Annabeth's POV

My vision swam as my eyes fluttered open. I heard voices whispering, arguing with each other. I wondered why they were fighting. I tried to remember what happened yesterday, and then reality came down on me like a slap on the face. Percy was dead. Grover was dead. Thalia joined the Hunters. I cried in front of the gods. The last thing I recalled was the feel of strong arms lifting me up, and the smell of salty ocean water. My thoughts jumped to Percy, but then I remembered that he was dead. Because I was too slow.

The voices got louder, and I realised who they were. It was my brother Malcom, and Bianca Di Angelo.

'Leave her alone!'

Then tell me what happened! Why does she look so upset? And where is Percy?'

'I told you... he's gone. And she needs to recover!'

They went on arguing for a few minutes, but abruptly stopped once I sat up.

'Stop,' I said. 'Stop.'

They just glared at each other. I sighed, too drained and upset by the fact that my two best friends were dead.

'Malcom, stop annoying Bianca. And Bianca... It's fine. He can wake me up. I wasn't too tired.'

When I said I wasn't too tired, Bianca gave me a look that said not too tired, eh? I frowned.

I got out of my bed, and turned to them.

'What time is it?'

They both answered at the same time.

" 2pm.'

I'll admit, I was a bit shocked. 2pm! I had to tell camp about... about Percy and Grover. Unless Bianca already told them.

Me and Bianca walked out of my cabin, leaving Malcom without answers. I trudged through the grass, watching the remaining campers talk and laugh. Only a few weeks ago, I was as carefree as them. True, I had been less relaxed then them, but still mostly untroubled. I asked Bianca if she had told them, but she said she didn't have the heart to say it alone. I was so lost in thoughts, I accidentally tripped on the Bows that were laid on the floor at the Archery Range. When we actually got to Chiron, he was teaching campers, so he said to give him a few minutes, but I insisted that he come now.

He had a worried and tired look on his face.

'What is it, Annabeth? Is it news on Percy?'

'Yeah, yeah it is. Bianca, could you...'

She nodded, and I smiled at her gratefully.

Um, Chiron. While we were on our quest, we um... We came across the desert.'

His eyes widened.

'One shall be lost in the land without rain. Continue...'

'Well... I... I did something stupid, and Percy... he um... he died saving me. And because of the empathy link... so did Grover.' Chiron's eyes were filled with sadness and grief.

'Well... we must... tell the other campers of his sacrifice.'

We both followed Chiron as he called for a meeting with all the campers.

'We have tragic news. A great hero has fallen. As well as a brave satyr. It would be with regret that I say... Percy Jackson and Grover Underwood are dead.'

Immediately, gasps and murmuring could be heard.

'Did he say Percy Jackson?'

'He can't die!'

'He saved us all!'

'We shall have the funeral's tomorrow. Someone needs to tell Tyson. And his mom..

When he said his mom, my hand shot up instantly.

Chiron nodded at me.

'You were the closest to him, it only makes sense. Anyone else?'

Bianca raised her hand, but other than that, no one wanted to go.

After the crowd dispersed, we made our way to the borders of camp. Boy, was I in for a hard day.

(A few hours later)

Bianca POV

'Bianca, no!'

But I wasn't waiting for him. I charged at the monsters left foot. But Percy didn't give up that easily. He threw his sword at my legs, making me trip. As I struggled to get up, he ran to the foot. Thalia had its attention for a moment. She'd learned that the giant was big but slow. If you could stay close to it and not get smashed, you could run around it and stay alive. At least, it was working so far.

Percy got right next to the giants foot. I pleaded with him to let me do it instead, but he ignored me. I knew it was no use.

Zoë yelled, 'What are you doing!'

'Get it to raise its foot!' He said.

Zoë looked confused, but she complied. She shot an arrow towards the monster's face and it flew straight into one nostril. The giant straightened and shook its head.

I gazed at Percy sadly, knowing I couldn't stop him. I had to distract the giant.

'Hey! Junk boy! Look down here, you big ugly brute!'

I quickly unsheathed my hunters knife, and sprinted to Talos's big toe. I plunged my dagger into it, causing it to look at me and raise its foot, and try to squash me like a bug. I couldn't see what Percy was doing. I had to turn and run. The foot came behind down right behind me and I was knocked into the air. I hit something hard and sat up, dazed.

The monster was about to finish me off, but Grover somehow dug himself out of the junk pile. He played his pipes frantically, and his music sent another power line pole whacking Talos's thigh. The monster turned. Grover should've run, but he must've been too exhausted from the effort of so much magic. He took two steps, fell, and didn't get back up.

"Grover!" Thalia and I both ran toward him, but I knew we'd be too late.

The monster raised his sword to smash Grover. Then he froze.

Talos cocked his head to one side, like he was hearing strange new music. He started moving his arms and legs in weird ways, doing the Funky Chicken. Then he made a fist and punched himself in the face.

"Go, Percy!" I yelled.

Zoe looked horrified. "He is inside?"

The monster staggered around, and I realized we were still in danger. Thalia and I grabbed Grover and ran with him toward the highway. Zoe was already ahead of us. She yelled, "How will Percy get out?"

The giant hit itself in the head again and dropped his sword. A shudder ran through his whole body and he staggered toward the power lines.

"Look out!" I yelled. but it was too late.

The giant's ankle snared the lines, and blue flickers of electricity shot up his body. I hoped the inside was insulated. I had no idea what was going on in there. The giant careened back into the junkyard, and his right hand fell off, landing in the scrap metal with a horrible CLANG!

His left arm came loose, too. He was falling apart at the joints.

Talos began to run.

"Wait!" Zoe yelled. We ran after him, but there was no way we could keep up. Pieces of the robot kept falling off, getting in our way.

The giant crumbled from the top down: his head, his chest, and finally, his legs collapsed. When we reached the wreckage we searched frantically, yelling Percy's name. We crawled around in the vast hollow pieces and the legs and the head. We searched until the sun started to rise, but no luck.

Thalia sat down and wept. Zoë looked stunned to see her cry.

I yelled in rage and impaled my dagger in the giant's smashed face.

And then I heard Grover scream.

All three of us ran to him, tears pouring down Thalia's face, still upset over Percy.

'Grover! What-' I started, but was cut off by him.

'The empathy link! I... had an empathy link with... with Percy. I'm not going to make it.'

Thalia looked at him in shock.

'No... you're going to make it Grover... please...'

He smiled at us sadly.

'Tell Annabeth I'm sorry. And Thalia, don't be hard on yourself. Bianca, I might not have known you long, but...' He sniffled.

'Don't be too sad about Percy. I'm sure he wouldn't want you to beat yourself up over him. And Zoë... remember the stars, okay? I'll miss you guys.'

And he closed his eyes for the last time.

Zoë stared at him sadly before murmuring the ancient blessing. His body melted until all that was left was a small daisy.

Thalia screamed in rage, a scream that held so much pain that I could never forget it.

'We can keep searching for Percy.' I said, after a few minutes of pained silence.

'No.' Came Zoë's reply.

'What?'

'We won't find him. It was meant to be. One shall be lost in the land without rain.'

I stared at her in disbelief. Now that I looked at her, she had tears in her eyes.

'Percy... He was nothing like... like Hercules. Percy was a good man.'

I nodded, too upset to ask what she meant by that. Thalia looked at us, her eyes rimmed with red.

'Come on,' Her voice sounded like she had caught a cold. 'Let's go.'

And then I heard the voice.

'Join me, Bianca Di Angelo. Free me.'

I woke up shivering and sweating. Nightmares. The nightmares. They haunt me. I wish they would stop, but of course, a demigods life was never easy.

I realised that I was sitting next to Annabeth, who looked like a ghost. We were in the car with Argus, because Chiron had insisted we don't go alone. I looked out of the window, and Argus was parking outside a tall building. Me and Annabeth exchanged conversations, talking about our life before knowing we were demigods.
I had only seen Annabeth once before- in Westover hall. I didn't look at her much, but I could tell some things were different about her.

She was much paler than before, and her stormy grey eyes had bags under them, even though she had slept a lot. Her blonde curls seemed dead, and her grey streak of hair seemed to be even more noticeable. She looked like she was trying to solve a mystery, but at the same time, as if she gave up. I decided to not say anything about it.

Argus walked us into the building, but we walked to the apartment ourselves. Annabeth looked like she was already on the verge of more tears. I knocked, bracing myself, waiting for the worst.

The door opened.

'Hi, ma'am. Are you Sally Jackson?'