They ran away, with Annabeth tripping on rocks every once in a while, as if Nemesis was trying to balance things by tearing at her luck, and Percy swearing loudly beside her.
Annabeth cursed. She'd forgotten her backpack behind, behind the rock she had hidden in. In her backpack were things she'd brought, things that could possibly save their lives. Now it had been left behind.
After running for more than an hour, (it seemed even longer) they fell on the floor, gasping for breath. Percy was breathing hard. His face looked grayish green, as if he wanted to vomit but thought better of it. His hands were scraped up and bloody. Annabeth supposed she didn't look much better.
Mustering the strength to stand and find out what was wrong with Percy took a long time. She finally got him to stay still (he was trying to run away) and had him propped on a rock.
"What's wrong?" she asked him.
He didn't answer, but he took one look at the small space they were enclosed in and tried running away again. Annabeth stomped her foot in frustration. She couldn't understand what was going on, and that made her feel uneasy.
"Where are you going?" Her voice sounded calm and so unlike her. Percy didn't respond, but instead turned towards her with terrified eyes. Now Annabeth was really puzzled and scared. What could have scared her boyfriend here in Tartarus?
"Space-need to get out of here- RUN!" The last word was a yell, and he tried running away from Annabeth. He was frantically looking for something, trying to feel the walls and yelling "NO EXIT!" once in a while. He was truly frantic.
Annabeth finally understood. The reason why Percy disliked elevators, the attic in the Big House, also airplanes (though this might have been because of Zeus' threat to blast him out of the sky) was because he was intensely afraid of small spaces.
In short: Percy had claustrophobia, the same way Annabeth reacted when she met a spider.
Heck, she had almost killed Travis Stoll for putting a spider on her bed. So she could relate to what Percy was feeling now.
The cave they were in was smaller than the previous one, way smaller, in fact, that Annabeth and Percy (really hesitantly) had entered it because it was way too low for major monsters to enter, and besides, they were tired. It was just small enough for two demigods to camp in, but not big enough for claustrophobic people to be relieved. Maybe Percy's claustrophobia was due to Kronos swallowing his children, including Poseidon. The Sea God must have felt somewhat scared, trapped in his father's stomach for years, and his son might have inherited that phobia.
Percy was silent for moments, and Annabeth didn't dare move. She just left him like that, because she knew he was strong enough to fight the phobia itself, on his own. And they still didn't have her backpack back. She and Percy needed to rest.
"Percy, come here, please."
The moment she said that, Annabeth scolded herself. Percy had been staring at the rock wall as if he wanted to break through it, but when he heard her voice, he turned around. His eyes were no longer afraid, though they still had that same wild look earlier. She walked towards him.
"Let me see your injuries." She didn't wait for him to respond, raising her bronze dagger up for more light. She gasped.
There were claw marks on his back, possibly done by a Keres or some other horrible spirit. He was trying not to show pain, but he was either a really bad actor, or the pain was just too much. He groaned.
"N-n-nectar," he whispered, his voice shaking a bit. "Please."
She couldn't just leave him like this, in agony and yet unable to have his pain eased. She knew what she had to do.
"Stay here, Percy. My backpack's back there, and I'm going to get it. Will you be okay by yourself? No stupid Seaweed Brain moments, okay? I'm going to be right back. I promise."
He looked terrified. "No, I-I was just joking. Don't, don't go there. I don't want you there. I, uh, want you to stay. Wise Girl, just don't go there. Or I'll do a special Annabeth Chase and drag you away from there."
"Special Annabeth Chase? No, seriously, Percy, you have to let me go there. You know it's the only way we'll both survive."
"No, it's not. If you go, I'll go with you. I'm not leaving you alone again. I promised you that." And with that happy thought, he turned away.
Annabeth was trying hard not to panic. She had read something about the scratches of the Keres- slow, excruciatingly painful deaths they gave the victim, and could only be healed by a god or someone who was a really good specialist in treating wounds like that. Plus, he might have had other injuries that he refused to let Annabeth see, for fear she would have more reason to leave him alone just to get the backpack.
Annabeth knew she had to get her backpack, because it could be their only hope for survival. Rack your brains, Annabeth thought to herself. Then suddenly, she had a totally new idea that her mother would have complimented, if it worked, anyways.
"Go to sleep now, Percy. I won't be going." Annabeth tried putting charmspeak into her words, even when she already knew only Aphrodite's kids could do that, and besides, she was a terrible convincer. She'd never succeed as a saleswoman.
"Okay," he replied, seemingly relieved. The moment he dozed off, though, Annabeth took some string that had weirdly popped out of the ground and tied Percy with it, so he couldn't escape. It probably wasn't the most escape-proof method of imprisoning someone, but it would have to do. And judging from how Percy looked, it was going to take some time before he woke up.
She left Riptide with him, pointless as it was because it would always return to its owner, (a.k.a. Percy) and she already had her dagger.
Annabeth walked into the darkness and held her bronze dagger above to have some light. She felt a little better, knowing that it was with her, knowing that her weapon had saved her life a couple of times. Still, the lack of challenges was making her uneasy. Percy wasn't with her, too. Where was spider-woman? Annabeth did not want to fight her again, but the weaver hadn't even appeared. That was odd. In the myths, Arachne hadn't been described as someone who could easily be intimidated, or, in her case, someone who quickly gave up. Once she had a plan, she would really try to execute it.
Finally, she found the cave they had run from. It looked creepy and crowded, with several monsters guarding the entrance.
Annabeth wished she had her cap of invisibility back, with its powers intact. She wasn't going to find a way into the cave without it.
Quick as thought, the object referred to in her thoughts suddenly appeared in her hand. Okay, that was really strange. Maybe Athena was helping her. Or maybe that was just her wistful thinking. Hermes was more likely to help her, or at least she thought so. Maybe even Iris.
She brought the cap closer to her eyes and found an inscription below, so tiny that she almost missed it. It was several moments before she understood the words at all. Dyslexia sometimes made her feel annoyed, especially when the situation wasn't really on the bright side.
Hermes Delivery Service. Message from Athena: Good luck, daughter! What your heart tells you to do, do not do it quickly. You will find what you seek with the one you have abandoned.
The one you have abandoned? Would that mean the cave, or Percy? Annabeth was feeling panicky now. What if Athena was right?
She crawled forward, ignoring the pain in her ankle, towards a medium-sized hole just a few meters away from her. She listened to the monsters discussing about something.
"Mother's not happy. We should muster our armies, hunt down Jackson and Chase. Bring them to me! I will deal with Jackson myself. Stump, you can have the girl." Antaeus, Annabeth thought.
"Her Ladyship has the boy already. That's one less you have to hunt for." Thorn grumbled, apparently still furious about Annabeth and Percy escaping him again.
Oh no. Annabeth's leaving Percy alone, slumbering in the darkness, had been a big mistake, on her part. Now Annabeth knew why she hadn't seen Arachne around. The spider-woman had been treacherously planning something, timing her moves perfectly.
Suddenly, the monsters became quiet. Annabeth could hear the ragged breaths of monsters. Then suddenly, Antaeus' voice whispered in a very suspicious and preying voice.
"Do you smell something, Cyclopes? Stump! Tork! Basket! Smell something?"
"Olive. I smell olive."
Annabeth felt her insides shrivel up. Of course! Her blood smelled like olives, the same way monsters smelled the sea in Percy's blood.
Thankfully, Antaeus just yelled at the Cyclopes about how they should have their noses checked, because none of the other monsters with him smelled anything. Annabeth thanked the gods and ran away.
She didn't stop until she reached the entrance of the cave. Panting heavily, she rushed inside, expecting to see Percy still sleeping and finally proving Antaeus wrong.
Instead, what she found was the now tightly chained Percy at the feet of the monster Arachne, who was smiling gruesomely at her.
"Daughter of Athena, cunning enough to try to kill me? Well, I am clever enough to kill your boyfriend here. Or throw him into an extremely small dungeon. What's better? The second one is, don't you think?" She nudged Percy using one of her legs. "Ah, let's see. If you want to try to fight me, then try. You could barely fight me last time."
"Wait." Annabeth's throat was dry. "Let me fight you. If I win, let Percy and I go."
"Oh no no, my lovely Annabeth. All I have to do is kill you. Your blasted mother didn't give me a chance to defend myself before she turned me into a spider, right? Or when she ripped my beautiful tapestries right before my own eyes. Athena will pay for that. If you do not wish to die, join us, join Mother Gaea. You will see your cursed mother pay for her crimes in here, Tartarus. Come on. No tricks, or I will surely be forced to kill you."
Percy was struggling madly, but Arachne had only eyes for Annabeth. He was bound in celestial bronze chains and spider web chains, which was pretty much an escape-proof way of imprisoning prisoners. It was brilliant, but it wasn't going to help them survive.
"You can, of course, choose to leave. But, if you do, you have sealed your boyfriend's fate! Choose!" Arachne cackled.
Her legs were shaking. Annabeth could see no way out of this.
"If you, um, just let us go, I promise my mom will turn you back into the way you were before, and admit that you're better than her, a lot better in weaving tapestries. This isn't a trick like last time. Can't you see? Gaea's not going to help your talent showcased to others. Meanwhile, at Olympus, 'goddess of weaving: Arachne' sounds so much better than 'Gaea's servant', right?"
Arachne bared her teeth at her, trying to look fierce and unforgiving, but Annabeth could see that she was unsettled. If only she could convince her…
"You really want this to happen? Oh, sure, Gaea will rise, eventually, but after that, the gods are going to be destroyed, the whole world's doomed, we're all gonna die, except for you and your monster friends. How then can the whole world be informed of your amazing talent? If you want to be a true weaver, then free us. I promise you, Arachne, future goddess of weaving, that I'll make sure you're pardoned and everything, really. If you'll only believe me, and let Percy and I go, everything will turn out so much better. Please."
Annabeth half knew her plan would fail. But half of her thought, Why not?
Her second plan was ridiculously similar to her first one, the one she had originally tricked Arachne into believing her, blah blah blah. But Annabeth didn't have any choice.
"You think you can trick me? Me? The best weaver of the world?" Arachne screamed at her. She shot some spider silk at Percy's face, and it shaped itself into some sort of a mask, but then Annabeth realized the silk was actually preventing him from being able to breathe properly. Soon it would choke him.
"Stop! Please, I'll do anything. Just please don't choke him." Her voice was weirdly calm, which really surprised her.
"I only have to move the silk from his face to his neck, and one pull and he's, what do you mortals call it, suckered out." Arachne was one terrifyingly and weirdly, strangely yet stupidly brilliant weaver with a poor strategic mind.
"Oh yeah? Arachne, I know you're a great weaver. So I challenge you to a weaving contest. Wanna try seeing if you could beat me?"
Arachne looked furious. "Of course I can, silly demigod. Do you think, after beating your divine mother Athena in the famous contest, after which I was transformed to this," she indicated her monstrous body, "that I should lose to you, her weak but somehow brilliant daughter?"
Percy was definitely turning purple. Any second now and his eyes would start to close forever.
"Get the silk out of his face first. Then we'll see."
"Fine, but the price of losing is watching him die slowly and painfully. Then his blood will be collected for the Earth Mother," she added after an afterthought.
"Deal. When will we start? Where?"
"Now, here, with everyone watching."
