I was sitting at the base of a huge tree in a huge dark forest.

I had no intent of getting out there.

I did not care if I starved to death there.

I might as well.

We'd finally built the fucking flying ship, and faced a bunch of ferocious venti, before we finally reached our destination. Just to save one fucking camper.

But that camper meant everything to us – to me.

Percy had hardly glanced at me when we arrived in our majestic flying boat. His eyes had swept over me, and over to the faces of the Aphrodite girls. He winked at them.

I felt my heart stop beating.

He didn't remember me.

I'd have to rebuild us, to redo everything.

My majestic monument to last a billion years crumbled into fine white sand, and was swept away by the wind.

I realized I was still staring at Percy, because he was looking back, puzzled. I realized I was shaking like a leaf, and I was seriously pale. And that I was the only one left on the boat. And that he was the only one left down on the ground.

He called up, haughtily, "And what are you supposed to be?"

I bit my lip. "I'm a daughter of Athena. I helped design this boat."

"Around here, we call her Minerva. And my dad and her don't get along well that much," he said.

My heart fluttered to the ground. Where was my sweet boyfriend? How did he turn into this cocky, boastful ass? Was one year in the roman camp enough to alter him?

"I know that. I'm supposed to be smarter than you," I said miserably.

"Are you going to come down?" he asked.

"Like you'd care," I said.

He snorted. "Don't be stupid. the food here's excellent."

"Is it blue?" I asked, climbing down the rope ladder.

I turned just in time to see his eyes widen.

"No," he said sadly.

I drew my knife.

"Hey, hey," he said, backing away. "Didn't know you had such strong feelings for blue food."

"I have strong feelings for something else," I muttered as I headed into the woods.

"Those woods have monsters and stuff," he said, following me.

"I know all about Monsters, son of Poseidon. I knew about them long before you did. In fact, I taught you…" I faltered.

"Taught me what?" he asked curiously.

"How to kill most of em," I replied, weakly.

He laughed.

"Girl, no daughter of Athena ever taught me. I am the best swordsman at this camp and – "

I hurled a knife at a cypress tree behind him. He flinched, then turned to see where I had hit.

"The dryads won't like you doing that."

I stared at him intently. "You don't think a child of Athena ever taught you anything, or a child of Hermes. Or that you're best friends with a satyr who found Pan after a few thousand years. Or that you have a hellhound who can shadow travel. You don't remember your brother who works in underwater forges, who made you a life-saving shield. You don't remember your mother, who's going frantic about you missing. You don't remember anything. You don't remember how we were – " I stopped abruptly.

"We were what?"

I strode over to retrieve my knife, and hurled at an ever farther tree up ahead. "Sorry, dryads."

"Hey, aren't you going to answer me?"

"You should go and practice archery, Percy. We both know you need improvement on that."

I could feel him staring at my back, as I retrieved my knife and hurled it at a sycamore.

"Fine – uh, what's your name?" he mumbled.

I felt tears sting my eyes. "Don't bother knowing. It won't make matters any better for me," I said, and walked deeper into the woods. I ran faster, anxious to escape him before he saw my tears.

I glanced up at the sky. It was seriously dark now.

Fine. Let them come in the morning to find my monster-picked bones.

I shivered. It was cold. I tried to climb the tree to get a sense of my bearings.

I got to the top, took out my compass, and saw a small cluster of cabins to the north.

I climbed back down and went in that direction.

But before I walked ten steps, I heard something growl and rustle. Two red eyes stared at me from the left.

I drew my knife.

The monster jumped out at me.

Oh.

It was a hellhound.

And it was not Mrs. O' Leary.

The thing was at least twice as big.

I sighed, and threw my knife with uncanny accuracy at its chest.

It dissolved, and my knife clattered to the ground.

My knife and I were splattered with monster blood.

Euch.

I took out my compass and went north, once more.

And bumped into - who else? Percy.

"Whoa," he said, holding my by my shoulders to steady me.

"What happened?" he asked, wiping the blood from my face with his hand.

"Hellhound," I stated matter-of-factly. His green eyes stared at me, boring holes through my face.

"What is it, Seaweed Brain?" I hadn't said his name in ages.

There was a flicker in his eyes.

He stepped back, his mouth open.

"You – me –" he stammered.

"Do you remember anything?" I asked, breathless.

His eyes widened. "Annabeth! I remember – not everything – it's coming, bits at a time -"

He was still holding my face.

He leaned forward, rested his forehead on mine.

"I can't believe I was such an asshole earlier. My gods! And there you were, the key to the answers… and I was just horrible!"

I put my hands on his cheeks. And they were wet.

"Don't cry..." I whispered.

"It's all rushing by so fast," he mumbled.

He sniffled.

And then I kissed him, us in the middle of the great dark forest, monster goo on my clothes.

And he kissed me back, hugging me to him so tightly, like he was so scared of letting go. Like he thought he'd forget me again.

And then for some reason, I found myself to be crying – sobbing into him, breaking the kiss, leaning my head on his shoulder.

And then I started to laugh, and he laughed, too – and I took his hand, held my compass, and guided us out of the dark forest into a field of fireflies, lighting up the night.