We reached the Door of Orpheus. The thing was though, it was wide open. I could've sworn you needed music to open it. Weird. Grover seemed to notice my confusion.

"When the gods fell, things got a little hectic. Medusa's statues turned back to normal, crows turned white, and the Door of Orpheus was propped open," he explained.

"Whoa," was my only response.

"Well," I said, "this is where I get off.''

"I guess so," Grover mumbled.

"Where will you go?" I asked, suddenly worried.

He paused for a while, thinking. "Typhon's Prison," he finally answered.

"Gonna join the rebellion?" I guessed.

He nodded. "I have to Percy. After what Kronos did to me...I have to get him for it."

Sudden realization hit me, and my hatred for Kronos tripled. "Oh gods Grover, I'm so sorry."

He tensed, as if the very memory caused him physically pain. It probably did. I know what it felt like to be tortured by memories. Memories of her.

"What did you want me to do? Let you get killed?"

"You didn't need to protect me Percy. I would've been fine."

"Sliced like sandwich bread," Grover put in, "but fine."

"Shut up goat boy," said Annabeth.

"I'll never forget Juniper," he managed.

I climbed off the hellhound. I growled at me, but it decided to shut up once I showed it my knife.

"Take care of yourself G-man," I said.

"I will," he promised.

Grover brayed mournfully. "Tin cans...a perfectly good bag of tin cans."

We sloshed across the mushy ground, through nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry.

After a few minutes, Annabeth fell in line next to me. "Look, I..." Her voice faltered. "I appreciate your coming back for us, okay? That was really brave."

"We're a team right?"

She was silent for a few more steps. "It's just that if you died... aside from the fact that it would really suck for you, it would mean the quest was over. This may be my only chance to see the real world."

The Underworld was different then I remembered it. The main differences were that Hades' palace lay in ruins, and the Garden of Persephone was on fire. In the distance, I could see some of Kronos's warriors trying to breach the walls of Elysium. One soldier climbed to the top of the wall, but was knocked back when a Greek fire bomb went off. It couldn't be...Beckendorf's ghost?

The Fields of Asphodel were filled with spirits fighting against Kronos's army. They were no match though, and every ghost that fell in battle was dragged off to the Fields of Punishment.

It was sad. A year after the war and the dead were still fighting. I wondered how it was even possible. But then I figured that Hades had raised all of the dead to fight as a final act, like my dad sending me away. I wondered what the other gods' final act had been.

"Put your cap back on," I said. "Get out!"

"What?" Annabeth shrieked. "No! I'm not leaving you."

"I've got a plan. I'll distract them. You can use the metal spider–maybe it will lead you back to Hephaestus. You have to tell him what's going on."

"But you'll be killed!"

Annabeth glared at me like she was going to punch me. And then she did something that surprised me even more. She kissed me.

I shook of the flash back in time to see a winged figured fall out of the sky, pursued by an empousa. It couldn't be...

"Mrs. Dodds?" I asked in disbelief.

She looked at me. "Jackson," she snarled in reply.

"Need a hand?" I asked.

"NO!" she shouted. The empousa lunged. Mrs. Dodds braced herself. With lethal accuracy, I hurled my knife, which impaled the empousa in the face.

Mrs. Dodds looked at me. I couldn't tell if she was glad to see me or not. Her face was permanently angry.

"So," she said once she was done glaring, "you have finally returned."

"Sorry I'm late," I apologized sarcastically, "but traffic was murder."

She smiled at the word murder. Yep, she scares me. I'm really glad we're on the same side at the moment. I decided to press my luck.

"Would you mind giving me a ride to the Styx?"

"Do I look like a taxi?" she growled.

"Uh..."

"I suggest you get a move on Perseus," Mrs. Dodds. "You have company."

I looked into the distance and saw the Chimera. Riding it was...aw shit. Her.

"Right," I agreed, already moving.

I made it about ten feet from the River Styx's edge when she caught up with me. The lion head lunged, ready to bite me in half. I jumped into its mouth, hacked at the inside for about half a second, and then jumped out, narrowly avoiding the burst of flame that spewed from the Chimera's mouth.

The snake head/tail/thing whipped at me, but a fraction of a second later a severed snake head was on the ground.

The Chimera began to dissolve. Disgusted, the rider jumped off its dissolving back. The rider unsheathed a three foot long, double-edge Celestial bronze sword. Oh that bitch.

She had the nerve to use my sword. Then again, I was using her knife. Fair game.

"Annabeth," I spat.

"Perseus," she responded.

She leveled Riptide at me. I angled my knife. When our blades met, sparks flew. After we traded a few strikes, I managed to lock my blade with hers by catching it on my hilt.

"Nice weapon," I complimented sarcastically.

"Same for goes you," she replied.

I threw a punch with my free hand, purposely pulling it so she had time to counter. Predictable as the sunrise, Annabeth kicked out, and I went flying to wards the River.

I was now two feet from the River Styx. I couldn't jump in, because Annabeth would figure out what I was doing and try to stop me. But if I accidentally fell in, she'd just think I was dead. Besides, I wasn't in any condition to fight Annabeth. When I'd left Ogygia, I was still a wreck. The adrenaline rushes, blessings from the gods, and sheer luck had kept me standing up until now.

But now, with Annabeth, I felt the opposite effect. It felt like every second I spent near her drained my energy, my very essence.

The fatigue that had kept me down for a year caught up with me. I couldn't even beat Annabeth. I needed an edge if I was going to save the gods.

She lunged, and I pretended to over dodge and fell right into the River Styx.