You know something I find funny? I didn't know blue waffles were a perverted subject. I remember someone telling me not to look it up or anything like that, but they never told me why. And I never got the urge to look it up, so I never found out. And then someone mentioned it in a review, so I discovered that blue waffles are not something you want to go around talking about.

Anyway, here are a few responses to reviews:

Alexandra June: You're so nice. And I really like Reynico too, I just think they have so much in common that they should be together.

Random Person (guest): Yes, I am getting your reviews, and I love every one of them. Sometimes I have fluff highs too, and they make me feel all giddy and bubbly inside. And it sounds like your cookies had the opposite problem of mine, because my turned out a little greenish due to too little food coloring.

SnowleopardDeBaws: Considering that Rick is not dead (thank the gods), I don't think your whole me being the teenage incarnation of Rick really works. Of course, I appreciate the compliment. :) And actually, I've already started working on that other idea you mentioned...but you'll have to wait till this is over to see what I have planned. ;)

lol (guest): Sorry, but daily updates are all I can manage. Double updates just aren't gonna happen-except maybe on special occasions, or to reward a particularly large amount of reviews...(hint hint)

I love you, don't stop reviewing, eat lots of blue chocolate chip cookies, and BE EPICALLY AWESOME!

Chapter LI

Annabeth

The sun shines brightly overhead, but Annabeth feels cold. She rubs her arms for warmth and hunches her shoulders as she watches the only person in the world who really understands her climb onto Frank's back-he'd changed into a giant eagle so that he could carry Percy.

Percy sits calmly on Frank's back, his legs wedged firmly in front of Frank's wing joints, his bag slung across his shoulders, leaning back on his hands, completely relaxed. As Frank shuffles his wings and prepares to take flight, Percy leans over a little to look into Frank's eye.

"You know, you make a very handsome eagle." He comments with a thoughtful tone.

Frank's eye narrows to a slit and he twists his neck back to snap at Percy with his hooked beak, but Percy just laughs and settles himself more firmly on Frank's back.

As upsets as she is, Annabeth can't help but smile. Jason, standing nearby, just rolls his eyes and uses the winds to rise a few inches off the ground.

"Are you guys coming, or what?" He asks. In response, Frank spreads his wings wide without warning, and Jason has to dive sideways to avoid getting hit. To anyone else, it might look accidental, but Annabeth could swear she sees a glint of satisfied amusement in Frank's eyes before he flaps his wings and launches himself into the air, hovering above the deck.

"We'll be back by dark!" Percy calls down, and then Frank banks sideways and Percy has to grab ahold of his feathers to keep from falling off.

Jason follows close behind them, and Annabeth watches as they shrink to indistinguishable dots on the horizon, and then disappear altogether.

After a minute or so of just staring at the sky, Annabeth sighs and turns to Piper and Hazel.

"They'll be back by midnight, at least." She says. The other two girls look over at her, confused.

"But Percy said they'll be back by dark." Piper says, her brow furrowing.

"Since when has Percy ever been on time? They'll probably be back around ten or eleven, but I really doubt they'll be back by dark." Annabeth tells them.

They still don't look completely convinced, but they don't say anything else.

"Okay." Annabeth says, looking around. "Where's Leo?"

"Barricaded in the engine room." Piper answers, smiling faintly.

"Why?" Annabeth asks.

"Well, it might have involved a conversation where charmspeak, makeup, and a pink dress were all mentioned." Piper explains.

"Oh, so that's what it was." Hazel laughs, her eyes twinkling with amusement. "I almost feel sorry for him. It's funny, though, because I may have mentioned something similar to him while we were up on the mast."

"He actually asked me if I would use charmspeak to make him wear makeup and a dress. That's how the topic came up in the first place." Piper explains.

Annabeth looks between the two girls, and then just shakes her head in exasperation. "Well, anyway, do either of you have any idea what to do until they get back?"

"Well, I figured there would be at least a few monsters to fight." Piper comments, looking around hopefully.

"Probably." Annabeth admits. "But I meant when there aren't any monsters."

"Well," Hazel starts, "I could give Piper another sword lesson."

"Fine with me." Piper replies. "I'm getting better, but I'm nowhere near as good as you two."

"I guess I could go down to the engine room and see if Leo needs help with any of his projects." Annabeth suggests thoughtfully, mostly to herself, just thinking out loud.

"I wish you the best of luck in getting him to open the door." Piper grins.

"I shouldn't have too much trouble." Annabeth replies. "After all, I'm not the one who threatened him with a pink dress." She smiles broadly.

"He was asking for it!" Piper protests defensively.

"If you say so, Piper." Annabeth says serenely. "I'm going to go ahead down to the engine room. If you need anything, just come get me. Or yell, if you're preoccupied with a monster."

She turns away from them, waving over her shoulder, and heads down the stairs to the engine room, where she finds that the door is shut and locked-deadbolted, actually, which is weird, since Annabeth didn't think there was a deadbolt on the engine room door.

She knocks lightly. "Leo," she calls through the door, "It's me, Annabeth. Can you let me in, please?"

She hears the locks being turned, and a few seconds later, the door opens, and Leo appears in the doorway. "Yeah? Do you need something?"

"Did you want to work on that crane? Or one of the other upgrades?" She asks hopefully.

"Oh." He says. "Sure, why not?"

He walks back to his table, and Annabeth follows him.

The gentle hum of the engine soothes her, and she relaxes. Even the mess-the scraps of Celestial bronze and Imperial gold, the papers scattered all over his table, the half-finished projects cluttering the room-it calms her nerves, and she lets her worries fade to the back of her mind, where they'll hopefully stay, at least until Percy, Jason, and Frank get back.

Annabeth sits down on the spare stool next to Leo and grabs a paper at random, pulling it over in front of her.

Ironicly, it's the blueprint for Leo's new weapon, which Annabeth was hoping to work on. She skims it, re-familiarizing herself with everything, and checking to see if Leo's added anything new, before starting to scribble notes.

She's so absorbed by her task that she doesn't notice Leo staring at her until she looks up to ask for more paper. She flinches a little in surprise when she sees him, but then she realizes that his eyes have a far away look in them-like he's looking but not actually seeing her. She wonders briefly what he could be thinking about that could absorb him so completely, but then shakes it away. He'll tell her if he want to.

"Can I have another piece of paper?" She asks, and he starts slightly, dragging his mind back to the present.

"What?" Annabeth's about to repeat herself when he registers her words. "Oh. Sure." He opens one of the drawers on his left and pulls out a blank piece of blueprint paper, sliding it over to her before sighing and looking down at something Annabeth can't see.

She pulls the paper towards her, but doesn't start writing just yet. Instead, she studies Leo's face-the shadows from lack of sleep, the way the normal twinkle in his eyes is missing-and she thinks about what Piper told her about when he was shot into the sky by Khione, and his story: that he'd gotten marooned on an island somewhere. A suspicion she'd had when she'd originally heard about it swims to the forefront of her mind.

She shifts to get a better view of the paper he's looking at, and has to catch her breath. It's a drawing of a girl-a girl that looks like a goddess.

Honestly, Annabeth isn't all that surprised that her suspicion was correct-her intuition is usually right. What surprises her is the accuracy of the drawing-it could be a photograph. And Leo had to have drawn it himself.

She looks at him, completely oblivious to her presence once again, lost in his thoughts.

"Leo," she says gently, and he looks up, his eyes dull, "that island you landed on. Was it Ogygia?"

Immediately, his eyes fill with pain, and Annabeth almost regrets asking. But she sees something else, too-a hint of relief, that makes her think that maybe, just maybe, he's glad that someone finally figured out his secret.

"That's Calypso, isn't it?" Annabeth asks, pointing at the drawing. He looks down at it and nods wordlessly.

"I swore that I would come back for her." He says, his voice hoarse, still staring at the picture. "She doesn't deserve to be trapped there anymore. She doesn't deserve to be alone." He looks up at Annabeth then, his eyes barely holding back tears. "She deserves to be free."

Annabeth doesn't say anything. She's lost in a memory: back in Tartarus again.

She's blind, and her throat is burning, and she's all alone. Percy left her; he's gone, he's not coming back. Why did he leave her? She stumbles over the uneven ground, calling his name over and over again, crying, sobbing.

"Percy," she calls, "why did you leave me?"

But he doesn't answer and she's all alone; alone and blind with no one to guide her.

"Percy," she sobs, "Percy!"

And then someone grabs her and she's fighting, kicking and yelling, because she can't see them and she doesn't know who it is, and it's not Percy because they don't smell like the sea. But then a cool finger touches her lightly on the forehead, and she can see again, and Percy is right in front of her, but he's not moving and his eyes are glazed...

"Annabeth." Leo's voice calls, as if from the end of a tunnel. "Annabeth!" He says, more urgently, and she slowly comes back to the present and realizes she's holding her face in her hands with her eyes screwed shut, and there are tears dripping onto the blueprints.

She wants Percy, to collapse into his arms and just cry until she can't cry anymore, but he's gone, and Leo needs her, so she wipes away her tears with the heels of her hands and pushes her emotions away.

"Sorry, Leo." She apologizes. "Sorry." And she almost starts crying again, just saying that, but Leo touches her lightly on the shoulder and when she looks up, his dark eyes are filled with concern.

It fills her with warmth, and she manages a wavery smile. "I'm okay. Just...memories. Sorry."

"You don't have to apologize, Annabeth. I won't pretend to understand what you're going through, but it's okay." He says softly.

"Yeah, but we were talking about you." She points out. He doesn't answer, instead giving her time to pull herself together. She takes a shaky breath and wipes her eyes one more time before looking back up at him. "How are you going to do it?"

"What?" He asks, obviously confused.

"How are you going to get back to Ogygia?" She repeats impatiently.

"Oh. Um..." He pulls open one of his drawers and reaches inside, pulling out a device Annabeth recognizes as an astrolabe. "I have this...supposedly Odysseus made it, and he kept saying in his sleep that he should've taken a crystal..." Now he pulls a crystal from his pocket, one that looks like flames were trapped inside an irregular glass prism, and sets it on the table next to the astrolabe. "I still don't have the astrolabe fixed...it's like it doesn't want to be fixed. But when I do, it should...I was hoping, anyway...that it would lead me back to Ogygia. And I was going to rebuild Festus once we got back to camp and go back for her."

"Anything else? Details?" Annabeth prompts, sensing there's more.

"Well...there are a few other things I'm not sure about..." And he starts talking, really talking, describing his plans in detail, confessing his worries, ranting in certain places...he just talks, and keeps talking without pausing, but Annabeth doesn't mind, partially because it helps take her mind off of Tartarus and Percy's absence.

But mostly she doesn't mind because Leo needs her help, and he's trusting her enough to tell her his plans, his worries, his fears. And knowing that someone trusts you in such a complete way? It fills Annabeth's mind so completely with friendship and affection that their isn't any more room for memories of Tartarus.

This is actually one of my favorite chapters. The beginning isn't all that good, but the second half, I think, turned out really well.

Did I make anyone cry? And don't forget that flashback-it's only the beginning. :)