I awoke for the third and final time around eight that morning when Percy nudged my arm saying we needed to go for breakfast. He talked me through the plan one last time before we left his room and went down to the mess hall.

My breathing was shakier than normal as Percy and I made our way down the crowded hallway. The lack of around thirty people did not ease the cramped spacing of the Insurgent's base.

After getting our meal of porridge and fruit, Percy and I sat down at the table with Piper, Leo, Frank, Charles, and Michael. We ate our food with very little conversations taking place. We were all too anxious to speak.

Around thirty minutes had passed and most of the people in the mess hall were finishing up their food. Percy glanced around the room before sending me a nod.

I stood up and walked over to the pile where everyone's discarded trays were stacked up. The second I placed mine down, Percy jumped up and mimicked my actions, walking over and setting down his tray.

The two of us casually walked out of the mess hall and down to his quarters, where we grabbed the bags that contained all of our valuables. Percy also dismounted the sword hanging on the wall and slipped it into a holster attached to his belt. I patted my thigh, feeling for my dagger. It was there, and I smiled at the bittersweet memories associated with the weapon.

The clock on his nightstand struck nine, and we ran. We raced down the hallways and several revolters joined us. Once we made it to the common area, hoards of people were pouring in from all different directions, dragging all sorts of supplies with them. I ushered them down the hallway, wanting to get as many people out as quickly as we could before any fighting ensued.

When there were only about forty revolters left in the common area, a man of seemingly high authority strolled into the room. His dark hair was shaved off and his coal-black eyes shimmered with anger. He was tall, even taller than Percy, and bulky.

"What's the meaning of this?" he barked.

Percy walked over to him. "General Ares, we refuse to be apart of this radical group any longer. Your attempts at bringing justice to the Olympian Kingdom have brought more harm than good. Your beliefs have gone too far. We want a change, but we don't stand behind the Insurgents' way of getting that change."

The man, General Ares, scoffed. "Yeah? What are you going to do, then? Run off to King Frederick and tell him of our location, of our plans to assassinate him, his wife, and the council? Not if I can help it." He unsheathed a sword from his belt and held it high. "Attack!" he bellowed.

Instantly, over twenty men and women sprinted into the room, various weapons in their hands. Percy wielded his sword beautifully against Ares, and I stared in awe for a moment before my attention was drawn to the group of men and women cowering in the corner, defenseless. They were revolters who hadn't bothered to keep a weapon at easy access and were about to suffer the consequences. There were about ten of them, and five Insurgent fighters were rushing towards them.

I stuck my hand down my pants in the most ladylike way possible and wrenched my dagger out of its holster. While doing that, I was running towards the group of Insurgents aiming to harm the innocent revolters. One against five wouldn't be an easy fight, but I had to try.

I parried an Insurgent's attack and stabbed him in his dominant arm, wanting to disarm him but not fatally wound him. Moving on to the next warrior, I twisted my blade around hers, effectively making her lose her grip. As the weapon clattered to the ground, a guard swung their sword directly at my face. I ducked and the man lost his balance, driving his sword into his thigh.

I winced in phantom pain but focused my attention on the remaining two men. One of them was stalking towards the weaponless revolters and the other was sprinting towards me, holding his sword above his head.

I ran towards the first man, striking his blade so it fell out of his hand while he wasn't looking. Then, while he was staring at his fallen weapon in surprise, I stabbed his shoulder.

"Sorry," I whispered as he fell to the ground, clutching his wound.

Just then, the final Insurgent in the group I was facing smacked my dagger out of my hand. I whirled around just in time to see him swing his sword at me. I ducked, just missing the blade, and picked up my dagger. Leaping back up, I feinted left before driving my weapon into his right thigh. He collapsed to his knees.

I backed off, panting, before rushing over to the ten defenseless revolters. "Come on," I called, ushering them over to the hallway.

Percy and Ares had moved around the room during their seemingly endless battle and were fighting right in front of the only exit. I sighed before adjusting my grip on my dagger and running toward them.

I was behind Ares, so I struck my blade against his sword arm while he couldn't see me. As blood gushed from his bicep, his fingers released his sword. Percy shoved the butt of his own sword against Ares' chest and knocked him to his knees.

Holding his sword to the general's neck, Percy frowned. "I do not want to kill you. Call off your men and let us leave peacefully."

Ares' lips curled with disgust. "And let you run off committing treason? Never."

Just then, loud footsteps echoed down the hallway leading toward all of the important rooms, including the weaponry room, meeting room, and Kronos' private quarters.

My eyes widened and I realized just how bad things could get. "Get out of here!" I shouted to the revolters who were straggling behind. I followed behind them, making sure they got through the hallway without interceptions from the remaining Insurgents. By that time, I had wounded about ten of them but didn't kill any.

Once all of the revolters were out of the room, I turned around and instantly stopped in my tracks. The common area was loaded with at least fifty armed Insurgents, including Kronos.

The leader was standing a foot away from Percy, a cruel smile on his thin lips and a wicked glint in his golden eyes.

"Well, Jackson," he spat, "was this what you wanted?"

Percy narrowed his eyes, not moving his sword from Ares' neck. "Elaborate," he demanded.

Kronos chuckled. "A rebellion within a rebellion. A clever move, really, if you thought it out a tad bit more."

My green-eyed friend rolled his eyes. "I think we did plenty of planning, Lord."

The older man frowned. "Did you plan on dying tonight? Because, if so, you really did think of everything."

Percy faltered. "Listen, we plan to do you no harm. Our intentions do not involve you, and we have the same goal as you."

Kronos raised his bushy eyebrows. "Go on."

"We want a better way of ruling the kingdom," the young man admitted, "and we think that the council needs to go, but assassination is not the answer. We're going to go straight to the source and convince the king to change his ways and abolish the council. Once he does that, peace will be restored."

"You're so young, so reckless, so untamable," Kronos listed, "and so, so naive."

While Percy and Kronos were conversing, everyone in the room had gone still, listening in. That's why a scrawny, dark-haired boy running from the entrance hallway with a knife in his hand caught my attention. The eyepatched teen was heading straight toward Percy, who was still facing Kronos with his full attention on the Insurgent leader before him. Ethan's knife was aimed straight for the small of Percy's back and was inches away from making contact, but something stopped it.

I stopped it.

For the second time in a week, a blade was being stabbed into my body. I shrieked in pain, clutching my shoulder, and fell to the floor.

Ethan looked down at me, shock on his face and a bloodied knife in his hand. "Annabeth, what - "

I grimaced. "I hoped to never see your sorry face again," I seethed.

My pained cries had distracted Percy and Kronos. Percy's face was full of fear, sadness, and admiration. He bent down, scooped me up in his arms, and ran through the crowd of Insurgents. He struck his sword at anyone who made a move for us, shouting, "No one touches her!"

Within a few minutes, we found ourselves at the top of the staircase leading to the Insurgent's base. I was drifting in and out of consciousness, the pain in my arm almost unbearable. It hurt a lot more than my leg wound initially did, probably because the knife had stabbed through my skin and muscle once on the way in and then tore it up more on the way out.

Standing in the middle of the armory that disguised the base's entrance was Luke. His short blonde hair was pointing in all directions and his blue eyes were crazed. A long sword was in his right hand and he swung it slowly as he stalked toward us.

"Luke," I murmured, "please, don't do this."

He scoffed. "Why would I listen to you?"

"There's no reason to hurt us. We don't want to hurt you. We only want what you want; a better kingdom."

"Then why would you initiate a revolution, causing us to lose over a hundred members and tons of supplies?" Luke asked incredulously.

Percy sighed, readjusting me in his arms. "To get things done in a more peaceful way."

"Is it really worth it, Luke?" I questioned. "Killing the two of us would only result in disaster."

He blinked his bright blue eyes and lowered his sword arm. "Get out of here. Take care of her, Jackson."

Percy nodded and rushed out of the store. He quickly found Blackjack and threw me on the horse's back. As soon as the horse began to run, I passed out.