PERCY

Percy felt like he had been falling for an eternity. After he let go of the ledge, he stared up at Annabeth and the sun for as long as possible before they faded away. He didn't like the thought that it might be the last time he ever saw his Wise Girl or the sun.

At first, he had been absolutely terrified of what horrors awaited him once he fell all the way down into the pit. He had wished that his fall would never end but now that it felt like it never would he took it back. His ADHD brain couldn't stand having nothing to do.

The only thing he saw was darkness and the only thing he heard was the wind whistling past as he fell.

Suddenly, screams of agony and malicious laughter were faint at first but grew louder the farther he fell. His annoyance and boredom from the long fall were once again replaced with fear. Maybe he would rather fall for eternity than face what Tartarus had to offer.

Then he saw something. It was a reddish light far below him. He started falling closer and closer to it and finally he could see the black walls of rock around him barely illuminated by the red light coming from the pit.

He looked down once again and this time could make out sharp, black rocks that littered the ground.

Percy swallowed. There was nothing down there to break his fall. Panic swelled inside his chest. He did not want to become a Percy pancake.

That's when he felt a familiar tug in his gut.

Water. There was water somewhere nearby. Percy had never heard of water being in Tartarus but he didn't really have time to think about it as the ground drew nearer.

He closed his eyes and concentrated on the water. He controlled it to move up and break his fall. But when the water caught him, he didn't feel the strength boost and refreshment that the water usually offered him.

Instead he felt cold and wet. He tried to take in a breath but water filled his lungs and caused him to cough as he broke the surface. His arms and legs moved around frantically. For some reason he couldn't breathe in this river or control it very well.

That's when he heard the voices. They screamed in pain and whispered in his ears, feeling his mind with depressing thoughts.

Why try anymore?

What's the point?

Wouldn't it be easier to just give up now?

You'll never make it out of here alive and even if you do what waits for you on the surface? War? Death?

The voices were right. Percy gave up struggling to keep his head above the water and let himself sink.

You deserve to die anyway. All you do is get you care about killed.

The voices continued to whisper depressing words to him. Their wails filled his mind. His lungs begged for air but Percy ignored his pain — the voices were right; he deserved to die. All he ever did was get everyone he cared about killed.

Just as everything was about to go dark something happened.

He was no longer in the river in Tartarus. Instead he was in the lake at Camp Half-Blood sitting under the water grinning. He was grinning at a blonde haired girl sitting in a canoe up on the lake's surface looking around for something.

Percy chuckled to himself as the girl searched the water. She was really cute and he felt like he'd seen her somewhere before.

Then her stormy gray eyes landed on him and she grinned.

"Found ya, Seaweed Brain," she chuckled. Percy put his hands up in surrender. The girl reached her hand down in the water, offering it to him. He swam up to it not hesitating to take it.

She pulled him up and Percy broke the surface but he wasn't in the lake at camp; he was back in Tartarus.

Percy gasped for air and pulled himself out of the river. He laid on the shore catching his breath.

Annabeth he thought. That was the girl's name.

The image he had seen while he was in the river was similar to the one he had seen when he bathed in the River Styx. Annabeth was his anchor. She was the one thing that kept him going. Even the memory of her was enough to get him up and moving.

He would get out of the pit for her.

Percy finally caught his breath and looked back at the river. The water rushed past and he could make out the tortured souls flowing through it. He could see the expressions of pain and anguish on their faces. Even from the shore he could still hear their cries and whispers telling him to just give up and jump in.

A part of him wanted to but he pictured his Wise Girl and stood up. He walked far away from the river so he would no longer be tempted to end it all.

He dried himself off and got his first good luck at Tartarus and it was absolutely terrifying to say the least. The ground was littered with jagged, black rocks. Thick clouds hung low in the air and all kinds of horrific sounds filled his ears.

With each breath he took he noticed that it was getting harder and harder to breathe as if the air were poison which would make sense; Tartarus was made to kill demigods.

Percy could also feel the scorching heat burning his skin. He was already starting to turn red and a few blisters were forming on his arms.

He wasn't sure how much longer he could continue on like this. He knew he would die soon from the heat, dehydration, or poisonous air which was not how he wanted to go.

Percy pulled out Riptide and decided he should find the doors but he had no idea where to start looking. He suddenly heard a noise behind him and whipped around.

Standing behind him was the biggest spider he had ever seen. It was bigger than him and about ready to pounce.

"You are not the Athenian spawn Gaea promised me!" The spider said in a woman's voice.

This must be Arachne, Percy thought as he remembered Annabeth telling him about her encounter with the spider on her quest.

"Oh well," Arachne continued. "You'll still make a delicious meal."

"See, about that," Percy responded. "I'm not really in the mood to get eaten today but maybe some other time?" Percy got in his battle stance.

The spider hissed and pounced in his direction. Percy sidestepped out of the way and brought his sword down in an arc, but the spider had fast reflexes and dove out of the way of Riptide.

The spider hissed as she turned back to face Percy. All of a sudden he could hear Arachne's heart beating. Ta dum, ta dum, ta dum it was loud and echoed in his mind.

He could also sense her blood pumping through her veins; moving like the flow of a river. The heartbeat continued growing louder and louder as Arachne dove at Percy again.

Percy quickly rolled out of the way and dropped his sword. He covered his ears trying to block out the sound of the spider lady's heart beating but it only grew louder; taunting him.

He grabbed his sword and climbed to his feet. He wanted it to stop. He wanted her heart to stop beating. Time seemed to freeze as he remembered what Annabeth had told him after they had arrived to pick her up from her quest.

He remembered how shaken and scared she had been from her encounter with the spider. Arachne had hurt his Wise Girl and he was going to make her pay.

Percy growled, his bright, sea green eyes turned a shade of dark green. He smiled cynically. And Arachne stopped mid charge. She looked frightened.

"I-I'm not so hungry anymore," she started to slowly back away but Percy wasn't about to let her leave without paying for what she'd done.

He started walking towards her and Arachne turned to run but Percy held out his hand, her heart beat still echoing in his head. He could still sense her blood flowing.

He had a crazy thought. What if he could control her blood the same way he could control water? Blood was mostly water wasn't it? He wasn't sure if it would work, after all Poseidon was god of the sea not all liquid but he figured it was worth a shot.

He willed her blood to stop flowing and come to a stand still. To his surprise he could sense it obeying his command. Arachne started to scream out in pain and fell to the ground.

Percy allowed some blood to make it to her heart to keep her alive for the moment. He walked over to her and stood over her writhing body.

"Don't mess with my girlfriend," he snarled in a cold voice that didn't sound anything like his voice.

Arachne suddenly exploded into gold dust. Percy cursed. "You weren't supposed to die yet! I wasn't finished with you!"

Percy felt rage take over his emotions. Arachne hadn't suffered nearly enough to make up for what she did to Annabeth! She had died too fast.

Well done, Perseus, a deep, male's voice sounded. It shook both the ground and Percy to the core. Whoever was speaking was extremely powerful.

I sensed the darkness inside you, this time the voice knocked Percy off of his feet.

Tartarus, Percy thought. He didn't know who else the voice could've belonged to.

Darkness. That's what he'd said. Percy pulled himself up to his feet. What did he mean darkness?

What he'd done to Arachne was necessary. It wasn't evil. But he knew it was. The way he'd wanted her to suffer, the pure rage he had felt when she'd died too fast, it was darkness.

How had even been able to sense her blood? He'd never done that before even though blood was mostly water.

Speaking of water, how would Percy survive without any? He could only go a few days without it and he hadn't drank any during his fall. He was certain he had fallen for days.

Percy closed his eyes and concentrated. He was trying to sense if there was any water safe for him drink here but he highly doubted it.

He felt a tug in his gut and a wave of relief washed over him. There was safe water somewhere down in the pit for him to drink. He followed the tug in his gut as it pulled him towards the source.

When it stopped, he had arrived at the bank of a river flowing with fire water. Wait, fire water? Had his powers malfunctioned? How in Hades was fire water safe to drink?

But Percy didn't have much choice. He figured if he didn't drink he would die from dehydration anyway so he had nothing to lose. He bent over the water and scooped some out. The fire water burned his hands so he quickly swallowed.

He felt the liquid burn his throat as it went down. It was painful and Percy thought it was going to kill him.

He suddenly felt better though. His dehydration wasn't as severe and his blisters were gone. He found it easier and less painful to breathe.

The fire-water seemed to have the same effect as nectar on him only it scorched his throat and tasted horrible.

Percy straightened up. Now what? He wondered. It was obvious he needed to find the Doors of Death but how was the question. He had no idea where to begin the search.

Percy wished he had Annabeth with him. He didn't want her to be in the pit and face the horrors he would have to face but he wished she was there to come up with some brilliant plan to get them out.

But Percy didn't have Annabeth. He didn't have anyone. He had to survive Tartarus alone.

What would Annabeth do? He asked himself. He needed to come up with a plan to get himself out.

He decided that he needed to stick near the river of fire. That was obvious enough if he wanted to survive. Percy decided to walk in the way the river was flowing, sticking close to the bank. Every now and then he would stop for a drink when his skin started to horribly blister and his lungs hurt from the poisonous air.

What had happened earlier with Arachne still bothered him. He didn't know what had come over him or how it had even happened. His new found abilities terrified him but what scared him even more was that he had almost enjoyed it.

He knew the voice was right. Whoever enjoyed watching others suffer and causing their pain had darkness inside of them. He wasn't turning dark was he? Being down in the pit must be bringing the worst out of him.

Percy suddenly had an idea. He wondered if the fire river could heal wounds. Percy took Riptide and winced as he dragged it across his left wrist. Blood started to drip from the wound and Percy placed his arm in the water.

He left it there for a few seconds until it started to burn his skin and he pulled it out with a yelp. When he re-examined the wound to his surprise it was burned shut. The skin around it was pink and slightly blistered but the wound was closed nonetheless.

At least now he knew if he was injured the fire river could heal him. He found it strange that he hadn't been hurt before. In fact, he hadn't seen any monsters since Arachne.

He thought that was strange until he remembered all of the monsters would be heading for the doors. The fact that he hadn't come across many monsters meant that he must have been far away.

He wasn't sure if he should be relieved there weren't many monsters or devastated that he still had a far journey ahead of him. He only hoped that he had picked the right direction to walk in.

Percy suddenly heard voices up ahead. He stopped in his tracks and readied Riptide.

Great, I've jinxed myself.

Percy saw that the voices were coming from a group of empousai several feet in front of him. They walked slowly thanks to their mismatched legs stumbling over the black rocks.

There were four of them and they hadn't yet noticed him. An imaginary light bulb suddenly appeared over Percy's head.

They were probably heading in the direction of the Doors of Death. Meaning as long as Percy could keep a good distance between them and himself they would lead him straight to the doors.

I'm coming, Wise Girl.

Thank you guys so much for all of your comments! I hope you liked this chapter. :)