her dagger. "Is that a challenge?" she asked in a low, dangerous voice that made me feel sorry for those kids.

"Sounded like one to me." Thalia tapped her silver bracelet, and it spiraled into her shield Aegis, with its fake Medusa head. The kids shuddered involuntarily at the sight of it, but they managed to keep their poker faces on.

I tried to step away from the icy blade, but the boy just dug it deeper into my skin. I clenched my teeth to hold back the scream building up inside me. It hurt so badly. My throat was closing. I couldn't breathe. It felt the same as the day Price had put the spell on me—my only thoughts were This hurts, Stop the pain, and Please. I was itching to uncap Riptide and slice his blade in half, but my whole body was engulfed in a horrible stinging sensation.

"You see," the boy continued, "that would involve you killing Price. We're not stupid. And well, my sister Amy and I have sworn to keep him safe."

The girl nodded. "Yeah. And besides, you're a threat to our family," she added. There was a look of unconditional hate in her eyes. "We're not letting you tear us apart."

I glared at her. "I don't even know what I'm going to do to you," I protested.

The girl, Amy, turned to her brother. "Sam, let's get this over with, okay?"

She drew her own Stygian ice sword and slashed at my girlfriend. Nico drew his own sword and countered. Jessica stepped back, uncomfortably shifting her bracelet around her wrist.

The boy who had me at sword-point, Sam, went to attack Nico, but Grover pulled out his panpipes and played an urgent tune that had vines breaking through the snow on the ground. They wrapped around Amy's ankles, and she hit the ground hard.

I choked, falling to my knees, trying to clear my throat. The coughing fit I'd fallen into was the worst yet. I felt like I was going to throw up, and I was dizzy and lightheaded. Grover helped me to my feet as I watched Sam and Nico go at it. Their swords were whipping around each other, Stygian ice versus Stygian iron.

I managed to catch the tail-end of Annabeth's fight with Amy, seeing Annabeth parry a strike and slash the girl's face, leaving a long bloody gash from the girl's upper lip to her eye. Amy let out an angry growl and swung at Annabeth, but suddenly she cried out in pain, clutching her leg. She pulled a turquoise arrow from her thigh.

I turned, and there Jessica was, bow in hand. "What do you want?" she shouted.

Behind me, Nico grunted in pain. I turned in time to see Nico's sword fall out of his hand, his wrists held behind his back by Sam, who had a sword at Nico's throat.

Jessica's eyes widened with panic. "Nico!"

"Annabeth!" Grover shouted at the same time. Amy had tackled Annabeth, and the two of them went sprawling in the snow. Annabeth tried to defend herself, but Amy had managed to disarm her and had a sword pointed at her face, ready to stab and end it.

Thalia, who hadn't been able to find an opening in the fight, raised her spear to the sky. Suddenly the clouds grew darker, and I could smell ozone in the air, feeling the pressure drop. "I'll electrocute you both," she threatened the siblings.

Amy raised an eyebrow. "News flash, girl," she taunted. "Snow is water. You electrocute us, you fry your friends as well."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Just kill the girl and get it over with," he told his sister.

The girl raised her hand to plunge the blade into Annabeth's neck, and I was about to run her through with Riptide when Jessica screamed, "Stop!" She was breathing heavily, like she was about to have a panic attack. "What do you want?" she asked, this time her voice shrill with desperation.

Amy roughly pulled Annabeth to her feet, keeping the icy blade at her neck. "Jessica," she said soothingly (which was ironic for the situation), "Someone here just wants to have a little talk with you. I think you should go. Now." She glanced at Annabeth like she was a piece of trash she'd been forced to pick up from the streets. "Or else this one might be gone sooner than originally planned."

"What are you talking about?" Annabeth demanded. She was trying to sound forceful and intimidating, but I could see the fear in her gray eyes. "What are you going to do to me?"

The boy shrugged. "Nothing, yet," he answered casually. "Maybe we won't have to do anything at all. It all depends on how Jessica's little talk goes."

"What are you talking about? Who wants to talk to me?" Jessica's voice was flat-out panicky now.

He shrugged again. "Eh, you'll see." He grabbed Nico by the throat. "Unless of course, you choose to bail. And then I'd have to…" He tightened his grip on the smaller boy, who gagged, trying to inhale.

"Stop!" Jessica screamed again. "Please! I'll go! I'll talk with whoever it is, okay? Just…don't hurt him. Please."

Nico choked, "Jess, don't!"

Jessica's eyes hardened. They were stormy, like the sea during a hurricane. "Let him go, now. I said I'd go with you."

Both of our enemies smirked. "I thought that's what your answer might be," Amy muttered. They shoved Nico and Annabeth into the snow. I'd never seen either of them get overwhelmed like that. They were two of the most powerful demigods I knew. Whoever those kids were, they were powerful, not to be underestimated again. They couldn't be normal demigods. There was something else about them.

As they led my little sister away toward the Winter Palace, Jessica bent down and picked something up from the ground. I didn't see what it was, but I didn't remember her dropping anything during the fight.

I didn't know what they were going to do with her. And I wrapped my arms around Annabeth, not sure of how much time I had left with her. It seemed like the clock was ticking much faster than I thought.

Annabeth put her hands on my face. "Percy…you're shaking. And wheezing."

I was. I felt terrible. But I managed between gasps of air, "I just…need to…lie down…for a bit."

Thalia and Grover looked me over with concern. Nico was still trying to recover from his chokehold, but we all agreed to make camp in the park. Thalia manipulated the Mist so the mortals wouldn't see our tent.

It was dark, and Jessica still wasn't back.

Annabeth got up from the floor. "I'm going to go look for her."

As she started to make her way outside, a wave of panic surged through me. I had a really bad feeling about Annabeth going outside alone. That would be too similar to my dream, and I couldn't let it come true. I got up after her and grabbed her wrist. "Annabeth, don't," I muttered.

She gave me a weird look. "What?" she asked.

"Don't go out there. At least not alone." The hand that was clasped around her wrist was trembling.

Annabeth looked at Thalia, Grover, and Nico like she was trying to see if they had the answer to why I was being so weird. Then she slowly turned her eyes back to me and raised an eyebrow. "Percy, I'll be fine," she said. "Seriously."

I couldn't shake that premonition. I couldn't let her go out there. I couldn't let her die. "Annabeth, please," I begged her.

She frowned at me. "Percy, your little sister's out there in the cold with a bunch of strangers," she reminded me. "Don't you want her back here safely?"

"Those strangers want to kill you," I blurted out. "Remember?"

"They won't." Her voice was firm, and her eyes were hard.

"Besides, all the more reason to go with you," I added. "She's my sister. My responsibility. I'll go."

"Oh, no," she said, putting a hand on my chest and pushing me back gently. "You're staying here and resting. We still have a long way to go and not a lot of time. You need your strength, and you're losing it exponentially. Go to bed. I'll be right back."

I lessened my grip on her arm, and Annabeth turned to leave the tent, but then I had a huge ADHD moment. On an impulse, I pulled her back toward me, and as she turned back to glare at me, I kissed her, bracing myself for a slap in the face, but it never came. My brain went fuzzy, and I cupped her face in my hands, my fingers tangled in her blonde curls.

She pulled away from me, her face bright pink and her eyes wide. "What was that for? Not that it wasn't nice—it was very nice—but why?" Her words were breathless and rushed.

I looked intently into her gray eyes. Then I shrugged. "Can't a guy just…kiss his girlfriend?"

Annabeth's expression morphed into a little bit of concern. Maybe she was worried that I'd gone insane. I promise I was perfectly sane. I'm still not really sure what came over me like that, but I guess it was the idea lurking in the back of my mind that I might never get to kiss her again.

Ugh, shut up, Percy, I told myself. You'll get to kiss her again. She's not going to die.

With a confused look, Annabeth left the tent. I could hear her footsteps crunching in the snow.

Thalia, Nico, and Grover were looking at me like I truly was insane. Finally, Thalia let out a long, "Wow."

"We all know you love Annabeth, dude," Grover chuckled nervously. "No need to rub it in our faces. It's not like you'll never see her again."

"I…I don't know about that," I admitted. "You heard them threaten to kill her."

"I mean, I'll go follow her," Thalia offered, starting to get up from her spot on the floor.

I shook my head. "No," I whispered. The one you love shall die with a friend. If any one of them followed her, who knew if they'd come back alive either? "That prophecy line…it's been bothering me."

"The one you love shall die with a friend," Nico repeated, like he'd plucked it from my mind.

Thalia and Grover grew grimly silent. Grover tried, "Maybe, since she's alone, it won't come true. Because she wouldn't be 'dying with a friend.'"

It wasn't much comfort, but it was the best thing I had.

Until we heard it. That oh-so-familiar scream. It sent unbearable shivers down my spine. No. No. No!

Nico picked up his head, eyes wide. His face was paler than usual. He was wearing a look of pure horror. "Oh, gods." He glanced at me. "Percy…Annabeth."

My body went rigid with panic. I got an uncomfortable buzz in my ears, and a second later I was running at top speed, ripping away the flaps of the tent, my feet following the source of the screaming. "No, no, no," I kept muttering to myself, pushing myself harder despite protests from my lungs. I felt sick with panic. "This isn't happening. It's just the dream again. It's just the dream. It's just…"

I found her, just like she had been in my dream. She lay shaking on the ground, holding her side as blood flowed between her fingers. Her eyes were glazed over, but she was hyperventilating. "Percy…" she mouthed my name.

I knelt down next to her, pressing my hand against the huge gash in her side. The warmth of her blood on my hand nauseated me, along with the icy sensation of fear coursing through me. I brushed the hair out of her face with my other hand. "Annabeth, it's going to be alright," I breathed.

Annabeth's face was turning gray. "She…she's the traitor, Percy," she managed. "I…I didn't…see her."

I squeezed her hand. "Who, Annabeth?" I pressed. The horrible déjà-vu was about to overwhelm me. Get me out of this nightmare, I prayed to whoever was listening.

She opened her mouth, but she choked, her face contorting with pain. Her skin was turning colder and colder. Then, her eyes rolled back, and she went limp in my arms.

"No." I shook her. "Annabeth, don't do this. Please." This wasn't happening. "Please, Annabeth!"

I could almost hear Price's taunting voice in my head: The one you love shall die. The one you love shall die. Here she was, slowly growing colder in my arms. My eyes started to sting. "Annabeth, please," I begged, my voice cracking.

I heard footsteps in the snow. When I looked up, Jessica was staring down at us with the most horrified look I've ever seen. Her eyes filled with tears. "What the hell just…happened?" she squeaked.

I glared at her. "She came looking for you!" I yelled. "Did you—"

"I didn't touch her!" she defended, stepping back, growing paler and paler.

Behind me, someone gasped. "Annabeth!"

It was Thalia, Nico, and Grover. Thalia rushed over and knelt down next to us. She put her fingers on Annabeth's neck, checking her pulse. "She's…she's dying." Her voice was shocked, unbelieving. "What happened?" She glared at Jessica.

Jessica blinked, a tear tracing her cheek. She held her hands up in surrender. "I didn't do anything!" she yelled. "Why are you all looking at me like I did it?"

Nico put a hand on her shoulder. "We don't think you did," he said calmly. His eyes weren't on Jessica, though. They were on Annabeth. His expression was pained.

Grover tried to pull me to my feet. "Percy, come on—"

"I'm not leaving her." I held tightly onto Annabeth's cold body, burying my face in her curls.

"I'll take care of her," Thalia muttered. "You have to get going. Now."

"But—"

"Get out of here, Percy!" Thalia yelled. "You have somewhere to be. I'll take care of her. I promise. I've been doing it since she was seven. I can do it now."

With a lot of protests, the others managed to pry me from my girlfriend, and hold me back. I wanted her back in my arms. I refused to leave her. "I can't just leave!" I screamed. "Let me go, Grover!" My best friend had an iron grip on my arms, and the fatigue was finally catching up with me. I couldn't fight him off.

"Grover, Nico, Jessica, get him out of here," Thalia ordered. "Finish the quest. We'll try to catch up with you, alright?"

They dragged me away, me not even fighting them…just feeling extremely numb. "She is dying," Nico murmured when he thought I couldn't hear. The next few moments were a blur. But the next thing I remember was walking wearily through the forest along the highway, feeling numb all over. The only image I could see was that of the love of my life bleeding out into my hands.

Please don't hate me. Please!

In other news…Holy geez. I just saw the cover for The House of Hades. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. I can't stop freaking out! It's so AMAZING! *spoiler alert* It features Percy and Annabeth in the Underworld, near the Doors of Death. Well…more like, Percy's dragging Annabeth, and now I'm scared that something's going to happen to one or both of them and now, I'm wondering how long it's going to take for October to get here. WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO US? I THOUGHT YOU LOVED YOUR FANS! STOP HURTING US!

Okay. I'm calm. At least, I'm calmer. I seriously can't wait for that first chapter!

So back to THIS story…tell me what you think about it! I hope I can update a lot faster next time. I really hope you like it! I love your reviews, you guys! Seriously.

(There are way too many things going on this year…House of Hades, Sea of Monsters, Ender's Game, Catching Fire…too. Many. Fandoms.)

Thanks so much, you guys! You're the best!

~Mandi2341