Hi again! I'm not going to talk. Here's the chapter!

Edited somewhat intensively as of 6/29/15.

Percy's POV

I had to be led away from the dining hall by Grover, a fact that would have been really embarrassing if I was in any mood to care about other people's opinions. It took about ten minutes before I finally convinced him that I was okay. Reluctantly, he went back to his dinner, glancing back at me every few steps. I finally just stopped and faked a reassuring smile and thumbs up every time he looked back, which eventually served to get him all the way back into the dining pavilion.

I swiped at my eyes one more time with the back of my hand, shook my head fiercely, and headed out to the stables. I needed some alone time with the pegasi to calm down.

But my luck being what it is, Blackjack and the other pegasi were not alone.

Aphrodite, the goddess of love herself, was feeding the black pegasus sugar out of the palm of her hand. As always, the goddess was stunningly beautiful, but today I felt completely numb to her magic. I just looked at her dully, waiting for whatever crap this next god wanted to pull on me to begin.

"Percy," she began in a musical voice. I made no response, trying to muster up the energy to care about her presence. "Percy, I give you my full apologies. My naughty son Eros was feeling mischievous, and decided to have some fun-"

"FUN?," I yelled. That casual description of yesterday's events definitely hit a nerve. "His 'fun' made Annabeth hate me!" I wasn't sad anymore: I was angry.

"Now, Percy, be reasonable-" the goddess tried to placate me, her perfectly shaped eyebrows rising a little at the volume of my voice.

"Reasonable?" I echoed incredulously. "Your son ruined my relationship for absolutely no reason, and you're telling me to be reasonable?"

A sudden gust of wind whipped through the stables, sending bits of straw fluttering into the air and making the pegasi flick their manes nervously at the commotion. I had apparently crossed a line.

"Perseus Jackson," Aphrodite intoned, her musical voice suddenly extremely threatening. "I have apologized. Me, a great goddess, to you, a sniveling demigod. Accept it, or die."

"Fine," I muttered, still not happy, but duly reminded of how easily she could crush me if I was too rude. "I accept your apology. How can I get the real Annabeth back?

"Ah, yes." Aphrodite seemed appeased, and her gracious smile returned at once. "All you have to do is get water from the fountain of the Isle of Corinthos, mix it with lemonade powder-"

"Lemonade powder?" I asked her, momentarily sidetracked. What kind of magic cure needed a mortal drink mix?

"That makes it taste better," Aphrodite explained cheerfully. "The fountain water is a tad unpleasant, you see. It's composed of the tears of all those who have lost loved ones to illness, war, and change of heart, which isn't the most ideal beverage... Anyway, you just drink the mixture and kiss the girl!"

I stared at her for a moment, distracted again at how casually she informed me I would be ingesting other people's bodily fluids. That was a pretty nasty and twisted kind of fountain, in my humble opinion. "And how exactly am I supposed to get near her once I've gotten the water?" I asked, trying to move on to important details while I still had the goddess' attention. "Annabeth doesn't want to be anywhere near me." Gods, that really hurt to say out loud.

"I'm sure some sort of sneak attack would be in order," Aphrodite replied, shrugging elegantly. "Doesn't she have an invisibility hat? Get someone sympathetic to your cause to take it and give it to you. Honestly, that part is the least of your worries right now."

I opened my mouth to ask just what else I had to worry more about than this, but the goddess didn't appear to notice and continued to talk.

"Now, the more current problem is how to get to the fountain and back in nine days. Hmm… problem solving of this manner isn't my strong suit…" Aphrodite tapped her perfectly manicured nails against her flawless cheek in thought.

"Hold your horses," I cut in, alarmed by this new tangent. I wrinkled my nose at Aphrodite. "What do you mean how to get there and back in nine days?"

"Don't make faces dear, it'll give you wrinkles," Aphrodite said absently, still tapping the surface of her own perfectly smooth cheek. "The effects of the arrow become permanent in ten days, and since she was shot yesterday, that gives you nine days." The goddess clapped her hands. "Goodie, aren't I a mathematical genius!"

I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic. I couldn't bring myself to think too deeply on it, stricken as I was with the weight of this new information. I only had nine days to fix Annabeth?

"Where is Corinthos, exactly?" I asked feebly. I had a bad feeling it was-

"In Greece, of course. It's the only place that doesn't move with the Heart of the West, something about the weight of the sorrow inscribed in the stone keeping it planted there..." Aphrodite picked at her fingernails, removing nonexistent dirt from beneath her shiny manicure. "Since you can't fly in an airplane, I guess you'll have to… No, that wouldn't work, you'd spontaneously combust." She pondered it for about eight more seconds, then shrugged again, apparently losing interest in such menial details. "Transportation ideas are now in your hands! Good luck then, Percy!" And with that, she evaporated into a fine, silvery-pink mist.

I stood alone in a stable full of supernatural horses. Blackjack broke the silence first.

Hey boss, can I go to Greece with you? Man, I haven't been on a holiday in years! Blackjack whinnied in anticipation of the idea, tossing his mane.

"Maybe I'll take you somewhere when I get back," I told him. "You probably wouldn't be able to fly that far and back in nine days with time for me to find the water, and I can't risk it on this quest, buddy."

Aww, too bad. Oh well, bring me some Grecian sugar then. Blackjack went back to his oats, appeased.

Sometimes I felt like pegasi had their lives so much better than demigods.

I left the stable and headed to the shore. It looked like I would be needing some help from my dad.

Alrighty then, there's the new chapter! I know it's short. I am truly sorry. I will try to post more than one chapter at a time, when I post. Review please, cause I love reading your comments!

Gazzy: So do I!

Angel: And I!

Total: I like hearing TMI read them. It makes her happy.

~TMI~