Hiya! Sorry I've taken so long with this chapter. I've been going crazy with all the holiday shopping and school and so on. But, i finally found time! I hope this isn't too short. I tried to make it longer this time. Next time, I'm sorry to say, is the last chapter of Traveling Through Tartarus. Sorry! I had to end it SOMETIME. I hope you enjoy!

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"Pleeeeaaaasssseeeee?" Annabeth begged Leroy. "Our friend said we only have a few weeks!"

Leroy grunted, and scratched the back of his head. "You said you saw your friend in the blade of your knife." He pointed a meaty thumb over his shoulder, at a Cyclops holding mutton close to him, his arms around it. His eye darted around, and he rocked back and forth.

"It's okay. Everything's okay. Don't freak out, Mr. Mutton. It's okay. Shh. Shh." The Cyclops muttered.

"That Cyclops has been driven over the edge, no pun intended. He's been down here so long, he's lost his mind. You may be suffering from some of it." Leroy continued.

"Piper's blade is magic! Helen of Troy used it to stay informed during the Trojan War. It can show you these types of visions! Somehow, it must have connected with my knife. Leroy, please. You have to listen to me! We're not crazy!" Annabeth begged. It had been two days since Annabeth had seen Piper in her knife. Ever since, Percy and her had pleaded and pleaded with Leroy, but the Cyclops was just as stubborn as always.

Percy, who was on sentry duty, called out a warning. "We got Telkhines! Lots of them."

Leroy cursed and pulled out his club. He glared at Annabeth with his one eye. "I hope you have your knife on you at the moment. We'll need it." With that, he yelled a battle cry, and the Cyclopes bellowed in response. Percy looked at Annabeth, then slashed at the nearest Telkhine.

Annabeth swallowed the bitter lump in her throat. She had to get her knife. She rushed back to the tent, and looked around desperately. In the heat of the moment, she had forgotten where she put it. Cursing and in a rush, she looked at the hammock, the bucket of water where they washed they're clothes….There! Next to it. Annabeth scrambled to get it, but as she grabbed the hilt, a hand ripped through the tent wall, and grabbed it too. Annabeth screamed.

The hand was like a telkhine's-human like, but with sharp claws. Annabeth wrestled for her knife, and she was so preoccupied she didn't hear the tent's flap get pushed open. She yelped as slippery arms locked around her own, and yanked her back.

The rip in the tent spread, until Annabeth was face to face with a bunch of the doglike creatures. The one who had grabbed her knife, pulled it out of the ground, and started to sniff it. It poked him in the nose. He yelped, and rubbed his nose. Then he growled, and threw the knife over his shoulder. The telkhine's behind him barked and growled angrily, and started to argue.

Scary? Yes. Smart? Nu-huh.

The telkhine holding Annabeth lifted her feet off the ground. Boy, these things were strong. But Annabeth knew what to do in these situations. Living in Tartarus, with monsters always trying to grab her and carry her off to Gaea, was good practice. She lifted her legs, and flipped herself so that her feet were on the telkhine's shoulders, and her face was upside down. She pushed off the telkhine's arms, and suddenly she was standing on the telkhine's shoulder. The thing was so tall, Annabeth's head brushed the roof of the tent.

The telkhine growled, and grabbed for her legs, but Annabeth jumped off. She landed in the sand part on her knees. She took a deep breath. Fortunately, the trick had worked. Unfortunately, it'd had also gotten the attention of the arguing telkhine's back at her.

Annabeth had no choice. She fled from the tent, the telkhine's in hot pursuit. She looked around desperately. Where is it? She thought desperately. But before she could look, she was forced to keep running as the telkhine's crashed through the tent walls. "By the gods, these things are annoying." Annabeth muttered. She rushed to the side of the tent where she'd seen the telkhine's, only to find Percy holding her knife with one hand, and stabbing with Riptide in another.

"Annabeth!" He cried, removing his sword from the dissipating telkhine. He tossed her the knife, and she caught it. "You okay?"

"Fine!" The telkhines rounded the corner. "Actually, never mind." She rushed to Percy's side, and they stood shoulder-to-shoulder, facing the monsters. Now that she was armed, Annabeth found it easy to fight the telkhines. Dodge a flipper here, stab it here, roll left, duck. It all came to her easily. She was aware of Percy hacking away at the telkhines. None were able to touch the Son of Poseidon, he was so good with a sword.

Finally, the last telkhine had been slayed. For a moment, all was quiet, the Leroy shouted a victory yell, and Percy put her arm around Annabeth. "You alright?"

"I'm okay." Annabeth nodded, removing a strand of hair from her mouth. "You?"

"Just fine." He kissed her forehead, then moved around the camp to check if anyone was hurt.

Annabeth sighed, and looked at her knife. Determination set in. She set her jaw, and marched up to Leroy, who was patching up a wounded Cyclopes with gauze. "Leroy. You want to spend the rest of your life down here? Fighting for your life? Trying desperately to live on rations?"

Leroy's jaw clenched, but he said nothing.

Annabeth balled her fists. She felt for the Cyclops, but he was doing absolutely nothing to make it possible for her to help. "Leroy, if you don't fight against Gaea, you'll never see sunlight again. Heck, you'll probably never see light. You're an amazing fighter, yes. But look at Achilles. He was still killed. It can't be long until you, and all your men are killed just like him. Well…it may not be with an arrow to the heel, but-"

Leroy straightened, and suppressed a smile. Finally, eh couldn't' take it. He burst out laughing.

Annabeth felt appalled, and anger too. She put her hand on her hip. "What's so funny?"

Percy walked over, and scowled at Leroy. "We said it'd be a surprise!"

Annabeth frowned, and looked between the two. "Surprise…?"

Percy gave her a sweet smile. "I convinced Leroy last night. His men agree." Percy spread his arms. "We head for the Doors of Death in a few weeks, because that's when we figure we'll meet with the Argo 2's crew."

Annabeth wasn't much of a girly-girl. Gods, she hated those "fangirls". They were so annoying. But Annabeth couldn't help squealing, jumping up and down, and tackling Leroy with a hug. Then she moved onto Percy, and pressed her lips against his. "You! Are! Amazing!" She kissed him again.

Percy broke away, and grabbed her arms. "Annabeth!" He laughed. He moved her arms down to her waist, and embraced her. "It's hard to breathe when I'm being strangled, and it's even harder when you kiss me!"

Annabeth laughed, and hugged Percy.

Best. Boyfriend. Ever.

*Note: Annabeth mentions she hates fangirls in this chapter. Do not take offense. I just figured she's the kind of girl who hates...well, fangirling. I understand half of you are fangirls(fanboys), and so on. I myself am a fangirl. So, DON'T TAKE OFFENSE!