I froze.

My stomach felt like it had hardened into diamond.

Apparently there was something to worry about.

I slowly turned my head towards the window.

I could see the shadowy outline of a tall figure through the curtains.

It moved around a little bit, then I heard clicking.

It was picking the locks on the windows.

I got out of bed slowly and opened the door blocking the living area of the hotel and the bedroom. I had to warn Annabeth and Jolie.

The door creaked open and I snuck in on my tip toes.

"Annabeth." I whispered.

Nothing. They were fast asleep.

"Annabeth!" I said a little louder.

Still nothing.

I crept over to the left hand bed, the bed Jolie hadn't fallen asleep on.

As I placed my hands on the hotel bed to try and find her body to shake her, my hands found nothing.

Nothing whatsoever.

"Annabeth!"

I looked around frantically, but it was so dark I wouldn't know anything until I turned a light on.

What was that smell?

It smelled… like Annabeth… her shampoo…

I blacked out.

I woke up to a chipmunk nibbling on the buttons of my pajama pants. I tried to swat it away, but my hands were tied with ropes on a large, upright wooden platform.

I looked around.

We were in a small forest opening. The trees around the area had small, leafy houses in them, barely perceptible.

Where was I?

More importantly, where were Annabeth and Jolie?

There were some stone carvings of strong, athletic looking women. One of the carvings in particular looked the most regal. It was carved beautifully.

What in Hades…

"Percy!"

I looked around.

"UP HERE!"

I looked up.

Hanging above me from a thick branch of one of the trees, in a wooden cage, were Annabeth and Jolie.

I said something brave, like, "How did you guys get up there?"

"Don't be stupid, Jackson," Annabeth snapped.

The sun was barely up, and it was a bit chilly.

Must remember to sleep with a shirt.

Yup. Next time I plan on getting captured in the middle of the night.

"Do you still have your knife, Annabeth?" I shouted up to her.

"Of course not! Do you think our capturers would allow us to be armed? Seriously, Jackson. Think for once."

I love you, too.

I struggled with my bindings a little, but to no avail.

I heard chanting.

I craned my neck to try and see behind me, but the platform made it impossible. My feet were bound to the wood as well, and I was a few feet above the ground. My arms were bound above me, and my feet were spread a little bit apart. It looked like I was in mid jumping jack.

The chanting got louder still.

They were all woman voices.

I could hear the accompaniment of feet rustling through the leaves as well.

Sweat beaded on my brow.

Suddenly, about 50 women, all in indigenous clothing which consisted of being brassieres and skirts jogged into the small opening. The leader of them had biceps that rivaled mine. She looked extremely intimidating. She had a gold ring around her head.

She stopped jogging abruptly and held up her hand and shouted something I couldn't understand.

All the women behind her stopped, put their feet shoulder width apart and crossed their arms. They were in perfect formation.

The leader said something else to them, tilted her head in my direction, and then walked toward me menacingly.

I gulped.

The woman took out her spear.

I struggled against my bindings, and I heard Jolie shriek.

She approached me and was about 3 feet away from me. Even being tied to the platform a little higher up, she was face to face with me. She had to have been over six feet tall. Big woman.

Help.

She lifted her spear, aimed it at my bellybutton…which was directly opposite my "Achilles Heel…" if she speared me through there… I was done.

Shit.

I clenched my jaw and squeezed my eyes shut.

I heard the spear dig into…

The ground.

I opened one eye and looked at her apprehensively.

She had no emotion on her face.

I opened my other eye.

We looked at each other for a few minutes.

Then…

She started laughing.

And all the women behind her started laughing.

I didn't see what was so funny.

She stepped a bit closer to me… about 2 inches from my face.

"Be you Percy Jackson?"

My eyes widened.

"Erm…"

"Answer de question."

I swallowed.

"Yes?"

"Be you not sure?" she smirked and crossed her arms.

"Uh, last time I checked I was Percy Jackson."

"Good enough."

For what?

She took her spear out of the ground again, and a droplet of sweat dripped down the side of my face.

She watched it.

Then lifted her spear again, turned quickly, and threw it so it landed square on a knot in a tree.

I gulped again.

She brushed her hands off and looked back at me.

"You see our skill, Percy Jackson."

It wasn't a question.

"Uh, yes. Yes I do. Very good. You must be a pro at darts…"

A questioning look graced her face. She had markings on her face under her eyes, around them, and on her forehead and cheeks.

"I am Hippolyta II."

I didn't know what else to say, so I thought I'd introduce myself too.

"Er, I'm Percy."

"I am Queen of de Amazons." She gestured to the women behind her.

I nodded my head in greeting.

"Why be you here?"

"Uh, well… wait. The Amazons? Like that all women warrior tribe?"

Hippolyta rolled her eyes.

"Yes. Dat one."

"Er… right. The Amazons live by the Mississippi River."

"Is de Mighty Mississippi not de longest river in de United States?"

It all started to make sense now. You see, things in Greek Mythology moved with Western culture… I suppose the Mississippi was the equivalent to… well… the Amazon I guess.

"Well, my friends and I are on a quest… and… how did you capture us?"

"Sleeping powder."

Oh. I guess that's how I blacked out.

"It makes you fall asleep and dream of de ting you want de most in dis world."

Hence, me smelling Annabeth's shampoo.

No, I didn't want her shampoo. You probably get my meaning though.

"What do you want with us?"

"Let me tell you a story, Percy Jackson. My ancestor, de Great Hippolyta, was a mighty queen. Greatest Queen of de Amazons in all our history. I have yet to live up to her. But you see, it is difficult to live up to her when I do not have something of hers."

She stepped closer and caressed my cheek. I shivered. Her hands were cold.

She brought her hand from my cheek and ran it down my neck to my shoulder. From there, she brushed it over my chest and brought it down over my abs. It stopped at the lip of my pants, where she fiddled with the trail of hair under my bellybutton.

I was rather uncomfortable.

"Dis is where you come in, Percy Jackson. You see, Hippolyta had a golden girdle. Gift from her father, Ares…"

Perfect. Ares.

"…it was a magical girdle. But it was given to Admeta… by way of Hercules. You see, Hippolyta had a slight crush on Hercules, and when he asked for her girdle, she gave it to him. So love struck she was. She regretted dat move. She was killed. Now de magical girdle no longer exists. But I still need a golden girdle to be truly queen of my people. You must find one for me, Percy Jackson, so dat I may appeal to Ares to bestow his power on it once more. He tells me I may have dat power if I can find a golden girdle. You don't just find dose tings at Victoria's Secret, you know."

Her hand reran its course up to my cheek.

"We do not see many men dis close often. You are a special treat for us. So handsome."

I heard Annabeth growl lowly.

Her fingers pinched my cheeks together and she wiggled my face side to side.

"If you want your friends to be released from captivity, I suggest you find a golden girdle for me, handsome Percy."

I looked up at Annabeth and Jolie in their cage. Jolie's eyes were wide in fear. Annabeth had a resolved expression on her face. She looked at me with narrowed eyes, and just nodded.

I looked down to face Hippolyta again.

"I… I'll find a golden girdle for you."

"Good decision, Percy Jackson. But before you go… my women would like to… have some fun with you…"

Some of the women in the crowd giggled.

One screamed "I just want to touch his face! Can I?"

I squirmed.

"Uh… well, you see… um… no thanks. You're all… uh, gorgeous, but… I…"

"HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND ALREADY."

Hippolyta glared up at Annabeth.

"Is dat so, blonde haired one?"

Yes, Annabeth. I'm curious. Is it so that I still have a girlfriend?

My heart swelled with unreasonable hope.

Annabeth didn't answer for a few seconds.

"Why would I lie about that?"

My heart exploded.

"Why would you lie about dat?"

More silence.

"His girlfriend is here in the cage with me. Her name is Jolie."

My heart stayed in pieces from its aforementioned explosion.

Hippolyta nodded a few of her women over.

One leapt onto the tree and climbed up to the cage with unnatural ease. She had keys, and she unlocked the door, pulled Jolie out and dropped her down into the arms of the other woman. It was like, a thirty foot drop.

Jolie screamed all the way down, and stopped instantly once the Amazonian woman had her.

She placed Jolie on her feet.

The other woman that had climbed up the tree, jumped down from the branch and rolled as she hit the ground. No injuries.

"If dis girl is Percy's girlfriend, Blonde, den I will have her prove it to us all. And to you."

Annabeth scoffed and clucked her tongue.

I looked up at her.

She looked back down at me, eyes flaming behind their ashen grey.

I shook my head imperceptibly and gave her a questioning look.

I looked back at Hippolyta, who was leading Jolie over to me.

"Go on, girl. Prove you are Percy's love."

Jolie was looking at the ground intently.

Hippolyta pushed her closer to me, and Jolie stumbled a bit. She caught herself.

"Someone cut him down."

A woman took out four throwing knives.

Oh…my… gods… she wasn't going to…

She threw one, then two, then three and four.

They landed with a thud thud thud thud in all the places where the ropes were binding me.

A few seconds later, I slid to the ground in a heap.

"Um, thanks." I mumbled, standing up.

"What are you waiting for?" Hippolyta asked.

Jolie looked up at me nervously.

I narrowed my eyes at her.

I glanced back at Annabeth with a pleading look.

She had crossed her arms across her chest and was glaring at us, waiting.

Jolie placed her hands on my shoulders and pressed her body flush against mine.

My breath caught in my throat and I stumbled a bit backwards.

Her eyes were looking into each of my eyes in turn. She moistened her lips.

Then she leaned in.

Her lips were a fraction of a millimeter away from mine when I pushed her away.

"I'm sorry. I can't. She's not my girlfriend. I don't feel that way about her. I… I love someone else. Always have."

I looked back at Annabeth.

Her arms slowly dropped to her lap.

I looked back at Jolie.

"I'm sorry, Jolie. We're friends. I care about you that way."

"I've always known that, Percy. I was just doing what I thought I was supposed to."

I grabbed her hand in mine and pulled her into a hug.

She started to cry.

I rubbed her back soothingly.

After a few seconds, we stopped embracing, and Jolie stepped away from me.

"You need to go, Percy."

Right.

"I uh… can I get like a, uh, change of clothes? That'd be great."

"Get de boy's bag."

My backpack was thrown at me. I caught it.

I went behind a tree and changed.

Some of the women had snuck near enough where they could watch.

I could hear their giggles. I looked around, but I couldn't see them. Only hear them.

I slipped my shirt over my head and I heard loud gasps and giggles.

Pulling it down, I looked around again. Still nothing.

I hoisted my backpack over my shoulder and came out from behind the tree.

"My warriors have informed me dat your abdominal muscles are quite well defined. Dey enjoyed watching dem ripple as you put your shirt on."

So that's what that was about.

Whatever.

"Can I have my sword?"

"Sword?"

"My pen. Did you take my pen?"

"Oh! Dis?" she held out Riptide.

"Yes. Dat. I mean, that."

"No. You may not."

She threw it far into the woods.

Mistake.

I waited for a few seconds.

Sure enough, Riptide appeared in my pocket.

I took it out, and brandished the sword.

Hippolyta's eyes widened.

"Thanks. I appreciate it." I grinned at her.

Also in my pants pocket was Rachel's prophecy that Annabeth had written down. I knew where I had to go.

The Black Hills.

AN

What a treat! Two posts in three days!

Chapter 10, as it turns out, would've been BLOODY LONG, like… a billion words by itself, so I cut it into two parts. I don't know. It would have been long, and taken me forever to finish and post it.

I'm not done with part 2 yet, but I'll try to get it finished and posted ASAP.

Read and Review if it is to your heart's desire!

Until the next chapter, my Lovies!

Lily

P.S.

I appreciate all your reviews so far. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. :D