This is the first chapter of The House of Hades! I'll try to update a few times a week but no guarantees so sorry if I don't update quickly enough. Please give constructive critisicm! Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: All rights belong to Rick Riordan

Percy

Falling. Falling, it seemed, forever. It could've been minutes; it could've been days. Months, even. It didn't seem real that they would never hit the bottom.

Percy held Annabeth close. If he could just focus on her, maybe he could keep the reality of the situation from hitting him. So for now he tried to take in that familiar sweet scent, but it was lost in the wind, blown away, like everything else seemed to blow away the moment he let go of his ledge.

They were still falling. Eventually his fear of splattering against the ground left him, but it was still really hard to accept that there was no ground. No bottom. They could fall for all eternity and nothing would happen.

Annabeth held on to him tightly. They were both terrified, Percy knew, but a sort of dull calm began to settle over Percy. He thought of all the monsters he'd ever faced and suddenly this seemed like just another quest, just something else he would have to overcome. If Annabeth weren't with him, he certainly wouldn't feel as confident. She seemed to ground him. Well, as grounded as you can be while falling through a bottomless pit.

Percy had one arm wrapped around Annabeth's waist; the other was clutching her hand. Her head was buried in his shoulder, her hair flying everywhere, but Percy couldn't see anything anyway. He couldn't hear anything but the wind whistling up past them.

Suddenly Annabeth shrieked and was yanked upwards and away; Percy almost fell past her but she caught his hand. And then they weren't falling anymore. They were just… hanging, bobbing up and down slightly, but definitely hanging. Percy couldn't see anything above or below him. He could only hear Annabeth's ragged breathing somewhere above him as she tried to calm herself.

"Annabeth," Percy whispered, "what happened? What's going on?"

There was no reply for a moment. Even though he was clinging onto Annabeth's wrist as tightly as possible, Percy suddenly utterly, helplessly alone. The calm he had started feeling before left him and he was terrified again. The darkness was claustrophobic and so completely, utterly black that it seemed there could be nothing but Percy's own consciousness bobbing lightly up and down.

"I think-" Annabeth paused. Her voice made a little of Percy's fear subside, but

she sounded scared and there was pain laced in her voice. "I think she caught us." Annabeth's grip shifted a little and Percy heard her wince. Her breathing was still too loud and uneven, and suddenly something occurred to Percy. He knew perfectly well who "she" was, and he didn't want to get anywhere near her.

"Annabeth, did she catch you by your ankle?" Percy asked, praying that he was wrong. But Annabeth didn't answer, and suddenly Percy knew that she was holding in a silent scream. Her silence also confirmed that she was hanging upside down by her ankle, which was being pulled in one direction, and at the same time she was preventing Percy from falling, who was pulling her in another direction. And if she was upside down too long, she would pass out eventually, and Percy needed her to be awake so they could get away when their captor sensed them. He wasn't exactly sure where they would get away to in a bottomless pit, but he held on to the hope anyway.

Percy cast around for a source of light before remembering Riptide. He was about to bring it out when suddenly he was jerked upwards. Annabeth cried out in pain again, and Percy's hand slipped in Annabeth's. A nervous flutter rose in his chest and he tightened his grip a little. If he slipped again, Annabeth would be holding him only by her fingertips. But Percy wasn't thinking about falling. He was thinking about how he would never leave Annabeth alone again, especially with a spider thirsty for revenge.

They jerked upwards again, and Percy's hand slipped, but he grabbed Annabeth's wrist with his other hand and readjusted his grip with the first. Annabeth whimpered softly in pain. Percy wanted to get up to her and help her, but they were currently hanging onto life (but probably death) only by a thread. Literally.

They would die eventually if they fell, from lack of food or energy or maybe monsters, or Arachne would probably eat them when they got pulled up all the way. But they had a better chance of escaping to… somewhere… if Arachne pulled them up to wherever she was.

The string jerked again, but this time Annabeth didn't make a sound. Percy worried for a second that she was unconscious, but she was still gripping his hand tightly. Now the string kept jerking upwards, and Percy kept having to carefully readjust his sweaty hands to keep from falling. After a few more jerks Annabeth's grip suddenly grew limp. Percy cried out before catching himself, but suddenly, with Annabeth out, he felt alone again. The jerking continued.

Percy cursed silently at Arachne. Why couldn't the spider at least pull them up smoothly? This was just adding insult to injury. Or maybe it was just adding injury to injury. Obviously they had no power over Arachne's thread, and she was making their experience as miserable as possible.

The jerking continued quite a long time. As one point Percy began to suspect that they weren't even moving upwards anymore, that the spider was just playing with them, but it was impossible to tell. For all he knew they could be hanging in the exact same spot as where they began, or they could be fifty feet higher. Fifty feet closer to the light and pleasant world above. But also fifty feet closer to Arachne.

Suddenly Percy's head crashed into something hard. Stars erupted before his eyes, and when they cleared (it was still pitch black), he was being dragged slowly up against a rough rock wall. He kicked away from it slightly, trying to keep his body from becoming completely scratched and bloody as the spider continued to pull them up, but his whole body was already stinging, is if someone had been stabbing him with needles.

Then he was lying on rough and uneven rock, still being dragged along. He quickly stood up, or tried to – he got disoriented and fell again. The floor didn't seem to be below him. He lay there for a moment confused, before he remembered what was going on. He jumped up and drew Riptide. Its faint glow barely illuminated anything. The darkness seemed to press in on him from all directions, constricting him and dimming the sword.

He advanced slowly, looking for Annabeth. He didn't want to call her name for fear of Arachne, but he was sure he would hear something if Arachne had her. He imagined Arachne biting at Annabeth's helpless body, tearing her apart. His arms – his whole body started to shake. Stop, he thought, trying to push the images away. Annabeth would be fine. She was here somewhere, he knew she was. She had to be.

Suddenly he heard a scuttling sound right in front of him. Percy froze and raised his sword a little higher, trying to see, but there was nothing there. He turned slightly to each side, but Riptide's glow just wasn't bright enough. Then he heard a moan.

Percy whipped around. It had come from behind him. "Annabeth?" Percy whispered, going back in the direction he had come. He felt like he was going to fall over; the floor wasn't even and all he could think about was what would happen if he didn't find Annabeth in time.

She moaned again. Yes, it was definitely her. Percy hurried toward the sound and almost tripped over something soft. He lowered his sword to look. Annabeth.

She was unconscious, but her eyelids fluttered as she turned her head one way, then the other. She was covered in scratches from having been dragged across the rocks, so her arms and legs and face were scratched up and bloody. Her hair had come loose and it was tangled and dirty. She groaned again and twitched her ankle. Percy collapsed beside her.

"Annabeth," Percy put his hand on her shoulder gently. "Annabeth come on, can you hear me?" He shook her gently, but he didn't want to hurt her any more than she was already, so his eyes drifted down to her ankle, and he almost wanted to cry himself.

It hadn't looked so bad before they had fallen, even though it had the splint. The only thing left of the splint now was some bubble wrap, but it was only there because the spider silk was still wrapped around her ankle as well. And because the splint was gone, Annabeth's ankle was turned in the wrong direction again. Percy remembered learning how to set bones at camp, but he was afraid he would do something wrong and only make it worse. He needed Annabeth to wake up, for her sake as much as his.

"Annabeth, come on," he said, shaking her gently again. She groaned and opened her eyes. Their eyes met, and for a moment Percy saw her pain reflected in them, but then it was masked with… determination?

"How do you feel?" Percy whispered, squeezing her hand.

"I'll-" Annabeth shifted a little and winced. "I'll be fine."

Percy sighed and looked at her ankle again. She followed his gaze. "You have to set it again." Annabeth said, looking up at him. She sat up painfully with Percy's help.

"The splint is go-" Percy began.

"We can find something else." Annabeth said, determination in her voice. For some reason, Percy hadn't expected her to be so fierce, but he should have. Annabeth would never give up. She was determined to get her ankle into good enough condition to walk on.

Percy nodded. She seemed so calm about this – about Tartarus – compared to him, he felt a little embarrassed. But there was fear in her eyes along with the determination.

Percy let go of her hand and moved to her ankle. Annabeth reminded him of the procedure. A part of Percy couldn't believe that Annabeth trusted him with this – what if he only made it worse? But he decided to just do it and get it over with. The sooner they got out of here the better.

Before anything, he cut away Arachne's thread and threw it away. It drifted down to the floor and lay there like a snake ready to strike. Percy turned away from it. It had caused the two of them far too much pain already, and he knew only more suffering lay ahead.

Setting Riptide down the floor next to him so he could see what he was doing, Percy looked at Annabeth. He could barely see her face in the darkness, but her eyes glinted a little, and she nodded. He took Annabeth's foot and turned.

Annabeth yelled out in pain and would've punched him had he been sitting any closer to her fist.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Percy yelled, sliding to her and grabbing her arm. Her eyes were shut tight and she rocked back and forth, hands clenched to her chest. She managed to point to her ankle and Percy understood; he slid back to it and held it in place while he raised Riptide to see if there was any loose something to use to bind it in place. It was then he realized where they were sitting.