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Percy

In the end, we had decided that Annabeth, Hazel, Leo and I would go to Athena's temple to retrieve the weapons.

I had told the Questers the story, leaving out some parts like me and Annabeth making up (don't really think they needed to know we were mad at each other in the first place) or how I had been getting somewhat jealous of Adrian (hey, he was flirting with Annabeth. My Annabeth). Anyways, once Annabeth and I had explained the predicament to the group, their faces had fallen.

"Well, that stinks," Mark piped up, his eyes downcast.

"Yeah. Stinks as bad as Hades underwear," Leo said soberly. Hazel rolled her eyes, but then she looked at us.

"If they need weapons and we don't have them," she started, "why do you two look so happy?"

I let the grin spread across my face. My eyes drifted to Annabeth, "Annabeth found a way we could get weapons," I said proudly. She smiled sheepishly, a small smile that I found adorable. Again, I went back to talking. I told them how we needed to get back to Athena's temple, and that we could probably get Thalia and Piper. Jason looked considerably happy when I announced that.

"We just need to go really soon," I said. "Lord Caspion gave us a deadline, and if we want to make it in time, we have to hurry."

"I'll go with to help get Piper!" Jason said excitedly. He immediately turned tomato red, and tried to cover up his words with stutters. "I- I mean, I'll, uh, I'll go with to get the weapons. Not because of- yeah- Piper. I mean! I want to get Piper, but not, you know- yeah, I- never mind." He stared at his shuffling feet while the Questers around him rolled their eyes, looking amused.

I shook my head, smirking, but I had to turn him down. "I'm sorry, but no, Jason. You're one of my second-in-commands, I need you and Nico to stay here and help with the Questers. I want you guys to start heading down south so we can start on our journey to Antikythera. You and Nico need to help with the moving and everything."

"Well, I know I have to go," Annabeth said. I nodded.

"I'm going, too," I said. I saw Travis mutter something to his brother, and I caught most of what he was saying: "-no better than Jason. They're so lovesick it's disgusting." He snickered, his brother following his actions. I glared at them, and they bit their lips, struggling to stop their chortling.

"I'm going because I'm the captain and I need to help with getting the weapons," I said dangerously, directing my words to them. "No other reason."

"Right," Travis said between snorts.

Connor added his words, "Of course,"

I gave them one last look before turning back to the rest of the group. My eyes landed on Hazel.

"You should probably be one to come, Hazel," I said, addressing the daughter of Hades. "Since the daggers are celestial bronze, maybe you could help us get them out with your powers."

"I can make a sack that will hold all the weapons," Leo suggested. "Without it breaking, too."

I nodded, "Then maybe we can take a few extra pegasi to help us bring them back. That sounds like a full group: Annabeth, Hazel, Leo and I. Good?" I looked around for affirmation. Not that anybody was really going to object, seeing as I made the decision and I'm the captain. I once again was reminded of Chris Rodriguez as my eyes didn't find him. It hurt to know that he betrayed us, his family, but I accepted it grimly and moved on. I couldn't afford to let that stop me, especially since I knew that his betrayal probably wouldn't be the only incident that hurts me in the near future.

"Well," I started when everybody nodded in agreement, "we need to get going. It's already nightfall and we have to be back by dawn." And with that, the Questers dispersed. As Hazel, Leo, and Annabeth went to get ready to go, Jason and Nico came up to me. They gave me a questioning look, waiting for the orders I was to give them.

"I want you all to get some sleep," I said. "We've have a rough couple past nights. But you can get started early in the morning, and make your way to Argos. If needed, you can rest their for a little, but the main rendezvous point where hopefully we will meet you is Astros. If you aren't there, then we'll wait there, and vice verse. We're going to have to stop back in Corinth to drop off the weapons, but that should give you guys enough time to get to Astros. Alright?" They nodded, and I went to pack up.

Ducking into my tent, I threw some belongings into a pack. Extra clothes, my kit of armor, just in case we run into anything, some spare empty canteens, and a few other things that I thought would be useful. When I went back out, Annabeth was ready, a small pack slung over her own shoulder. She was standing by one of the pegasus that we would be bringing, Porkpie. He was the pegasus that Annabeth had ridden whenever she had needed one. He had a light tan body with cream wings. He was butting his head affectionately against Annabeth as she stroked his forehead.

"He likes you," I said as I got closer to the pair. Annabeth looked up, her startling grey eyes connecting with mine. She smiled a greeting.

"And I like him."

Her fingers flew smoothly over the pegasus' head. Dusk was rapidly approaching, and the sun was falling over the treetops. The dying sunlight lit up Annabeth's hair into golden locks, curling around her shoulders and down her back. She was facing the sun, so her eyelashes were a dark honey hitting her cheeks as she blinked. The sun put yellow flecks into her otherwise storm grey eyes, lighting them up. I realized I was staring.

"Um," I began, clearing my throat. She glanced up, raising a questioning eyebrow. "I didn't really have a plan for us, so…" I trailed off, hoping she would get the hint and make a plan. As I have said before, Athena's children were like plan-vending machines.

Her other eyebrow arched delicately, copying the one already high up on her forehead. "Well, you better start thinking, Seaweed Brain." She either didn't get the hint, or was ignoring it. I was guessing the latter.

I gave her a fixed stare. "You're going to make me ask, aren't you?"

"Ask what?" She continued innocently.

I sighed. "Can you please help me think of a plan, because frankly, my plans usually are based around risks that end up in lots of danger and fighting."

Annabeth snorted, "Got that right."

"Please?"

She tapped her chin, a quizzical look on her face as if she contemplating really hard on whether she should help or not. She seemed to grasp what she was looking for, and her eyes brightened. The finger was raised into the air, and she said, "Ye- no." She abruptly changed her answer, smirking at me.

I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Why not?"

"I seem to recall," she started, giving me a pointed look, "that the last time I made a plan, you didn't follow." I gave her a confused look.

She exhaled, "The drakon? Ring a bell, Perce?"

"Oh!" I exclaimed as I remembered. That fight with the drakon me and Annabeth had. We had to kill it to get to Mount Olympus for the council. Wow, that seemed like forever ago, when in reality it was only a few weeks back. I scrunched my eyebrows, thinking. "If I recall, your plan was to get under the drakon's guard and just try and hurt it, you didn't have a plan after that."

"Well, if I recall," Annabeth replied, "I had a very good plan to try and wound it more, and you told me it was stupid after I did it."

I rolled my eyes, "If your idea of a good plan is taking a death jump hundreds of feet up in the air onto a thrashing drakon, and then having to dodge trees, and then taking another risky jump onto Blackjack, then you probably need to rethink your plans."

"I had it under control. And your plan was for you to jump onto it as well, and then fall hundreds of feet back down onto the earth."

"Hey, I didn't say it was a good plan. I didn't even say it was a plan."

Annabeth gave me a look, her eyes flashing with annoyance, "Percy, you almost died. Then you almost killed me by leaving me undersea."

I held up a finger, "Ah, but I didn't. Here we are, alive and healthy."

The daughter of Athena pinched the bridge of her nose, taking deep breaths. "You can be so irritating, Percy."

Flashing a grin, I answered, "That's why you like me so much." She looked at me, but this time I didn't see any sarcasm or aggravation in her eyes. She just looked at me, as if tasting my words, chewing them around in her mouth. For a second, she looked like she wanted to say something, but then thought different, her mouth closing abruptly.

I frowned. What was she going to say? "Well, we're wasting time. Can you please help me with a plan? Pretty please?"

Annabeth smirked, shaking her head. "How did you and the Questers last this long with you in charge?"

"Who knows," I said shrugging. "Does that mean you'll help me?"

Her eyes took a trip up and around. "Fine, whatever, Seaweed Brain."

I gave her my signature lopsided smile, "Thanks, Wise Girl. I owe you." She scoffed, mumbling something that sounded like "add that to the list." Then she turned and stalked off the opposite way, towards the fire in the middle of camp where most of the Questers were lounging around. A few of them had been watching the small bicker Annabeth and I had with amusement.

I watched her walk away, befuddled. I just asked her to help me, now she was walking away. I cast Porkpie a boggled look, but he did the equivalent of a shrug for horses. I sighed, turning to follow Annabeth, see where she was going. She stalked up to Hazel, who was sitting next to Frank, speaking with him. I caught up in time to hear Annabeth ask the daughter of Hades something.

"How many weapons could you carry?" Annabeth asked.

Hazel bit her lip, thinking. "How many are there?"

The daughter of Athena lifted a shoulder, "Probably around a hundred daggers, and we might be able to find more weapons."

"I don't think I'd be able to suspend them in the air the whole," Hazel said with an apologetic look. "But I could probably lug them around on the ground, out of the tunnel."

Annabeth frowned, "Problem is the only way out of the tunnel that I know is through the temple itself. It's not like you wouldn't be seen. I mean, a daughter of Hades hauling a hundred celestial bronze weapons out of the temple wouldn't be totally ignored."

"But my dad had another way in," I said.

Annabeth shook her head, "But he didn't get the chance to tell you, and we probably wouldn't able to contact him to find out."

"Well, you're picking up Piper, right?" Jason chimed from across the fire. The flames leaped at the air, sparks jumping higher. They played in Jason's eyes, turned dark blue in the night. "Can't she use her charmspeak to convince people they aren't seeing what they're seeing?" I nodded, it sounded good to me. I looked at Annabeth.

She pursed her lips, "Yes, but I don't know if she can convince that many people. We'd need most of them to be away, outside or something. We need a distraction."

"I'm an expert at those," Leo said, smiling widely. "Good thing I'm going. Also, the sack I made to hold the weapons will be able to glide on the floor without any noise. And I made harnesses for the horses that can attach to the sack so we won't have to move anything, really, after getting the weapons outside." I was really liking Leo's ability. I gave him an appreciative nod, and he grinned wildly back, eyebrows wiggling. Annabeth was deep in thought.

"They could hover above the entrance to the temple, and when we get outside, they could drop down and we could be out of their pretty fast. This shouldn't be that hard, the only thing will be getting out unnoticed."

"Leave that to me and Leo," I said, putting a reassuring hand on Annabeth's shoulder. "We'll get them out."

"Without hurting anybody?" She asked, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

I shrugged, "There might be a few broken hearts from the girls that see us, only to have us disappear." The daughter of Athena rolled her eyes, smiling.

"I need to send an Iris Message to Piper, letting her know we are coming," Annabeth said. "She'll need to help us get in, without anybody seeing us. Then I think we're good. We'll cover any details on the way there," she said. "We need to get going." She dipped her head once, declaring that we were done, and then stalked off to go message Piper. I turned as well and headed over to Blackjack, who was grazing over by the other horses. We had picked out about ten pegasi to help with the weapon carrying. Leo estimated that it would take about seven horses to carry the weapons, so that would leave three horses. We would have to double up on the ride back, but I was fine with that. Well, as long as I got to double up with a certain someone.

Boss, you are so smitten it's kinda disgusting.

I cursed mentally, totally forgetting that Blackjack could basically read my thoughts. "Oh, shut up, Blackjack," I grumbled. But I chuckled silently, rubbing his lean neck. He tossed his head, asking me when we were leaving.

"Now, if possible," I replied. "You ready?"

You bet, boss. Without further ado, he neighed loudly, calling the other nine pegasi I had picked. Nine heads popped up from among the grazing herd of horses. They whinnied a response, just as Leo appeared by my side. He was holding a small pack of extra clothes. That was all he needed, seeing as most of his tools were stored in his tool belt, which had what seemed like unlimited storage space for his tools. And extra ones. He always somehow got more and more tools. And minty candy. I stopped trying to understand it a while ago.

"Here, horsey!" Leo called, waving his arm wildly at one of the pegasi coming over to us. The horse, Guido, snorted, looking the other way.

Leo frowned, "I swear all horses hate me."

I smirked, shaking my head. But before I could reply, Annabeth walked up. She headed over to Porkpie, greeting him with a pat. She slipped her bag over the neck of Porkpie, then came back to stand next to me and Leo. Hazel and Frank came up soon, holding hands. I knew Frank was hesitant to let Hazel go without him, and I had to promise to him over and over that I would look after her for him. He gave me a slightly dubious look, but agreed. Still, he was reluctant to let her go. Hazel was trying to ease his anxiety.

"I'll be fine, Frank," she was saying now. "I'll see you soon."

The big son of Ares looked downcast, "Okay, okay. But I'll miss you."

Hazel sighed, looking at him with sheer adoration in her golden eyes, "I'll miss you, too." She stood up on the tips of her toes, craning her neck to kiss him. A slight peck, but still filled with love. Something pulled in my chest. Not jealousy, of course not. Nor sadness, or even happiness at looking at them. More like a... yearning. A wanting to do the same thing. I glanced almost subconsciously at Annabeth, and found her staring at the young couple, a thoughtful look on her countenance.

"I'll come back soon, okay?" Hazel asked, Frank's arms around her.

He nodded dejectedly, "Okay." She smiled, patted his cheek, then walked over to us. After punching a Leo who was pretending to gag at the mushiness, she turned to me. "Ready?" She asked, eyes bright. I nodded.

"Let's get going," Annabeth said with a small smile.

Annabeth POV

"Annabeth!" Piper squealed. She and Thalia were standing outside Athena's temple, down by the beach, at a spot where we were shielded from onlookers. It had taken four hours or so to reach Athens, thanks to the pegasi's swift flying. Percy and Leo had headed up to the temple, to scout around and think of a way to draw people out. Piper had received my message, and she said they would be by the beach.

I felt a rush of relief when I saw her choppy brown hair and wide smile, standing next to Thalia, who looked bored while she yawned dramatically. I hadn't realized how worried I was about them, that they would be okay, what with Luke and his followers going around. Now, seeing both of them, a burden lifted from my shoulders. Piper ran up to me, us colliding.

"I was so worried about you!" Piper said in my ear, hugging me tight. "You could've said something, something to have let us known you were alright!"

"Sorry," I replied. "I just got out of Luke's hands last night." As I said that, it felt like it had been at least a week ago that Luke had captured me, but it wasn't. Time flew when you were having fun, I guess. And since this isn't quite fun, I guess it was going slowly. Not that I was complaining, it gave us more time to think. Well, not literally. It just felt like more time. You know what I mean? Yeah, I don't really either. Never mind.

I saw Thalia walking up to us, her eyebrows raised. "Finally come back for us? I thought you'd forgotten about your best friends." I smiled, rolling my eyes. Thalia wouldn't be Thalia without her attitude. I disentangled myself from Piper, who moved to greet Hazel standing by me. Thalia's dark hair was pulled back, and she had sarcasm in her eyes. I held out my arms wide, a mocking, inviting air to my manner.

Thalia exhaled exaggeratedly, then trudged up to me. But her hug was tight, and she whispered into my ear, "It's good to see you, Annie." I smiled, hugging my friend tighter.

The daughter of Zeus leaned back, "We need to get going, though. Who'd you bring to help out?"

Piper turned to listen, her expression eager. "Percy and Leo, Jason and Nico stayed behind to get the others moving towards Astros." Piper's countenance fell a little upon the news, and I hid my smirk. "But we'll see the rest of the Questers in less than a day, hopefully, if everything goes as planned." Piper's face lifted back up.

Thalia noticed everything I had, and sighed again, muttering something about "sappiness" and "disgusting." She turned without another word, heading back to Athena's temple up the hill. I grinned at her figure walking away, then started following her, Piper and Hazel in tow. I heard the two behind me talking, filling each other in. I knew Thalia was listening from up ahead.

The crescent moon in the ebony sky was surprisingly bright, lighting up the narrow, dirt pathway we were walking on. The path wound its way around the hill, heading up to Athena's temple but in a back way, so there wouldn't be as many people. Still, we all had hoods on our tunics, hiding our faces from anyone who happened to see us and might recognize us. A pack holding the sack that all the weapons would eventually be put in was slung around my shoulder, over my tunic, in dark cloth. My golden-colored hair was in a braid tucked into my dark grey tunic, and I felt it tickling the back of my neck as my feet dug into the hard-packed earth ground. The air smelled like ocean and dirt.

Glancing at the sky, I tried to see if I could spot any sign of Percy or Leo, but I couldn't see anything.

"Looking for your boyfriend?" Thalia had dropped back a few paces to walk beside me.

I rolled my eyes, "He's not my boyfriend, Thals."

She shrugged, her black tunic rustling. "Rigut, could've fooled me. You guys act like you're a couple."

"We do not."

"Yes, you do."

"No, we don't."

"Yes, you do." Thalia stayed obstinate. "If only you could see yourself and Kelphead through other people's eyes. You guys are always staring soppily at each other, and mushy, lovey-dovey poo practically oozes out of you two."

I raised an eyebrow. "'Mushy, lovey-dovey poo'? Very nicely put, Thals."

Her shoulder lifted again. "It don't matter if it's true."

"It doesn't matter," I said pointedly, correcting her.

"I don't care, it ain't like it matters."

I narrowed my eyes, "That doesn't even make sense. You're just doing this for fun, aren't you?" I couldn't see her eyes, but I could see her cheeks move out as she grinned. I rolled my eyes. We had reached the back entrance to Athena's temple. We still had a little walk until we got to the fountain room, which was the entryway I had chosen to use, since it was closest to the front courtyard where we would meet Percy and Leo. Thalia poked her head into the door, which was really the servant's passage. She waved her hand forward, signaling that it was clear. I couldn't hear anything, it was all quiet except for the the footsteps of me and my friends.

The inside of the servants' passage was dark and damp, a musty smell clinging to the walls. When I reached my hand out to steady myself, my hand felt damp wood.

"I'm surprised this wood hasn't rotted out yet," I commented quietly.

"Who says it hasn't?" Thalia murmured from right ahead of me. The path was too narrow for two people to go side by side, so we were walking in a single file line down it. "They're probably just too lazy to change it."

I shrugged, "True. So has anything happened while we were gone? Anything too important?"

Thalia lifted a shoulder, "Not that important. No more suspicious actions from Silena, she just goes through her chores each day-"

"She's still here?" I asked, astonished.

"Yeah, did you think Athena would, I don't know, fire her or something? Nobody else knows about her actions except you, me, and Piper. And the Questers, but they don't stay here. We decided to keep quiet, see if we could glean any more information from her, but nothing has come yet."

I kept walking silently, my feet padding softly on the ground. My eyebrows were furrowed. I guess I hadn't really thought about Silena, I just though she was… I don't know. Gone maybe, or that Piper or Thalia had stopped her. I opened my mouth, then closed it.

"Maybe…" I trailed off hesitantly.

"Yes?" Piper prompted.

I sighed, forging ahead. "Maybe we should take her back to the Questers with us."

Thalia stopped abruptly, causing me to almost run into her back. "Why would we want that?"

"Well," I began timidly. "She's still- I- She was a really good friend. Maybe Luke manipulated her or something, or she's doing this by force. Maybe if we brought her back, she could change."

I could almost hear Thalia's brain clicking and turning, trying to decide what we wanted to do. I added another sentence, "And then we could watch her, and she wouldn't give any more information to Luke."

Thalia sighed, "You're right. Okay, we'll have to split up, then. You and Hazel go get the weapons, Piper and I will go get Silena." I nodded, then realized she couldn't see me.

"Okay, thanks, Thals."

"Well, I always thought Silena was sweet," Piper said. "Maybe she can change. Plus, she's my sister. I should help her."

We had started walking again, and soon we hit a door. I knew this door would lead to the kitchens, which were right under the main room. The main room had a hallway that led to one more hallway that led to the fountain room. Confusing? Well, I had lived here my whole life. I knew this temple like the back of my hand.

Thalia paused before opening the door. Percy and Leo were planning on leading even the servants out too, for they would most definitely recognize me. I knew a lot of them, some of them I considered good friends. I don't know how Percy and Leo would do that, but I hoped they had.

"Those boys better have done that distraction already," Thalia said, her hand on the doorknob. She took a deep breath. "Alright, let's go. And pray to the gods nobody's here." I didn't do as she asked, because if I did, Athena would probably hear my prayer, and know what we were doing. I prayed instead to Poseidon, who I was counting on helping us. Still, I was confused about Percy's dad. He killed my dad, but apologized profusely, and was so kind. He hated the Forbiddance Law, and always comforted me when I was down, when Percy and I were separated. I didn't know what to think. I was pretty sure he wasn't faking it just to get on my good side, but I didn't know.

Thalia swung open the door, and with it my thought's vanished. I held my breath as she looked in, and when she motioned at us, I released it. They were gone. The daughter of Zeus stepped in, and we followed.

"I don't know how they did it," Piper said, glancing around in amazement. I was just as shocked as her, usually this room was bustling with servants, cooks, and maids. At least fifty of them were here all the time.

"I don't know either," Hazel said. "But I'm kinda scared to find out." I smiled, then prodded everyone forward. We had limited time.

We crossed the kitchen, past tables and abandoned bowls. It was like everyone had vanished. The lights were left on, and I even saw a few loaves of bread in the middle of being kneaded, just left at the table in a clump. I shuddered. The emptiness was eerie, and it scraped at my bones in cold knives, leaving shivers running through my body. I was glad when we reached the staircase that led to the upstairs main dining area. We climbed the creaky stairs, and I cringed at each squeak that sounded like an explosion in the near deathly silence. When we reached the top, Thalia repeated the actions of checking to see if anybody was in there. She glanced back at me.

"There's two guards, and I bet there are more stationed around the temple that never abandon their posts," she explained. "Piper can convince these guards, but I don't know how you are going to get to the tunnel without being seen."

I bit my lip. I had to go to the tunnel, because I was the only one who knew where the tunnel was, and which room the weapons were in. I also had to bring Hazel, because she is the only one who could move with all those weapons. But I needed Piper as well, with her charmspeak.

"I need Piper to go with me, but I don't want to split us up," I said. "We need to go in pairs, just in case."

"We'll do our best, I bet we can maneuver around the guards," Hazel said. "But if you could be waiting in the room when we get back, that would help." She directed the last part at Piper.

Piper bobbed her head, "We'll hurry." Thalia was watching us, and when we decided, she dipped her head, then went out into the room. I watched her boots clack on the marble ground. I inhaled largely, then followed her. Piper and Hazel started forward as well. I saw the guard, and with my hood pulled up, they didn't recognize me. I didn't recognize them either. I tried to turn my head away, but one of them caught a look at my face.

"Lady Annabeth!" He said, astonished.

"No, that's not Lady Annabeth," Piper said. I could hear the charmspeak laced in her words. She was incredibly good at this. For a moment, I convinced myself that I wasn't Annabeth, just a different girl. Then I shook my head, snapping out of it. That was dumb, of course I was Annabeth.

The two guards went still, then said at the same exact time, "That's not Lady Annabeth."

"Lady Annabeth is still missing," Piper said sternly. They nodded in agreement.

"This is just a friend we are bringing in for a visit," she finished. She looked pointedly at the two guards. They nodded again, muttering "of course" and "yes, okay." They went back to staring at the walls, and it looked as though nothing had happened. I glanced at Piper, nodding respectively at her. She smiled back, then made a shooing motion. I mouthed bye, then took Hazel's elbow, leading her to a hallway on the left side of the dining room. We passed the large dinner table that I would eat at each day with Athena, and recently Thalia, Piper, and Drew. I wondered briefly where the upstart Drew was, but the moment passed fleetingly as I saw two more guards stationed at a pillar about twenty feet from the entrance we needed to get to. I cursed silently, then stopped Hazel. She saw what I was looking at. Squinting, she studied them.

"I think I can do this," she said so quietly I almost couldn't hear her. I gave her a questioning look. Do what? But she ignored me, then closed her eyes, the two golden orbs disappearing. She concentrated, then made a movement with her hand, not too different from Percy's motions when he took control over water. All of a sudden, I felt a tingling in my hands. I looked down at them, and had to resist a gasp that rushed up on me. My hands were shadows. Well, not literally. I could still see the outline of my fingers, the light skin on my hand, but I was near invisible. I had become a shadow. I looked over had Hazel in amazement to see just a shadowy figure of her. All color had gone out, replaced by the dark grey color of shadows. I wouldn't have been able to see her if I didn't know she was there. I would just think she was a shadow from another column or something.

She was breathing deeply, and she put a hand up against the wall to brace herself.

"Hazel!" I whispered frantically. She shook her head, waving my worried look away.

"I'm fine," she said, just as quiet. "Just a little tired. I'm not used to the shadow business. If I was really good, I could just shadow travel both of us to the fountain room, but that's not my specialty. Dealing with shadows takes a lot more energy from me than dealing with precious metals and gems. I'm more on the riches side of a child of Hades, Nico is the shadow guy. He's trying to teach me, but I'm kind of a slow learner. This is the best I could do. They can still hear us, but they won't be able to see us as well."

I knew she was talking about the guards, and I nodded. But I ignored her dismissive hand, and hooked my arm around her elbow, helping her up and supporting her. She was going to need more energy for the weapons. Together, we slipped silently past the guards, and they didn't even turn our way. The pack hung on my shoulder shook, and I reached a hand around to steady it so it wouldn't make any noise. 't entered the hallway and passed doorways. Most were closed, but one was hanging open, torchlight emanating from it. I glanced in, knowing what I would see but looking anyways. It was one of the many libraries in the temple. I loved the libraries. They were chockfull of books. Tall ones, short ones, wide and slim spines, red, blue, green, black, history, science, mystery.

A pang of wistfulness hit me. I would sit in the libraries at the temple when I was younger, when there weren't as many troubles in my life. Being a kid, you didn't worry about anything, except maybe what present you would get on your birthday. You were oblivious to the struggles of reality, you just danced through the pall, a bright light of innocence in the dark world of reality. I missed those days. I wanted to be a kid again, not having to worry. No difficulties. No confusing feelings.

I sighed, biting my lip, and pressed onward. I was older now, torn out of that life, and I had to face it. I met Percy, I've gotten tied up into all this, and now I had to work my way through it. I was a daughter of Athena. I found a problem, then I solved it. This time would be no exception.

We reached another door, closed, and I opened it. We half-jogged through this hallway, and came upon a large doorway. I pushed that one open too, hoping nobody would be in there. But luck wasn't with me. As we ran into the room, the glass ceiling permitting a sight of the millions of stars, the mosaic tiled floor glittering, and the sound of the fountain gushing out, I saw three figures standing at the other entrance to the room. I cursed, stopping quickly, Hazel doing the same. Cringing, I waited to see if the three guards had heard us.

Apparently they had. One of them, who was taller and lean, turned towards where we were standing. "Did you guys hear that?"

This time, I didn't hold back the gasp. I knew that voice. Malcolm.

"Malcolm!" I said, running up to them. Hazel followed. She knew my brothers, and when I looked at her, she flicked her hand and the shadow on us disappeared. I was back to normal, and visible. I could see Malcolm turn to look at me, surprise etched across his countenance. The two others were Castor and Darryn. I smiled in relief. I hadn't seen any of them for so long. I rushed headlong into Malcolm, who was still so surprised at seeing me just appear out of nowhere that he didn't respond at first. But then he unfroze, hugging me back.

"Annie!" He exclaimed, and I didn't bother scolding him for calling me that. "You're- What- Where have you been?" He stammered.

"It's a long story," I said, leaning back. I went over to Darryn and Castor as well, hugging them both. They all looked relieved at seeing me. After greeting Hazel warmly, they turned back to me.

"But you were kidnapped," Castor managed to say. "And Percy had to go get you, and-"

"Yes, yes," I said impatiently. "But Percy managed to rescue me, but we don't want anyone to know. They'd just stop me from going with Percy."

"Going with him where?" Darryn asked.

"To Antikythera."

"Why there?" Malcolm queried.

I sighed, then started to give them a short explanation. I started with how the gods weren't able to communicate as well with us, and then told them all that Poseidon had been able to say to Percy, about Antikythera and Luke's plan. After that, Percy rescuing me, then I told them how we went to ask some mermen to help us, then how they were short on weapons and that I knew where some were.

"So Piper and Thalia are getting, Silena, who betray us, but we're hoping she'll come back to our side," I said, "and now me an Hazel have to go get the weapons from some secret underground tunnels beneath this temple that Athena has no idea about. So please don't tell anybody."

They all were listening, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. It was a lot to take in.

"Well, that explains Athena's disappearance," Malcolm said.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Her disappearance? What happened?"

"Yesterday morning," Malcolm started, "Athena didn't show up for anything, not even classes. We tried to find her, but it was like she had disappeared. We thought maybe she went to Mount Olympus, but usually she would have at least told us or anybody where she was going. But no, we haven't heard anything from her. It was like she... I don't know, vanished or something. We haven't been able to communicate with her."

I frowned, "This is so confusing." I hated confusing.

Malcolm gave me a sympathetic look. Being a child of Athena, he too knew what it was like to want to know everything. When we didn't know something, it drove us mad.

"You two need to go, though, right?" Malcolm asked. "Then... I guess you should leave. You sure you don't need help?"

I sighed. I wanted them to come, but we had already picked up one more person who we weren't expecting: Silena. We didn't have enough pegasi to bring my three brothers with us. Silena would have to ride on one of the horses who were carrying the weapons. "No. Well, I do want your help, but we don't have enough pegasi to carry us all back. But you could help, you could stay and try and find some things out," I tried weakly. They wanted to do something, but I didn't know what.

"Okay, yeah," Castor said, trying to sound upbeat. I gave him a grateful smile while I walked over to the large depiction of Athena on the floor. My eyes roamed, finding the large "P" almost instantly. I walked to the curvature of the graceful arc, pressing each tile down quickly. My three brothers and Hazel watched with fascination as the gears in the floor turned, and the floor slid over to reveal a pit with a ten foot drop.

"Mom didn't know about this?" Castor asked in amazement. I shook my head.

I glanced back, waving Hazel forward. She nodded, coming up. Without hesitation, she jumped down the hole, her training allowing her to break her fall with a roll. She stood down there, waiting for me. I looked back at my brothers, biting my lip. They looked down, watching me leave.

"I wish we could just do something," Darryn said, biting his lower lip. I sighed, racking my brains for something they could do.

"Wait," I said, thinking quickly. "There is something you three can do. As you know, we're kind of short on fighters..." I trailed off, more pieces coming together. A slow smile grew on my face.

"Annabeth?" Hazel called.

"One second, let me say something to my brothers." She dipped her head at my response.

I turned to my brothers, "Okay, here's what you can do." With intent interest, they listened as I explained.

Dropping down the ten foot drop, I rolled and came to a stand next to Hazel. I briefly looked back up as the entrance started closing, cutting off any connection with Athena's temple. I smiled slightly as I thought of my plan for my brothers.

"Why're you smiling?" Hazel questioned.

"No reason," I quickly said, lying. I wiped the smile from my face. "Just happy to see my brothers, I was pretty worried about them." Hazel frowned, but she accepted the answer and turned to the corridor in front of us. It was once again lined with greek fire torches. A sudden flashback overcame me. The dark passageway, the eerie silence, a hand hitting my jaw, the chokehold I was put in, the utter blackness that took me when I lost consciousness.

Shuddering, I shook off those memories. "You okay?" Hazel asked, right beside me.

"I'm fine," I said. "Just... memories. Let's go." I took off down the stairs, anxious to get out of these tunnels. I might have enjoyed them before, but they had an ominous feeling now, one that had me looking over my shoulder and quickening my pace. I listened to both these, but I only saw the wall behind me, growing smaller as Hazel and I hurried down. I knew where the portrait that was the doorway for the dagger-filled room was. We passed familiar paintings, like the one that led to my room, another that led to a large pipe that connected with my mother's room, and the sad room.

The sad room being the one with the ethereal rose, where tears were encouraged and sorrow was augmented. The little girl in the portrait was staring out at the sea, the waves lapping at her feet. She was young, with brown hair that flowed over her cream colored dress held up by a golden chain. The chain had pink rose. One of her hands reached for the sky. I was struck with a thought, but I dismissed it. That wasn't right, it couldn't be. I shook my head, focusing.

"Here," I said, slowing my pace at the picture of two men fighting. I quickly pressed a hand to the insignia of a dagger on the wall behind the two dueling men, and the portrait groaned before loosening. I pulled it back like a regular door, then went forward, into the room. Hazel followed closely, and I could hear her sudden intake of breath as she took in the sight of the hundred daggers on the walls.

"Well, here they are," I said. I reached behind me, for the pack strung along my back. Pulling it down, I hastily loosened the ties, and yanked out the large, stiff cloth. It was extremely smooth, and had the glint of celestial bronze woven into it. It was beautiful, and strong. I silently thanked the gods for letting us have a talented worker like Leo in our group. Then I spread out the sack, looking for the hoops that the pegasi's harnesses would attach to. It was like an oval, and I looked at Hazel, my eyes telling her I was ready. She took another breath, then closed her eyes again. She held out her hand, and instantly the daggers on the walls started rattling. I watched in awe as they all started detaching themselves from the wall and floating towards the cloth spread out on the floor. I stood up and backed away quickly. Hazel's eyes were still closed, and beads of sweat were forming on her forehead. I admired her, this took great concentration and strength. I dug around in the pack for the slab of ambrosia I had grabbed. I knew Hazel would be dead on her feet after this, she would need something to pick her back up again.

I was right. As soon as all the daggers fell into the large sack, Hazel fell onto her knees, breathing raggedly, her eyelids looked too heavy for her to hold up. I rushed over there, supporting her, handing her the ambrosia. She couldn't grasp the godly food, so I broke off pieces and fed them to her. After about two or three pieces, the light started returning to her golden eyes, her strength stabilizing, and her breaths became more even. She still looked tired though, and I bet she would sleep nicely on the way back.

Sleep. When I thought that word, my eyelids instantly felt like a hundred drachmas were hanging from them, making my eyelids heavy. I had gotten barely any sleep in the last few days, and I was paying the price. I took a deep breath, forcing my eyes to stay open. I just had to get through this, then I could sleep on the way back. It was a good enough reward for me.

"Come on, Hazel," I urged the daughter of Hades. I felt bad, asking her to keep going, keep using her powers, when she was clearly exhausted. But we had to go.

I hooked my hand around her elbow, helping her back up. She was a little bit wobbly on her feet, but she soon steadied herself. I was worried she wasn't going to make it, but she destroyed my doubts when she closed her eyes and the sack started moving. Like Leo had said, it didn't make any noise, just glided soundlessly along the ground. I rushed over to the door, opening it so Hazel didn't have to pause. The huge sack full of weapons slid out of the door, Hazel right behind, guiding it. I closed the portrait door, and walked behind her. She was going pretty fast for using so much of her energy. I was at a fast walk back towards where we had entered.

Usually, when I was coming back from being in these tunnels, I went through my room, for it wasn't really easy to climb back up a rough ten foot tall wall. There wasn't any other way to get up. But it was a long distance from my room to the entrance of Athena's temple, where we would meet Percy. A longer distance meant more chances of being seen, and I don't think Hazel will have enough energy to put shadows on us anymore. So Hazel was going to stand on the sack of weapons and raise herself, then help me up with the rope that I had put in the pack on my back.

We finally got back to the stair case, and started mounting the steps, going at a deathly slow pace. But I didn't want to rush Hazel. I felt like I was doing nothing, Hazel was doing all the work. When we got to the top, I went over to the bar on the wall that I had learned opened up the top again.

My footsteps pounded as I reached the lever. When I saw it, I stopped, my heart thumping loudly. Well, I didn't see it. That was the problem. Where the lever used to be, there was now a gaping whole. It was like someone had punch through the wall, taking out the lever with it. Hazel was noticing something was wrong, and asked me what it was. I turned, my mouth falling open.

"The- the lever," I said, fear creeping up on me. "It's gone. Like someone's taken it out."

The words settled into Hazels mind, and her eyes started to grow wide, the golden irises showing a hint of fear that was reflected in my own eyes.

"It's okay," I said quickly. "It was probably when they kidnapped me, not recent." I didn't know if I was saying that more to reassure myself or Hazel. She nodded slowly. "We'll just go back through my room." I changed my direction, heading back down the stairs, my heart feeling like it was wanting to break out of my chest. I kept scanning our surroundings, even though it was just the walls and torches and countless portraits. But still, I couldn't shake off the feeling that something was watching me. I repressed a shiver, and kept walking, Hazel controlling the weapons once more and following me.

"What about Piper and Thalia?" Hazel asked. "Aren't they waiting for us?"

"We'll pick them up on the way back. We have to go to the courtyard anyway. It's kind of on the way."

We continued walking in silence, but I could tell Hazel was tense and alert. I didn't know if she felt what I was feeling. It seemed like the short walk to the portrait leading to my closet took longer than the walk just before. I put my hand on the chain that was wrapped around the waist of the painted lady. (A/N Not the Painted Lady from Avatar at the swamp. That's Katara. Oops. Sorry, spoiler alert. :P)

"Is that you?" Hazel asked, pointing at the painting. I nodded. It was me, leaning against my balcony. I still wondered how Poseidon got that painting, but dismissed the thought. My fingers touched the owl on the golden chain, and the painting swung open. I beckoned Hazel forward, then stepped in. My closet was the same as when I had left it, clothes neatly folded and placed on shelves, hangers dangling from rails along the tops of the walls, and shoes lined orderly against one side of the closet. Most of the clothes weren't colored, just gray, black, or cream. I just didn't do that much color. You might call me boring, but I thought colors just made everything look messier. I liked neat.

Hazel followed me with the weapon dragging noiselessly on the ground behind her. I stepped into my room, memories falling on my like rain, of times when everything wasn't so confusing and hard. I shoved them away, forcing myself to keep going. It was dark in my room. Again, I felt like someone was watching me. I shook off the feeling, stepping farther into my room. Then I froze.

Something wasn't right. My eyes dashed around my room. I thought I saw something move. Then I saw something else in my peripheral vision, and my gaze switched to there. My hand tightened on the hilt of my dagger. It was silent. Too silent. Hazel stood behind me, her hand holding her spatha blade trembling. I swallowed, then took another step.

Just as my foot hit the ground, pandemonium erupted. There seemed to be an explosion. From every nook and cranny of my room, monsters came forward. Dozens of hellhounds. They appeared to have shadow-traveled into my room from the shadows. They snarled, foam dripping from their mouths, their black coats sleek with a liquid that wasn't exactly water. They didn't charge right away, just stopped and growled at us. I didn't know who had summoned them, nor where that person was, but at the moment, all I cared about was killing them.

Hazel gasped, then took a defensive stance. My admiration for her climbed, I was glad she wouldn't scream and run. But my admiration was short lived as one of the hounds barked, and then they all started sprinting towards me and Hazel.

I took a deep breath. I waited. A good warrior didn't charge, rushing into things. They were almost upon us, and the grip on my dagger tightened. It had been drawn from the scabbard at my side, and now it was glinting deadly in the soft moonlight coming from my balcony doors. I waited.

The first hellhound leapt at me, and I moved. My dagger went forward, slicing through the beast's chest. It dropped without a sound, then dissolved into shadow.

One down, about thirty to go.

YEAH! I updated pretty quickly! Well, faster than my normal updates recently. I just thought ya'll should get a reward for finishing FINALS! WE'RE DONE! Christmas break is awesome. :)

This is my longest chapter yet! 9,079 words- phew. Just for you guys. :)

Thanks to Archiepoke123, The Golden Soldier, Turquoise Crystal, krazy. khik. noelle, TrumpetHero2014, bmfts101, FanaticPJ2003, Sunliye, emilianolorenzo1, Madeleine22h, 123, FourFearsForever, and the guest that reviewed!

Q&A and chit chat. :)

Archiepoke123: I love Rangers Apprentice too. :)

Turquoise Crystal: I know. They just need to kiss already. ;)

krazy. khik. noelle: I just thought I should put some good mermen into it, and Adrian just popped into my head. I like him too! :P

bmftas101: I'll try to put more Percabeth in! Just wait, there's some goodies coming up. ;)

FanaticPJ2003: I LOVE VIRTUAL COOKIES! Only if they're blue cookies. ;) More percabeth is going to be in the story, never fear. ;)

TrumpetHero2014: Well, I'm glad you still like my story! Props to you for getting all the way through it and still reading! :)

FourFearsForever: Dang! You read all that in two days? I like you. :) Also, does your username happen to be about Four from the Divergent series? If so, that is one of the coolest usernames ever. Seriously, it's sweet! :)

GUEST: YES I LOVE RANGERS APPRENTICE! Who doesn't! It's such a good series! :D I started it when I was like ten, and it was the series that really got me into reading. Before that, I didn't like reading as much, but I loved Rangers Apprentice. :)

Please review, and love you guys! :)