SELENA WAS DIGGING THROUGH THE SHED, looking for a new weapon. She hasn't been able to find a new one she liked at all. Her last dagger was lost in the now destroyed labyrinth after being kidnapped. Since then, she's been using random swords and daggers that were lying around. But now, she needed a weapon she could count on.

At the bottom of a pile, the handle of a dagger caught her eye. She picked it up and gasped. The blade was a pitch black. This was the dagger from her dreams, the one she fought Luke with. She looked at her reflection carefully. Instead of one, there were three of her. But each one looked a little different. On her left, her face was contorted in anger whereas, on the right, she was crying. And the middle one was just her.

As much as she didn't want to, she needed to keep this dagger. She quickly stashed it in the sheath on her thigh and made her way back to her cabin.

She didn't have much time left. That she knew for sure.

The dreams have been occurring much more frequently. Most nights, Selena couldn't sleep. Most people could find her on the training grounds, slicing into a straw dummy at three in the morning.

Selena sat down on her bed and opened her notebook. She was alone, which was good. She didn't know if she could do this if others were there.

She was trying to write letters. For Annabeth, for Grover, for all her friends. For Percy. She wanted them to understand why she didn't tell them. Selena knew if she told them about her fate now, they would only force her to stay behind at camp while they fought in the war.

Selena fiddled with her necklace that now eight beads on it. Eight whole years at Camp Half-Blood. Most of the time, demigods don't last that long.

She stared down at the paper. It seems the only words she could write were 'I'm sorry'.

There was a knock on the door and Selena quickly stuffed the book under her pillow. It was a terrible hiding spot, but she didn't have enough time to put it in its usual place.

"Hey." It was Charles Beckendorf.

Charles Beckendorf, senior counselor for the Hephaestus cabin, would make most monsters cry for their mommies. He was huge, with ripped muscles from working on the forges every summer, two years older than Selena, and one of the camp's best armorsmiths. He made some seriously ingenious mechanical stuff. A month before, he'd rigged a Greek firebomb in the bathroom of a tour bus that was carrying a bunch of monsters across country. The explosion took out a whole legion of Kronos's evil meanies as soon as the first harpy went flush.

Beckendorf was dressed for combat. He wore a bronze breastplate and war helm with black camo pants and a sword strapped to his side. His explosives bag was slung over his shoulder.

Selena sighed, putting her hair in a ponytail, "It's time, isn't it?"

"Yep. Let's go get Percy."

The two jumped on the back of Blackjack and made their way to Manhattan. They found Percy sitting in a car near the beach, with a redhead in the passenger seat. Rachel Dare. Selena remembered her from last summer.

Blackjack landed on the hood of the car, denting the metal and scaring the crap out of the two teens. Selena smiled slyly and Charles gave her a look, "What?"

"Blackjack," Percy sighed. "What are you—" He paused when he saw her and Charles,

"Hey, Aquaman. Miss me?"

Percy stared at her for a moment before speaking, "Time?" He asked and Charles nodded grimly.

Rachel looked up at Beckendorf. "Hi."

"Oh, hey. I'm Beckendorf. You must be Rachel. Percy's told me . . . uh, I mean he mentioned you."

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Really? Good." She glanced at Blackjack, who was clopping his hooves against the hood of the Prius. "So I guess you guys have to go save the world now."

"Pretty much," Selena shrugged,

Percy looked at Rachel helplessly. "Would you tell my mom—"

"I'll tell her. I'm sure she's used to it. And I'll explain to Paul about the hood."

He nodded his thanks.

"Good luck." Rachel kissed his cheek before Percy could even react. "Now, get going, half-blood. Go kill some monsters for me."

Selena stiffened as she watched the scene unfold. Percy got out and jumped on behind Charles,

"Let's do this." Selena sighed and Blackjack took off into the sky.

It was almost dark by the time they spotted their target. The Princess Andromeda glowed on the horizon—a huge cruise ship lit up yellow and white. From a distance, you'd think it was just a party ship, not the headquarters for the Titan lord. Then as you got closer, you might notice the giant figurehead—a dark-haired maiden in a Greek chiton, wrapped in chains with a look of horror on her face, as if she could smell the stench of all the monsters she was being forced to carry.

Seeing the ship again twisted Selena's gut into knots. She'd almost died twice on the Princess Andromeda. Now it was heading straight for New York.

"You two know what to do?" Beckendorf yelled over the wind.

Selena nodded. They'd done dry runs at the dockyards in New Jersey, using abandoned ships as their targets. Selena knew how little time they would have. But she also knew this was their best chance to end Kronos's invasion before it ever started.

"Blackjack," Percy said, "set us down on the lowest stern deck. Don't wait for us," Percy told his pegasus.

Blackjack folded his wings and plummeted toward the boat like a black comet. The wind whistled in her ears. Selena saw monsters patrolling the upper decks of the ship—dracaenae snake-women, hellhounds, giants, and the humanoid seal-demons known as telkhines—but they zipped by so fast, none of them raised the alarm. They shot down the stern of the boat, and Blackjack spread his wings, lightly coming to a landing on the lowest deck. Selena climbed off, feeling queasy.

Blackjack took off into he night and Selena took out her new dagger. It glowed slightly as she held it.

Beckendorf pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. Selena looked at the smiling face of Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite. They'd started going out last summer, after years of the rest of the campers saying, "Duh, you guys like each other!" Even with all the dangerous missions, Beckendorf had been happier this summer than Selena had ever seen him.

"We'll make it back to camp," She promised.

For a second, Selena saw worry in his eyes. Then he put on his old confident smile.

"You bet," he said. "Let's go blow Kronos back into a million pieces."