"Captain Wells! Captain Wells!" Annabeth shouted his name over and over again, hoping against hope that he was here. She looked frantically for the Cleopatra.

"Annabeth?" The captain stepped in front of her path, catching her arms as she ran into him with full force. "You're back!" When he saw her expression, his eyes widened. "Calm down, Annabeth. What's wrong? What happened?"

"I need you to get me back out to sea," she said in a rush. "I need to find the Pride. I need to find Captain Jackson again. Please, it's important."

He studied her face for a moment. He must've seen something in her eyes, because he nodded.

"It's going to take at least another hour to get the ship ready," he warned her. Annabeth wanted to scream at him that they didn't have time, but she forced herself to hold back. She nodded.

"Just hurry," she pleaded. "I need to find him."

It was the longest hour of Annabeth's life. When the Cleopatra was finally ready for departure, she was the first one on board, her eyes sweeping over the sea. She knew Percy's ship was long gone by now, but she didn't care. She was going to find him if it killed her.

"Which way, Annabeth?" Captain Wells asked her, and Annabeth immediately pointed a finger in the direction Percy's ship had gone.

"That way," she said, her heart pounding in her chest. "They went that way."

They sailed for hours. They sailed until the sun went down and the moon and stars came out, but Annabeth begged Captain Wells not to stop. They needed to keep going forward. She needed to find Percy and tell him. And she knew, without a doubt, that this was her only chance.

It had been several days when Annabeth finally started to give up hope.

Captain Wells put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry," he said, but it didn't do anything. It didn't matter. Annabeth stood at the front of the ship and cried silently to herself, hugging her arms around herself.

She was too late. She would never see Percy Jackson again.

That thought was enough to make a fresh wave of tears come crashing through her eyes, and she sobbed with grief.

"Captain Wells," someone shouted. "There's something on the horizon."

Annabeth's head snapped up. It was too much to hope, but she turned and looked.

A familiar dense fog was misting over the sea. Annabeth's spirits soared.

She started to shout his name even before the ship came into view.

"Percy!" she shouted, cupping her hands over her mouth so the sound would echo. "Percy Jackson! Percy!"

As the ship grew clearer, she started to hear the sound of her name being called over the water.

"Annabeth?"

"Percy!" She shouted, tears in her eyes. "It's me! It's Annabeth!" She waved her hands in the air so he could see her. She could see him standing on the deck now, a tiny spot at the center of her vision. The world fell away, and he was all she saw.

When the ship was close enough, Annabeth did the same thing she'd done the first time she boarded the Pride – she cut a rope, grabbed onto it with all her strength, and swung across onto the other ship. She landed right in front of Percy and threw her arms around him with such force that he got the breath knocked out of him.

"Annabeth?" His green eyes were wide with surprise, and the crewmembers were staring at Annabeth in disbelief, like they didn't think she was real. "What are you doing here?"

"It's love," Annabeth said breathlessly as she put her hand on his cheek. "Percy, the most valuable treasure in the world isn't gold or money or actual treasure. It's love."

Slowly, Percy's hand came up to hold Annabeth's. In his other hand, he was holding his compass.

"The compass . . . led me to your ship," he said. "All this time, it kept pointing to you, which is why I thought it was broken." He looked up at her in amazement. "All this time, it was pointing to you."

"When I returned the heart to its rightful place, Aphrodite was there, and she told me," Annabeth breathed out. "That's how I figured it out. Love is the most valuable treasure, Percy. And I know this is going to sound a little insane, because we've only known each other for a week, and that's such a short time, but I think I love you, Percy Jackson. I love you."

She kissed him. Percy's arms came up to wind around her waist, pulling her closer, and he picked her up and swung her around in a circle. The crewmembers cheered.

When they broke away from each other, they were both gasping for air, but neither of them minded. Annabeth stroked her fingertips across Percy's face, and he held her tightly, like he never wanted to let her go again.

"A week is a short time," he pointed out. "But it's enough. I love you, too, Annabeth."

"Captain Perseus Jackson, the best pirate ever to sail, in love," one of the crewmembers said incredulously. "Who would've thought?"

Everyone laughed, and Percy grinned. He kissed Annabeth again, and her heart fluttered so hard she was sure it was going to fly out of her chest.

Poseidon's Pride and the Cleopatra sailed back to Athens together. When they reached the docks, all of Percy's crewmembers got off first. Annabeth held Percy's hand. She jumped off the ladder before him, keeping a tight hold on his hand. He hesitated, looking at her. Annabeth smiled at him.

Percy stepped onto the dock.

And nothing happened.

All at once, the crewmembers erupted into a roar of cheers and victorious shouts. The curse was lifted. After one hundred and seven years at sea, Captain Perseus Jackson had found the most valuable treasure in the world. And it was in the form of a teenage girl with curly blonde hair and stormy gray eyes. Annabeth, daughter of Athena, was his treasure. Percy had never felt so happy in his life.

Annabeth knew they had a lot of things to figure out – where would Percy live now that he could finally walk on land again? Where would the rest of his crew live? After a century, all of their families were long dead. They had no one but each other. What would they do now? They were still pirates, after all, and pirates were meant to sail the seas.

"I've been sailing for over a hundred years," Percy said as if reading Annabeth's thoughts. He pulled her closer and kissed her like he'd never get to do it again. "I think it's high time I took a break. What do you think, boys?"

The boys cheered again, and Annabeth smiled as she hugged Percy. She knew they had a lot of things to figure out.

But at least they would figure it out together.