Annabeth was still crying, silent tears falling down her face. She shook Percy's shoulders hard, slamming his head into the floor. "Percy?! Percy! Wake up, Percy, please wake up," she begged.
Percy didn't move.
Hysterical, Annabeth fell across Percy's chest and sobbed. Will touched her shoulder, and she didn't notice. Hermes walked over slowly, tears in his eyes. "Was...was it like this when Luke died?"
No one answered. I guess he knew no one would, since one of the two people who could answer that question was oblivious, and the other had just died.
"Let's find Rose," Hermes said. "Annabeth needs some time alone."
We turned and started to leave, but just when I had reached the doorway Annabeth made a choking, gasping sort of sound. We looked at her, and saw a thick golden mist rising out of the body. It poured out from Percy's wound, and kept coming and coming until it stopped. The smoke gathered and formed the shape of a person. A boy. Percy.
Annabeth gasped. Will whispered, awed, "Is that his soul?"
Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. But the ghost of Percy didn't notice anyone else. His back was turned to Annabeth, transfixed by a tall man standing in the corner of the dungeon. Despite the slim black iPad in his hand, the man radiated godly power, and none of the room's inhabitants had to guess twice to ascertain the god's identity.
"Thanatos," Will breathed. Everyone knelt, except for Hermes, who outranked Thanatos, and Annabeth, who was in too much shock and despair to kneel.
"Percy Jackson."
It wasn't a question. When Thanatos said it, voice deeper and more melancholy than I thought it would be, Percy's specter took a step forward. The gold mist floated on air.
"Why can we seem him?" Will demanded, turning to Hermes. "Lord Hermes, I'm a medic. I've been around dying people, and you usually can't see their souls."
Hermes was focusing as hard as he could on the form of what used to be Percy, who was now standing in front of Thanatos while he tapped into his iPad. "It must be the Styx," he muttered to himself. "Or it could be the appearance of souls in Thanatos' presence."
"Let's go."
Suddenly, Thanatos reached one hand out to Percy. In a flash, Annabeth dove through Percy's soul, dispelling the mist. It began to collect again, but the distraction gave Annabeth just enough time to grab Death's iPad and run out of the room, down the winding halls.
"Annabeth!" Thanatos and Hermes yelled, stampeding after her. Will and I started to follow, but it wasn't long before we lost the gods, and we started back to the room.

Halfway there, we heard a gasp.

Will and I broke into a dead run. Percy's body was no longer a body, but a body with the soul in place.

Percy was thrashing around, moaning in pain. Will muttered curses and ripped off his jacket, wiping at the blood, as Hermes burst back into the room. He waved a hand and Percy fell quiet- sleeping, breathing in exaggeratedly large movements- and again, and the blood was siphoned away, leaving only a network of intertwining scars extending across his back. Annabeth had been right behind Hermes, and a few straggling tears ran down her cheeks as she looked at her healthy, living boyfriend, sleeping peacefully.

"Jeez, Annabeth," Will muttered. "What in Hades did you do?"

"Thanatos keeps all his names in a spreadsheet," Annabeth said, not looking up from Percy. "I moved his name to the 'living' column." Finally, for a second, she looked up at me. "Could you go and find Rose?"

We left, finding Rose in a matching dungeon after about fifteen minutes of walking. She was in shock and had a couple broken bones, but other than that, she was fine. Not at all surprised when we filled her in on the story, wanting to give Annabeth as much time alone with Percy as possible.

Had done all the stalling we could, we helped a bruised and battered Rose to the room where Percy had died. He and Annabeth were standing silently over the blood-soaked floor, gazing at the outline of Percy's body.. His arm was around her, and she was clinging to him tightly, afraid she'd lose him again. Percy looked up when we entered. Annabeth touched his shoulder. "Let's go home."