"Percy? Rachel?" I asked. The three of us were sitting under the huge maple tree near the border, balanced uncomfortably on the roots while the sprawling branches covered us from the glare of the sun.

They turned to look at me simultaneously, looking up from the game of tic-tac-to they were playing. "I've been thinking about the war."

"Which one?" asked Percy.

I glared at him. "The French Revolution," I snapped.

"Which one would she be talking about, dummy?" asked Rachel. "She means the one we were in!"

Before Percy could say something else, I did. "Well, not the whole war, but Nico and Bianca."

"Bianca," Rachel mused. "Oh, she was Nico's sister, right?"

I nodded. Rachel had heard all the stories, of course. "Yeah. I was wondering…They were in the Lotus Hotel, right?"

"Yes," Percy said.

"That was a rhetorical question."

"Oh."

"Anyways," I continued. "What if Nico, Bianca, and their mom, Maria, had gone into the Hotel before? Like, before Zeus could, you know."

"No, I don't," Percy said. "Enlighten me." If it was just him, I would have ignored it, but Rachel looked at me questioningly, too, so I continued.

"What if they had gotten to the hotel before Zeus could kill her?" I whispered. Then I turned my head towards the empty sky. "Sorry." Looking down at the ground, "Sorry," I repeated. "And then Nico and Bianca and Maria could have been let out after the war to ensure that there was no danger."

"That didn't happen because the Fates are cruel," Percy remarked, icily. I turned to him, surprised at his sudden change in mood, but he just shook his head.

"Can't we, like, go back in time and have that happen?" Rachel asked.

"No!" I yelled, shaking my head frantically. Rachel looked startled. "No," I repeated a bit more quietly. "We can't do that. Only one being has the power to mess with time--and we defeated him last summer."

"Kronos," said Percy. "Kronos messed with time. He was 'The Lord of Time,'" he added air quotes.

"The Lord of Time?" inquired Rachel. Percy nodded affirmatively. "Then shouldn't time have stopped if he was defeated?"

I gave her a troubled glance. "That's what's bothering me. Immortals do fade, like Selene and Helios. But when that happens, they pass on their responsibility to other gods, like Artemis and Apollo. Or they just die when their realm gets too small, but how can time end?"

"Time ends if Kronos dies," replied Rachel.

"But Kronos can die only if time ends," I countered. "And time can't ever end--"

"So Kronos can't die? He was never truly defeated?" Percy asked. "Is that what you're saying, Annabeth?"

"Not necessarily," I said cautiously. "It might be that he has passed on his powers to a god."

"Or titan," said Rachel, voicing what we were all thinking. "And with that kind of power, any titan who wants to can end the whole world, can't they." There was no question in her statement. "They can end the whole world," she repeated bleakly.

I took a look at their faces, tired, as if the war had ended only yesterday. But Percy looked…bitter? As if he was…angry, belligerent. At least, I think he was. The look was fleeting, gone almost before it was there.

A slight breeze ripped through the forest, cold despite the warm sun. It had been feeling more like August than June lately, so I wasn't surprised. I pulled the pale peach sweatshirt around me.

"We need to talk to Chiron," I decided. "I think we need to talk to someone about this. Because if we're right, then…we may have a bit of a problem on our hands."

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

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Today's vintage song: Let's call the whole thing off by Ella Fitzgerald.

Today's useless fact: It is Justin Timberlake's birthday today (January 31).