Annabeth sat in Hades' living room. She had a blanket wrapped around her and a cup of hot chocolate Hazel made for her. She trembled violently, her eyes bloodshot, Percy looked at her from the corner of the hall worriedly.
"When is Apollo getting here?" he asked. "We've been waiting for him for nearly an hour."
Hades talked on the phone with who Percy assumed to be Apollo. Hades turned,"He says there's traffic on Charon's ferry. It might take him an extra forty minutes to get here."
Piper walked into the hall after adjusting Annabeth's blanket,"Couldn't he had just materialized here or something?"
"The Underworld is the only place gods can't materialize to. If they want to get in they need permission from Hades first and they got to make the trip manually like mortals,"Nico replied.
Percy looked over at Annabeth again. He could see her muttering to herself, she jumped at every noise. This was exactly what Percy was afraid of happening. He looked back at Hades a dark glint in his eye,"I told you we wouldn't help because we didn't know what this could do to us. And now Annabeth is sitting on your couch not even being able to tell her reality from her imagination. I told you we weren't going to help and now my girlfriend is losing her mind in your home!"
"Percy."
He turned sharply back toward Annabeth. She stood waveringly, her grey eyes reminding him of Athena, and trembling as if she were cold. She held the mug of chocolate in her hands,"I think, we should check Persephone next."
Percy stared at her surprised and then shook his head,"No. I'm drawing the line here."
"But-"
"No! We go into the mind of another god and you might lose yours, Annabeth! I'm not about to let you get away from me! Not again!"
"And what? We let more gods go crazy? We let the world go to waste? We've done stupid, dangerous things before, Percy! I've taken a poisoned dagger for you, trusted a cyclops because you trusted him, carried the sky, walked through Tartarus, I've faced Arachne! I've seen so many people die, Percy! It's a miracle I haven't lost my mind yet! I went crazy trying to find you when Hera took you. You say I'm losing my mind? I lost it a long time ago. The only thing that keeps planted to the Earth is the thought of seeing the sun rise every morning. Seeing the fireworks at camp every fourth. Knowing that my mother does care about me and she's been looking out for me. Knowing that someday, you and I will have a life together." Annabeth looked him in the eye. He looked away.
Finally he turned back to Hades,"The moment I see one of us is at stake, I'm calling this quest off."
They descended back into the dungeon.
Annabeth looked back at the living room. She could see Arachne standing in the corner, a sickening smile on her face. She beckoned Annabeth toward her.
Annabeth gasped and rubbed her eyes. She looked back into the corner and saw only a nightstand with a photo frame of Demeter and Persephone hugging.
Annabeth gulped and followed after them.
~oOo~
Short and sweet because I had a lack of ideas for the moment. Let's hope next chapter is loner.
-LionCub 101
