Seaweed Brain disappeared. Again.

We were just skirting the edge of the border when he disappeared.

"If Hera kidnapped Percy again I swear to the gods..." I growled to Nico, who seemed to understand me.

"Hey, calm down. Percy's alive, but I just can't seem to pinpoint his location." Nico assured me, but it didn't sound very assuring. All we found were footprints, one set which were so big that it couldn't have belonged to a human.

"I don't understand, Nico! It's already been a day!" I blinked back tears in my eyes. I couldn't bear to lose Percy again, not after all this time.

"It's ok, Annabeth, we'll find him and—" Nico froze. Somewhere in the distance, I heard Grover bleating in pain. The empathy link. Of course.

"Nico? Nico!" I shook him.

"Percy..." He mumbled. "Percy...he's about to die..."

"No!" I screamed. "He can't be dying, no no no no no..." Suddenly, we saw three strange figures, stepping out of what seemed to be a light beam. They ran up the hill.

"Hey! Are you Annabeth?" A blonde girl came up to me.

"Yeah, why?" I glared at her suspiciously. "Look, my boyfriend is dying and—"

"We know where he is!" The girl said. "It's Percy Jackson, right? We'll take you there. Elwin's treating him." She grabbed my hand and before I could say a word, we disappeared into a beam of light.

The experience was quite pleasant, like soft downy feathers under my skin, but I couldn't focus on that. I had to save Percy. We reformed moments later in a lab that looked like a cross between a laboratory and a nurse's office at a school.

"Sophie!" A man with messy brown hair and huge spectacles came into the room. "Quick, Bullhorn is going nuts besides that Percy boy!"

Sophie gasped. "Is that a bad thing?" I asked her anxiously. Sophie nodded, pale.

"Bullhorn is a banshee, they can sense when a person is in mortal danger. They'll scream their head off when the person is close to death, and it's almost certain death when a banshee lies next to your chest." Her voice shook.

"No!" I sobbed. "No, he can't be dying!" I rushed into the other room. Percy was on a cot, pale and barely breathing. Where was the banshee? Maybe Percy was ok and he stopped going nuts. Then I saw a small creature that looked like a raccoon, a ferret, and a rabbit and gasped. It was curled up right next to Percy's chest.

"Oh no," the crazy-looking guy entered. "He's not going to make it." I saw his bandaged stomach. Hints of scarlet showed through, wrapped tightly in gauze. I sobbed into his chest.

"You can't leave me like this, Seaweed Brain." I whispered. "What about New Rome? The future we planned for ourselves?" I shook him lightly, but his head just lolled over.

Athena, Apollo, I prayed to my mom and the god of healing. Give me something that will make him better. Please. It was a simple plea, but then I felt something heavy in my pocket. I checked it and found a canteen of godly nectar. I almost laughed from relief.

"You, um, what's your name?" I pointed at the spectacle guy.

"It's Elwin." He replied.

"Ok, unwrap the bandages." He looked at me skeptically. "I know what I'm doing." He nodded and started unwrapping the gauze quickly. The puncture was bad. The skin around it was slightly green. Poison. My mind immediately flashed back to the War of Manhattan, where I had taken a poisoned knife for Percy. My hands shook as I opened the canteen and drizzled it over the wound, only discreetly hearing Elwin's protesting shouts behind me.

At first, nothing happened. I was sure I'd never kiss my Seaweed Brain again until I saw the puncture. It was slowly closing up, the green disappearing from the skin, the broken flesh slowly knitting itself back together. I let out a choked sob as his eyes fluttered open.

"Annabeth?" He murmured drowsily. "What are you—" He got cut off by the press of my lips against his. We stayed there for a moment, oblivious to the sounds of Elwin making gagging noises. Then I let him breathe.

"You idiot! IhadnoideawhereyouwerewhydidyoudothistomeIthoughtyouwebttoElysiumohmygodsyoudon'tknowhowmuchImissedyiuSeaweedBrain!" I paused to take a breath. Percy managed a weak smile.

"Don't worry about it, Owl Face." He laughed softly, but then winced. "I'm fine. It's just a stab wound."

"Just a stab wound?? JUST A STAB WOUND?" I asked, fuming. "PERCY, YOU KELP FACE YOU ALMOST DIED!" He had the nerve to smile again.

"No one's been able to kill me. I think part of it is because Hades hates me so much that he can't put up with me in the Underworld." His sea green eyes sparkled mischievously. I sighed in exasperation.

"Just don't almost die again, ok?"

He put his hand over mine. "No promises." He grinned.

[EEEEEEE!!! guess what guys?? I've been ranked in mythology #290 out of like 210k!!! thanks guys couldn't have done it without you!!! that's kinda why i wrote an extra chapter hehe]