The pain was worse than Annabeth let on.
Percy held her tight, and Annabeth let no sound of pain escape from her lips. He was busy trying to hold on to her, so he probably didn't notice her grimaces.
It was dark in Tartarus. There were times, when Annabeth crawled under the covers of her bed, she thought about all the times she'd battled spiders on their quests. The darkness around them felt like a crushing blackness threatening to split their heads open and do them a Dionysus.
Her ankle flared. Annabeth cursed silently. What was wrong with her? Everything seemed to slow down, and if Percy hadn't been at her side, Annabeth would never have found the courage to continue falling. As if she had a choice, anyways.
She thrust her free hand into her belt. Oh no. Her dagger, the one Luke gave her all those years ago, when everything was sort of pitch-perfect and all, the one which had saved her life so many times, the one which had finally resolved the Second Titan War, was gone. "Lost" might be a better word.
Meanwhile, her laptop, Daedalus' farewell to her, with all those awesome programs and files, was also gone, along with her dagger. She felt like she'd just lost one of her best friends. Annabeth had gotten so used to using the dagger and the laptop that she couldn't imagine living without them.
All those memories, fighting monsters with Luke and Thalia at her side, Grover somewhere near her, were gone with the dagger. All those brilliant plans and ideas, formulated by the greatest mortal inventor of all time: Daedalus, a man Annabeth had admired her entire life, were now lost, maybe forever. She wanted to snatch them out of the threatening darkness and hold them in her hands. They wouldn't help much, but at least she'd feel safer with them.
Somewhere near her, Percy was muttering silently, mumbling words that didn't seem like words to Annabeth. More like…numbers.
Percy never calculated something unless there was a calculator nearby, or if Annabeth was present. She wondered what changed her boyfriend's personality drastically, during those hard months of separation.
His grip tightened on her. She cried out in pain. In addition to her flaring ankle, she now had to deal with the expected bruises on her hand.
"Sorry," he whispered. "I couldn't help it."
He was right. If Annabeth had to choose between getting a bruise and getting separated from each other, there was no strong competition. She'd choose the first, naturally.
She wondered vaguely when the fall would end. The pit seemed to go on forever. Time slowed down around them. They could've been falling for years. Everything seemed so unnatural and cold. Even Percy stopped mumbling things and was probably listening hard for any signs.
"You okay, Wise Girl?" he asked Annabeth.
She nodded, forgetting that he couldn't see her face through the darkness. "Yes," she answered sadly. Then, forgetting herself, forgetting what her boyfriend had sacrificed in order to be with her, she punched Percy's arm, hard.
"OW!" He yelled in pain, his grip on her slackening a little.
But Annabeth didn't care. A new reckless rage had settled itself on her. She didn't know why, but she didn't care. All she knew was that she was recklessly angry at Percy Jackson.
"How could you?" Annabeth growled at him. Even though she couldn't make out his face, she thought she saw confusion on his face, if she could even see it. It was practically too dark to see anything. She punched him again, this time in the face.
"How could I what? And watch out for the- Hey! Stop that!"
"How could you fall with me?"
"What were those punches for, Wise Girl?"
"For falling with me."
Annabeth had to admit her boyfriend's questions seemed reasonable. Why did she feel so angry and jealous?
Percy laughed, and suddenly the cloud of anger and hatred inside her dissolved, if clouds could dissolve.
Annabeth was surprised to find out that neither of them had screamed, held themselves in terror, or fainted from fear. That should have been pretty obvious, but she hadn't paid attention to them before. Now that her boyfriend had stopped laughing, she gripped his wrist tighter.
"So we're in Hell, right?"
Annabeth didn't answer him, because it was pretty obvious. Whatever Tartarus had set out for them, it was sure to be nasty, and one extra monster meant an extra five percent from their survival rate, which was currently about 50%, minus the extra danger of falling from the ground towards the deepest part of the world about a hundred meters per second, even faster than gravity. Annabeth wasn't sure how she knew. It was almost as if Athena was speaking to her in her mind.
Her backpack was also gone. Ambrosia, nectar, clothes, food, matches, string (oh, how useful!) were there. They were seriously the most ill-fortuned demigods in the whole world.
They continued falling in silence for about an hour (it seemed like an hour to Annabeth) before Percy spoke again.
"Any ideas when we stop?"
Annabeth muttered, "No" and snuggled into his chest. According to her calculations, they had been falling for about two hours by now. And the fall seemed like it would never end.
She imagined, just for a second, that the two of them were riding a car. Percy's dream car, a Maserati Spyder. And her head was on his shoulder, the two of them watching the glorious sunset. That was the teenage stereotype of dates: You get a date, the two of you date, you ride into the sunset, and either get married or break-up. Then, Happily Ever After. Annabeth wished that applied to demigods.
But demigods had no such luck. There were no "HAPPILY EVER AFTER"s for them; instead, they spent their time running away from evil beings and trying not to get themselves killed.
She closed her eyes and told Percy to do the same.
"We're not gonna be landing any time soon, Seaweed Brain. So sleep while you can."
He didn't argue, maybe because he didn't want her punching him, or maybe because he trusted her. Or maybe he was just too tired to argue. Whatever reason it might have been, Annabeth didn't really care.
She didn't tell Percy all the fear inside her, all the doubt and worry. They would get out, she was sure of that, but would they ever be the same? Would they be heavily scarred for the rest of their lives? Athena didn't speak to her again, which just made her feel more miserable. Great. Now even my mom's not talking to me.
Annabeth wasn't sure when she fell asleep, but of course the dreams came after her when she did.
She was standing near Harry Houdini, the maniac who "supposedly could escape from Tartarus himself." As far as Annabeth knew, Houdini was a half-blood, but he was probably a son of Morpheus or Hypnos, because she figured out he'd just make people drowsy so that they'd see things and he'd be able to "prove" he was really a magician.
Annabeth glanced down below her and gave a yelp. She was dressed in a long skirt and a white long-sleeved blouse, her rather stylish shoes standing out in the sunlight. If she were made to pick clothes for her to wear, she would definitely not pick this outfit. It was too girly for her, and anyways it made monster fighting and quick getaways a lot harder.
Houdini had just finished performing "The Chinese Water Torture Cell," again, and was making his way towards Annabeth, the reason of this unknown to his bewildered fans behind him. She was surprised, but gained confidence after seeing him looking like he'd realized who she was: a demigod just like him.
He waved his fans away, and they trudged away from him. Now they'd be able to talk without bothersome people trying to break their conversation.
"I know you're a demigod like me."
Annabeth jumped. She had not expected Houdini to speak in his usual voice. She had expected a hurried whisper issuing out from his mouth to her.
"I know I am, Mr. Houdini. I need your help. Word is that Tartarus can't even imprison you. Is that true?"
He paused for a moment before answering. "I don't know. Why are you asking me this, young demigod?"
"Because we're in Tartarus."
He actually laughed. "So you're from the future, all right? Well, I must have known this. Aion helping you? No? Well, as you have said, you need help escaping from Tartarus. That old prison. Hmmmmm….. Ah! Just remember: Hesiod said that it takes nine days to reach Tartarus, but I wouldn't count on that."
He waved his hand, and Harry Houdini, son of Hypnos or Morpheus, vanished, leaving Annabeth all alone in her dream.
"Wake up."
Percy shook her shoulder and Annabeth opened her eyes. They hadn't stopped falling. The fall must have lasted another couple of hours more since the last time they checked. That was odd. But Houdini told her it wasn't like Hesiod had said- a nine days fall, so maybe they'd hopefully slow down and land any moment now.
The darkness remained overwhelming. Annabeth was beginning to see shapes in the dark, shapes that morphed into human skulls grinning at them. She blinked hard, and the white flashes of light went away.
Annabeth touched Percy's face. Strangely, it was wet. And he couldn't be crying, because a person crying would be shaking, and he wasn't shaking. More like he was injured.
She felt for his arms and pressed on them, hard. As she had expected, Percy yelled in pain.
"Where did you get all these wounds, Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth asked her boyfriend quietly, but with a dangerous edge to her voice.
"The cars." The cars? Annabeth thought? What did he mean?
Then suddenly she could see through the darkness. Not entirely, but she could see the rocky cylindrical shape of the pit and her boyfriend's face. She could also see the cars; a dozen perfectly good cars that Percy might have admired: a Maserati Spyder, a BMW X3 SUV, an Enzo Ferrari, an Audi Q7, a Porsche Panamera, an Aston Martin One-77, a Lamborghini Reventón,to name a few.
Nearly all of the cars were recked, which was a shame. With the rocks bumping into them going a hundred miles per hour, it was a miracle they survived this long.
As Annabeth watched, two collided with each other, recking each other even more. Then the Porsche came barreling straight towards them.
With one move, Percy pushed the car away from them, resulting in more bruises and cuts in his hands and arms.
Annabeth couldn't stop the tears from overflowing. Her boyfriend was just so godly. He had saved her from death so many times her own feeble attempts to save his could be overlooked easily. He even refused immortality for her.
At that moment, Annabeth knew she could never leave Percy alone again. When she thought of how she had suffered during those months of separation from him, she had thought it was hard. But how easy it looked like compared to her boyfriend's many demeanors. He had been put to sleep, in the dead of winter, and probably had been freezing, just wearing a thin shirt and jeans for protection from the bitter wind, compared to her, in the Big House, feeling helpless and angry at the gods.
He hugged her more tightly while she sobbed. For a moment, neither of them said a word. Finally, choking back another sob, Annabeth told Percy about what she felt.
He was silent. Annabeth wondered if he was thinking the same things she was. She never could have lived through those hard months without the assurances of her various friends that he was alive.
She didn't care about the prophecy. Screw the world, Annabeth thought. The world could wait a month. She couldn't even wait for a second longer.
"I suppose Houdini's right," he said, just to break the silence, though in a rather small and yet brave voice. "Look under you."
Annabeth cursed. The ground was coming up, and they were two half-bloods whose only goal for now was not to be dead. She wondered if the impact would hurt. Her ankle had to be well by now, right?
She closed for her eyes and waited for the strong impact. Instead, it never came.
Annabeth landed hard on her ankle, again. Any healing done by the ambrosia was sure to be useless, since it was broken again, this time more severely.
It was a few moments before Annabeth contemplated her surroundings. Tartarus was an endless dark maze, with jagged rocks protruding out of the ground and drops of dried blood on the ground.
She suddenly realized that, although her ankle hurt, a lot, the rest of her body wasn't affected by the dodgy landing. And where was Percy?
There was a faint bronze light being emitted in the darkness. It could've been Riptide or her blade.
Annabeth scooted towards it, ignoring the bursts of pain in her ankle. The pain could wait. If it was really her dagger, then it'd mean her backpack, along with her laptop, was safe. Then she'd swallow the ambrosia and drink some nectar to relieve her of the pain.
She finally reached the place and picked the dagger up. It was hers, all right, but she could have exchanged it just to be with her Seaweed Brain. Her backpack was right beside her laptop. Inside she found the supplies she so badly needed. With one gulp, she gobbled up two large squares of ambrosia. Instantly, she felt dizzy. Demigods were only supposed to nibble at the godly food one at a time, unless there was an emergency. And this certainly qualified as one.
She placed the laptop inside her backpack, placed her bronze dagger inside her dagger case on her belt, and trudged on to the darkness.
After an hour or so of continuous walking, she began to feel worried. Her optimism was slowly changing into pessimism. Arachne wasn't anywhere in sight. Monsters hadn't attacked her. That was good, but her boyfriend still wasn't anywhere to be found. And she couldn't just call for him, because her voice would serve as a bait for monsters like Cyclopes, who'd probably imitate her voice to trick Percy into following the voice until they had him captured. Annabeth couldn't risk that happening.
She bent down, touching the rocky ground at her feet. She could see footprints, meaning someone had been here, monster or demigod or god. Or maybe Percy, her lost boyfriend.
She couldn't just sit on the ground and cry out in despair. She was Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. She couldn't just give up.
Annabeth got up and started walking again. Now there were monsters that attacked her, but they were insignificant. As she walked farther, though, she noticed more and more monsters were there, trying to stop her from entering. But she couldn't just stop. Her boyfriend might be there, trapped, desperately in need of her, gravely injured.
A voice she knew all too well spoke to her. It was Percy's voice.
"Annabeth! Help! These monsters are going to roast me alive! Please! Come quickly!"
Annabeth stopped dead in her tracks. What if it was a trick, a Cyclops imitating Percy's voice? Or what if it was really Percy, crying out for her to go help him out from here?
Deciding not to reply, she trudged on as best as she could with a broken ankle, which still hurt a lot, but her panic and worry for Percy overwhelmed the pain. Finally, she reached an opening in front of her.
It was massive, but looked as though someone had recently smashed himself/herself inside the "cave" the rock walls once guarded. The evidence lay on the irregular pieces of rock, some big, some small, on the floor, and the cracks on the walls beside her, as if the perpetrator had smashed his/her fist on it.
Annabeth realized one thing. The reason why she could see in the darkness was not because she had developed super eagle eyes. It was because the rocky walls were covered in precious stones- emeralds, rubies, sapphires, diamonds, etc.
She took out her dagger and got some out of the rock wall, not because she wanted to have it as her own, but as an additional weapon against the monsters. Diamonds and emeralds weren't really like Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold, but at least they'd be able to cut through things, especially the diamonds, which were about as sharp as her mom's mind.
She crept slowly and silently towards the opening of the cave, not daring to make a sound in case whatever was inside could hear her. She crept inside, finally, judging that no monsters could remain silent for long, and gasped.
Her boyfriend was on the floor, with Celestial Bronze chains snaking around his wrist and feet. He didn't seem to hear her approach him, which was both good and bad.
"Percy," Annabeth tried shaking his shoulders, but no sound issued out of his mouth. In fact, aside from his rough breathing and rather strong pulse, like he'd been running for his life here, he looked almost dead. Like zombie dead.
She tried cutting his chains, but they seemed infused with mortal steel and Imperial Gold, (like Backbiter) which made it almost impossible for her blade to slice through. Then she remembered the diamonds with her. She took them out, but before she could use them on the chains, she heard voices behind her, and what she did was so cowardly and stupid that she should have been named the "Cowardly Lioness" of the year.
She hid against a large black rock just enough to cover her entire body, and listened.
"Smell an enemy out here, Stump?"
"Demigod boy here, nearly dead, you hit him with your teensy weensy tail. Fish ponies." (Annabeth decided this was a Cyclops.)
"What?" the Cyclops' companion demanded. "What do you mean by fish ponies?"
"I like fish ponies. Many color. Pretty fins. I want yellow hair."
"Enough about your likes and dislikes! Do you smell something?"
"Sea. Rock. Blood."
"Of course, you dummy! You smell the boy! Ah, that's a big relief. You see, my nose hasn't gotten better since that cursed god of wine squeezed it with his ridiculous grape vines! Intruders are to be e-jected, Stump! Don't forget that, Cyclops! Go continue your silly ventriloquist act! Call me when you need me, or as the mortals say 'Call me maybe.'" And with an evil maniacal laugh, he marched out of the cave, into the darkness.
Annabeth could hardly breathe. Stump's companion was none other than Thorn the manticore, who had kidnapped her several years ago.
The Cyclops named Stump was humming to himself. At last he said, in a perfect imitation of Percy's voice: "Annabeth! Help me! Please!"
She knew at once that she was right not to trust voices in Tartarus, even if they were exact replicas of the people she knew, like Percy, for instance.
She knew her plan was a suicidal one, but she had no choice. She took her ball of string out of her backpack and hoped it looked like a ball of blond hair.
Annabeth timed her act correctly. Shaking her blond hair towards Stump's face, she leapt from the rock, trying to make herself look like a pretty blond woman who didn't know how she got herself into this mess. Stump just looked at her, clearly puzzled, then reached out as if wanting to touch her hair.
"Oh no, you don't," she said to the Cyclops in a sweet but falsely dangerous, as if she were stronger than him. "Give me the boy. He belongs to me. Then you can have some of my hair."
Annabeth could tell the Cyclops was puzzled and torn between two worlds. Then, at last, he said, "Pretty hair. You can go now. No boy. He stays."
She swallowed hard. She wasn't getting anywhere. Stump must've misunderstood their deal: he frees Percy and gives him to her, hopefully silently; she gives him the "ball of blond hair" she was holding.
"No boy, no hair." Annabeth tried to sound courageous.
Stump looked like he wanted to protest, but he muttered "Pretty yellow hair. Go now with half-dead boy. Shoo shoo. Give me yellow hair." Annabeth handed him the string, thanked him a little hurriedly, and left, dragging Percy's unconscious body (unconscious boys were heavy) away from the mouth of the cave.
There was no time to lose. A hundred feet away from the cave, Annabeth heard Stump yelling "FAKE HAIR! WHITE HAIR! NO YELLOW HAIR! NO FAIR! THORN! COME QUICK! I SMELL DEMIGOD!"
She could hear the manticore running towards the cave and his angry voice, which could be heard as far as they were.
"STUMP! YOU IDIOTIC CYCLOPS! WHERE IS THE BOY? WHAT RIDICULOUS THINGS HAVE YOU BEEN DOING?"
"I was calling out for help-" "Using your voice?" "No, no, the boy's."
"A girl came, a pretty girl with pretty yellow hair. She gave me her yellow hair and took the boy away with her."
"NO! CURSE YOU, STUMP! WHEN MISTRESS FINDS OUT, I'LL BLAME IT ALL ON YOU! GUARDS! WHERE ARE YOU? FIND THEM!"
Annabeth figured she had to be quick. A horde of monsters was after them, after all.
But she couldn't carry Percy like she would a small bag.
Soon, they were surrounded by monsters, with spears aimed at them.
"Well, well, well. Annabeth Chase. Heroine of Olympus, daughter of Athena, girlfriend of Percy Jackson. My, oh my. I'm so scared of you. But the truth is, you're dead. And you know it. I've kidnapped you once; I'm not afraid to do it again. Do you see that, wine god?" he screamed somewhere above. "Do you see how hopeless you are right now? You could hardly beat me with a god in your side!"
Thorn was so busy talking to the ceiling that Annabeth seized the chance and got away, Percy finally waking up and groaning.
"Shut up, Seaweed Brain! They're after us!" He seemed to have understood.
And with that, they ran off, with Thorn just realizing where they had gone and bellowing, "AFTER THEM!"