I'm going to insert the author's note that is at the beginning of the next chapter of SaB. Just because this is my Christmas/Holiday present to you, and I feel you deserve an explanation :]

Okay, for starters, I'd like to apologize a thousand times, over and over and over again, because last month was November. In October, I planned on writing a chapter for each of my chapter pieces and letting you know I'd be disappearing off the face of fanfiction for a month, but I never did that. I'm so sorry I just neglected this story, but I had no choice. I decided to do Nanowrimo this year.

Nanowrimo is a yearly event, in which participants create a 50,000 word novel during the month of November and upload it to the site.

If you know what I'm talking about, good for you, you understand that I decided to participate this year and you forgive me. You can go ahead and skip to the story.

If you have no clue what I'm talking about, then I'll fill you in. In order to win Nanowrimo and write 50,000 words in one month, you must write a minimum of 1,667 words per day. That's like writing a 2-to-3-page chapter for a chapter story, every single day. So I got sucked in, like all participants do. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I sure as Hades got addicted, and fast.

Result? Fanfiction neglect. Please find it in your heart to forgive me and not make my poor stories suffer because of my mistake. I've been delayed this month simply because I needed a break from writing :]

Fun fact for you. It's 1:14 a.m. on December 24th and my mom just came home with tons of groceries. Among these is a box of strawberry cream stuff from "Strawberry Hill." you can guess what that reminds me of.

So, merry Christmas/Happy Holidays. This is my two-shot present to you. It's like a one-shot, but it's in two parts. Okay, it might end up being in three parts.

I don't even know what you'd call that.

I blew a strand of curly-and-sometimes-annoying blonde hair out of my face and started chewing on the pencil end again, staring at the blank page in my stupid notebook. I was trying to plan a Christmas party for Percy and his mom and Paul, but I wasn't having any luck.

With 2 days before Christmas Eve, you'd think I would realize that I had no time, right? Not so much. I was making no progress. I'd called Sally multiple times, and still couldn't remember what color she'd told me their living room was.

I was just about to give up. I get that I'm a child of Athena. I'm smart. Abnormally smart. But I just did not plan parties. I don't know why, I just didn't. So I was about to call it quits and have a mental breakdown (Over something stupid, but isn't that what all mental breakdowns are over?), when someone called the hotel I was staying at. The little cordless phone on the bedside table chimed, and I picked it up.

"Hello?" I said into the receiver.

"Miss Annabeth Chase?" The receptionist on the other end said. "There's a call from a Mr. Percy Jackson on the other end for you. Would you like to accept this call?"

I smiled. "Yes, thank you."

"Very well."

There was a sound that was somewhere in between a buzz and a beep, and then I heard kids screaming in the background and a very disgruntled teenager cursing them under his breath.

"Well hello to you too, Percy," I said, grinning like a maniac.

"Oh, Annabeth!" Percy exclaimed, not realizing I'd picked up. "Not you! You're not a goddamn mutant pest from Hades."

"I'm not?" I asked. "Well then, who is?"

"Paul's nephews and nieces... ugh."

"Oh, I see," I replied, smiling. "So, what did you need?"

"Uh, well... I just... wanted to make sure you're staying for Christmas."

I laughed. "Percy, this is the fourth time you've called about that since I got here. I already told you, I'm not going back to San Francisco until after New Years, okay?"

I could practically feel Percy's smile from the other end. "Yeah, you told me that. I was just calling to make sure," he said. "Because I know your stepmom said you'd always have a home there, but I just feel like-" I knew he was about to start ranting, but he was cut off abruptly. Percy wasn't talking anymore, but I could still hear the background noise. Kids were laughing and he was barking at them to give them the phone back. I covered my giggling mouth with my hand and listened to Percy bicker with the nieces and nephews. After a few seconds, there was a loud crash, and a clacking noise as Percy picked up the phone again.

"Sorry about that, Wise Girl," he said, out of breath. "Felicia stole the phone, and Brandon thought it would be funny to play Percy in the middle."

I could imagine his cute, lopsided grin and how his black hair would be tousled and messy from running. I could feel his smiling, green eyes gazing expectantly at the phone as he waited fro me to reply. I immediately missed him.

"I miss you," Percy said after a moment or two of silence from my end. I laughed at how ironic that way.

"I miss you too," I said.

"It's been too long."

"It's been two days, Seaweed Brain."

"Which is too long for me."

"You're hopeless."

"So I've been told. G'night, Wise Girl."

"Wait!" I blurted before I could stop myself. I hesitated.

"Yes?"

"Can you please tell your mom I can't handle this party planning?" I said reluctantly. "She's better at it then I am."

Percy chuckled. "Sure thing."

"Thank you. Good night." I hung up the phone and smiled. I closed the notebook that was sitting in my lap and stood up, walking over to the hotel window with generic hotel curtains and the generic room heater underneath the glass. I sat down on the window seat and looked out at the snowy New York streets below. Even though it was the middle of December, the streets were still packed with people and cars, Christmas shopping and going on about their New York lives.

There was a knock on my hotel room door.

"Just a second!" I shouted, closing the thick curtains and standing up. I closed the short distance to the door and opened it. A tall, blonde hotel employee was standing on the other side, a cocky grin on his face. I froze.

"Miss Annabeth Chase?" he asked smoothly, his voice sounding very familiar.

He looked me up and down with those ice blue eyes and ran his hand through his spiky, golden hair. He looked young, not older than 25, but definitely older than me. I took a shaky breath and looked him in the eyes. I almost expected them to turn to gold. But I knew they wouldn't.

Still, the guy looked just like Luke had. If he'd had a scar under his left eye, then I might've gotten suspicious.

"Annabeth Chase?" The guy asked again when I didn't answer, his cocky grin turning into a confused eyebrow-raising.

I shook my hair out of my face and stood up straighter. "Yes, that's me," I said, trying not to show any emotion on my face.

"There's a package at the front desk for you," the Luke-look-alike said.

"Thank you." I stared at the Luke guy, who was staring at me like I was crazy beautiful. I felt uncomfortable under his gaze. I shifted my weight and the guy coughed.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked, sounding sweet and innocent, much like Luke had sounded when Kronos couldn't control him.

"Sure."

"Why are you a Miss Annabeth Chase?" he asked, a sparkling glint in his eye. "Shouldn't you be a Mrs.?"

I was taken aback. "Uh... well I'm only 18," was my intelligent response. The Luke-look-alike grinned and chuckled.

"The package is from the Jackson residence. Tell me, what's keeping Mr. Jackson from proposing?"

"We're only 18," I replied.

"Alright, alright," the guy said, backing up. "Just asking. See ya around, Miss Annabeth."

"Bye, Mr. I-don't-know-your-name."

"It's Kade," he called as he took off down the hallway.

I closed the door and went to sit down on my bed. After a few minutes of trying to decide what to do, I put my tennis shoes on over the socks I was wearing, grabbed my room key and set off for the front desk.

The package, after I brought it up to my room 20 minutes later, turned out to be a big brown box from, and Kade had promised, the Jackson Residence. I tore open the duct-taped package and pulled out bubble wrap and presents from Sally and Paul, plus a note from Percy saying my present from him was coming later. The gifts inside were wrapped with bows and tags, and I wasn't supposed to open them until Christmas Eve. I was spending Christmas day up at their apartment, but I guess the Jacksons wanted me to have gifts at the hotel for some reason. I stuck the presents under a generic, boring, hotel-supplied Christmas tree in the corner of the room and walked over to my bedside table. I picked up the little cordless phone and dialed the front desk.

"Front desk," a woman said on the second ring.

"Yes, can I please request that my packages be sent to my room from now on?" I asked. I had a feeling Percy's gift would be more elaborate, and I really didn't want Kade messing with it.

"Of course," the woman replied. "Speaking of, there's another one here now. Would you like me to send it up with an employee?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Um, yeah. Thank you."

The woman hung up, and so did I. I sat there for a few minutes, trying to figure out who'd sent me a present now. I must be really popular tonight.

The employee arrived and knocked on the door. I went over to answer it, and when I did, I was shocked to see Kade standing there with a small gift box.

"You?" I asked.

"Me," Kade replied smoothly, holding out the small box. "Go on, open it."

I took the gift. "And you're going to stand there and watch me because...?"

"Because it's from me."

Well that solves that mystery. I pulled at the ribbon, and the bow came undone, leaving a simple green box. I raised an eyebrow and Kade, who urged me to open it. I shrugged and lifted the lid, revealing a small piece of notebook paper. I picked it up and read it, and was surprised to hear Kade telling me the exact thing that was written on the paper.

"To Miss Annabeth Chase," he said as I read. "I know your fatal flaw. You might as well give up now."

"What?" I asked, staring incredulously at Kade. His eyes gleamed, tinted red. I stepped back.

"Look at the gift," he said, suddenly menacing. I couldn't do anything else. I looked down at the box. Inside was a white cushion, with a thin silver necklace resting in the middle. Connected to the chain was a charm. I gasped, not only because it was beautiful, but because the charm was a knife. A celestial bronze knife that was way too familiar.

"Get out of here," I said to the smirking Kade, cramming the lid back onto the box and tossing it onto my bed.

"You think it's over," Kade said, ignoring my demand and taking a step inside my room. "But it's not. Kronos will live on."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I played innocent, backing up.

"Oh, I think you do," Kade said, taking another step towards me.

"Do I?" I asked ignorantly. Kade stopped walking and waved me off with his hand.

"I don't have time for these games," he said impatiently. "I know about your stupid quests and your camps and demigods."

"How do you know about that?" I asked, giving up the innocent act.

"I know a ton of stuff."

"You're lying," I said, my mother's logic taking over. "You're lying to get me to tell you things."

"Perhaps," Kade said, continuing to walk forward and back me up at the same time. He continued until I was flinching up against the wall.

"Where's your knife, Miss Annabeth?" he asked mockingly. I lifted my chin and looked him in the eye.

"If you 'know a ton of stuff,' like you say, then you should be able to tell me."

"Okay," Kade spat. "You gave it to Percy Jackson, who gave it to Luke," he said Luke's name like an insult, "who tried to kill Kronos."

I scoffed. "Tried? Don't think so. Luke did kill Kronos."

It was Kade's turn to scoff, apparently, and as he did, he pulled something out from his pocket. It started out looking like a gold class ring, but almost immediately grew into a miniature scythe, one that looked just like Kronos' had looked, except for the fact that it was pure gold and smaller.

Kade shifted the hand-scythe from one hand to the other, its ominous surface gleaming under the light.

"This is Olympian gold," he said, lifting the scythe up to admire it under the light. "Almost like celestial bronze, but much stronger." He looked me in the eye, and I caught my breath as he spoke his next words. "It can slice through humans as well as demigods."

"Ouch," I muttered under my breath, unable to take my eyes off the threatening weapon.

"I feel somewhat bad about what I'm going to do now," Kade said, a hint of pity in his reddish blue eyes, "seeing as you have no means to protect yourself. But oh well. A warrior's gotta do what a warrior's gotta do." He reached out to strike me with the scythe, but I slid down the wall and rolled to the side, my demigod battlefield instincts taking over.

"What the-?" Kade looked down as I swung my leg under his, causing him to lose his balance and fall. I hadn't expected it to work, but my common sense-defying move gave me enough time to snatch Kade's scythe and sprint to the hotel bathroom.

I slashed at the sink faucet with the scythe and water started spraying everywhere, coming down in a fine mist in front of me. I set the scythe down on the bathtub and started digging through my jeans pockets, praying to the gods I'd stuck a drachma in there at some point.

I guess the gods were listening, because in my back pocket with some lint and a gum wrapper, I found one of the golden coins. I quickly tossed it into the rainbow-covered mist.

"Camp half-blood!" I shouted at the mist. "I'd like to speak with Chiron, please!"

The mist shimmered and shifted until I was looking at an image of my old camp director, playing pinochle in his room with an unseen hand.

"Chiron!" I shouted. The horse-man stumbled in surprise and turned to look at me.

"Why hello, Annabeth! I haven't heard from you in-" his look of welcoming and relief at seeing it was me instantly faded when he saw my tousled hair and how I was gasping for breath and bracing myself on the bathroom sink. "What's wrong, Annabeth?" he asked me, his wise eyes full of worry.

I was about to launch into my story when something (most likely Kade) crashed into the closed bathroom door. It stayed locked.

"A Kronos supporter is here," I said frantically as Kade crashed into the door a second time. "I don't know how he knows who I am or how to find me, but he did." I held up the scythe as Chiron listened intently. Kade slammed himself into the door again, desperately trying to get in here and kill me.

"He says Kronos isn't dead," I added, speaking as fast as I could, terrified as I was. "He's trying to kill me. He knows about Percy and Luke and I killing Kronos."

The second I finished talking, Kade burst through the door, snarling and glaring. I spun around and pressed my back to the sink, facing away from Chiron. For a split second, Kade didn't move. Then his gaze flickered to the scythe in my hand, and he lunged for it.

But he was too late. I hurled the golden weapon at him, and it connected with his second milliseconds after he'd moved from the doorway. He disintegrated into silver dust, just like a monster would. The scythe turned back into a gold class ring. For a few moments, I couldn't move. I just breathed hard and listen to Chiron babble to himself. I turned back around and faced the Iris-message. Chiron looked up at me.

"This is most certainly not good," he said slowly.

"Tell me about it. Chiron, what am I going to do?"

"Well, I advise you pretend it never happened. Be on your guard, but go about your business like you normally would. I'll look into the situation."

"Thanks, Chiron," I said, swallowing a lump of terror in my throat.

"You're very welcome, Annabeth."

I bent down and picked up the gold class ring, sticking into my pocket.

"Bye Chiron," I said gently as I stood back up.

"Goodbye, my child," Chiron replied. "Be careful," he said just before I waved my hand through the mist and disconnected the Iris-message.

Like it? Mind telling me if you do?

MERRY CHRISTMAS/HAPPY HANUKWANZICA :]