Hey guys, sorry about the wait, I haven't been able to get past this writers block. I get all of these major events planned out then have nothing to lead up to them. Shout out to SlayerOfLAdon being the second person to review. Anyways, don't forget to drop some letters in the comments section, flames and suggestion accepted. I do not own Percy Jackson.

Chapter 10: Entering the forbidden isle

Raven:

There was a small knock at my door nearly an hour later, and I already knew who it was.

"What do you want, Thalia?" I asked

"To talk," Thalia said, opening my door "I mean, you kind of made a scene out there."

"Yeah," I shrugged "I do that a lot, can you close the door?"

Thalia shut the door and sat down on the foot of my bed, saying nothing. I knew why she was here, but I was glad for the silence. I had lost my cool, and Amber didn't deserve that. Of all the people to see what I had done, she was the last one I wanted to have to witness that. I had buried the memory, trying to forget it, and look how that worked out.

"We're in Utah," Thalia said "We'll be in California by nightfall. We've finally got Leo to sleep."

"Good." I said, not moving

"So," She said "You and Amber huh?"

"Sorry," I said "Elaborate."

"Don't play dumb, Raven," Thalia sighed "Jennifer and I talked, I know what happened."

"I told her not to say anything." I grumbled

"Well if it makes you feel any better, I won't tell anybody else," She said "I've also talked to Amber, gave her an ultimatum."

"And that would be?" I asked her

"Either the hunters," Thalia said "Or you."

"And she didn't immediately choose you guys?" I asked, shocked

"No," Thalia said "That's why I'm here."

"To give me an ultimatum?" I asked "What do I get to choose between."

"No, I'm here to tell you to get off your fucking ass and go talk to Amber," Thalia said "Now, get off your fucking ass, and go talk to Amber."

"Sorry," I said, laying back "But I'm not a hunter Thalia, I don't answer to you."

"Then I'm asking you as a friend," She said "Please, just do it. She's in her cabin."

"Ugh," I groaned "Since you said please."

I got off my bed and left my cabin, making my way down the hallway to Amber's. I heard Thalia leave my cabin behind me and head off in the direction of the dining hall. I paused outside Amber's door with my hand raised, ready to knock, debating. I knew Amber was mad at me, and I wanted to give her time, but Thalia had asked me to talk to her, so fuck it. I knocked on the door.

"Come in." Amber said in a small voice from inside

I opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind me. Amber was sitting on her bed, laying back against the wall, not looking at all surprised to see me.

"Sup." I said

She nodded, not saying a word. I took that as my cue to sit down, also staying silent. It was a painfully awkward twenty seconds before Amber finally spoke, the contempt pretty clear in her voice.

"Did Thalia ask you to come talk to me?" She asked

"Ah yes she did." I confirmed

"You can go back to your cabin," She said "I'll tell her we talked."

"I could do that," I said, raising an eyebrow "Or I could stay here and we could actually talk."

"What makes you think I want to?" She asked

"I don't think you do," I shrugged "But Thalia will kick the living shit out of me if we don't."

"I'll kick the living shit out of you if you don't get out." She said, her face still emotionless

"Yeah," I said, trying for a grin "Bet you hit like a girl."

Her hand moved faster than I anticipated, although I didn't actually think she was going to hit me. Before I could register what happened, she was sitting back in the same position, as though she had never moved. My jaw, however, stung pretty badly.

"Guess I kinda deserved that," I admitted "Feel better?"

"A bit," She shrugged "Now get out."

"Amber, come on," I groaned "I'm trying to reach out."

"I don't want you to," She snapped "I want you to leave me alone."

"Under normal circumstances, I might just leave," I told her "But, you and I, we've got some shit to discuss."

"I don't have a thing to say to you." She hissed

"Yeah you do," I said, leaning back "Spill it, I know you're itching to let me have it."

"Okay fine," She snapped "Let's start with why? Why the hell would you do something like that?"

"I don't have an excuse for you," I told her "My two best friends were dead, his girlfriend might've known where he was, I was just grieving."

"That isn't grieving, Raven." She said, her voice softening a bit

"Amber this shit ain't no movie," I said "In the hood, grieving for your friends ain't writing some dope ass rap song and getting famous, it's killing whoever the fuck did it."

"Well-" She started

"Hold on, I'm not finished," I said, cutting her off before she could lay into me again "I ain't saying that way of thinking is right, but you have to understand what I've grown up around. Dealing, robbing, fighting, shootouts, it's all I know, and if shit hits the fan it's what I resort to."

"You can't ever justify what you did to her," She said "What's worse is the fact that you clearly weren't cool with it, and you let it go on for a while before you did something."

"I was okay with it in a sense," I said "In my mind, I was trying to avenge friends. But there was a point where it was going too far, we'd already gotten all we were gonna get from her."

She didn't say anything, which put me on edge. Over my short time as a Demigod, I had learned that if Amber was silent, it meant she was angry, brooding, plotting, or possibly all three. It was at least three or four minutes before she finally spoke.

"I wish my mother hadn't shown me those," She said "All I can hear is that girl screaming."

"Believe me, I hear it too." I sighed

"I'm sorry I brought it up," She told me "I know you probably just want to bury something like that."

"You were right," I told her "I am a monster, just because I'm a Demigod now doesn't mean I've changed, those animalistic feelings never really go away."

"You aren't an animal," She said gently "You have changed, do you think the old you would've given a flying fuck about the fate of our known world being at steak."

"Probably not," I admitted "But that doesn't make me a changed man."

Again, she went silent. I had a feeling the conversation was over, and she was grasping for something to say, anything to break the tension. When she finally did speak, she had changed the subject.

"Did Thalia tell you about my ultimatum?" She asked

"Yeah," I said "And?"

"I don't know," She said "Raven, we haven't even known eachother for that long, we kissed once."

"I know," I shrugged "Look, I have no clue what love feels like. There's something between us, but I don't know what it is."

"Neither do I," She admitted "That's why I'm gonna make this decision on my own."

""Amber-" I started

"No," She said, cutting me off "I don't want to hear anything anybody has to say."

"How do you know we feel the same way?" I asked

"Do we?" She asked

"I guess, but that isn't the point." I told her

"Then what is the point?" She asked me

I didn't have an answer, because I was just trying to keep her from throwing away the hunt just for me. I knew she was considering it, but I couldn't be who she needed, or I didn't want to be who she needed. I had never fallen in love, not once. The little time I spent with Dad had taught me a little something about being careful who you put your trust into, he always told me that whenever you fell in love, you'd know it. There was a difference between some twelve year old thinking they were in love, and actually being in love, and I hadn't ever felt it.

"That's what I thought." Amber said, finalizing her decision

"So what?" I asked her "You don't even want my input just a little bit?"

"Nope," She said "Because I already know exactly what you're going to say."

"Oh yeah?" I laughed "What was I gonna say?"

"That you don't want me to throw away the hunt for you," She said "That I should just stay with the hunters and you and I should just forget this ever happened."

"Well I'll be damned," I said "Okay, so you know me a bit better than I give you credit for."

"I'm good at reading people," She said "Now do me a favor."

"What would that be?" I asked

"Get out," She said "I'm going to sit in here, alone, until I figured out what I want to do."

"Fair enough." I said, getting up

I left her room and shut the door, heading off to the dining hall, where all the other demigods were already gathered. Nobody gave me a second glance, and they acted as though nothing had happened, which I was grateful for.

"We've almost crossed the California border," Frank said "We'll be facing unspeakably dangerous unknown by nightfall."

"Good," I said, lighting up a cigarette "I love doing that shit."

"Can you open a window if you're going to smoke in here?" Hazel asked

"Leo's got a switch around here for something like that," Jason said, fiddling with a control panel on the wall "Let's see, ummmmmmm, ah ha! Here we go."

He clicked a button and a small vent in the corner of the room opened, and all the smoke was sucked out of it. Handy little device, and very thoughtful of Leo to build because I liked smoking inside better than outside, if I had the choice.

"Now that that little dilemma is solved," Piper said "Let's focus on what's more important, like what's the plan?"

"Walk in, blow shit up, leave?" I suggested

"Sounds like every other quest I've been on." Percy laughed

"My mother was in contact with me earlier," I said "She spoke to me through my thoughts, Tartarus is the one behind this whole thing, but he's recruited others."

"Who?" Thalia asked

"Narcissus, Lycaon, Chrysaor, Arachne, and Orion." I told them

"But we destroyed Arachne the first time we were in Tartarus," Percy said "And Nico destroyed Lycaon, and Reyna destroyed Orion, we destroyed Chrysaor, and I don't know about Narcissus."

"Leo and I just took his mirror," Hazel said "It must've broken the spell."

"Tartarus must have revived them," I said "They all would have gone to his realm, he has control over them, porbably."

"Well if Lady Artemis says they're there, then they're there," Jennifer said "No use wondering how. Now, how do we defeat them?"

"Orion can't be defeated unless we have the help of a god," Jason said "So first thing we should do is find a god."

"My mother showed me where they were," Annabeth said "They're all on top of a mountain, chained up together."

"So we find one," I summed up "We find all?"

"Exactly, and we only need to free one of them." Percy said

"But which one?" Thalia asked

"Whichever one is closest." Frank shrugged

"Somebody go wake Leo up," Jason said "He's been sleeping for a little bit so I think he'll be good, and get Amber too."

"I'll get him." Piper said

"Well," Percy said "I'm not sure this'll work once we get inside Tartarus, so I might as well do it now, everyone stand back."

Percy:

When Piper returned with Leo and Amber close at hand, Annabeth and I launched into an explanation of everything that had happened to us with Carter and Sadie. Every single mouth was open wide when they found out that not only did we live in a world with Greeks and Romans, but now we were throwing Egyptians into the mix.

"You guys kept this a secret?" Jason asked "Wouldn't this have been a good thing to tell the others?"

"Well," I said "Think of it as one of those, I'm thinking about the better of the camp kind of things."

"Right." Jason said

"Now," I said "Let me concentrate."

Carter had assure me that, although they would fade, the hieroglyphs he had written on my hand wouldn't go away until I used it. I raised my hand to my mouth and spoke his name, and got nothing. I did it again, nada. A third time, zilch.

"Ummmmm, what are you doing?" Raven asked me

"He put this hieroglyph on my hand," I said "It's supposed to-HOLY HADES!"

Two forms dropped out of the air right in front of me and landed in a heap on the table. The sound of eleven demigods drawing weapons on them was heard and Carter Kane now faced down eleven, armed, and startled demigods.

"Weapons away please," Carter said, pushing himself up "Percy it works the first time I just had to open the portal."

"Well I thought with magic and all that, you'd just pop into existence the second I said your name." I admitted

"Thank the gods it doesn't work like that," Carter said "I was using the bathroom when I heard you."

"A little TMI there." The other boy muttered, pushing himself up

The boy was tall, black, and muscular, with short, curly hair. He was wearing a muscle tank top and a pair of black jeans, and his neck was covered in what were very clearly magic charms and amulets. He had a small scowl etched into his face, as if he wasn't happy to suddenly be pulled out of thin air.

"So everybody," I said "This is Carter Kane, and uhhhh-"

"Walt Stone." The kid said

"Walt is Sadie's god slash boyfriend thing, I'm not sure," Carter said "No offense."

"I'm still confused about it." Walt shrugged

"Who is Sadie?" Thalia asked

"My sister," Carter said "She felt disturbances and went to investigate, she never came back."

"All of the gods have gone missing," Jason said "Zeus was the last one, all his guards were slaughtered."

"Well we do have a problem then," Carter mused "So who is everybody?"

"Those three there are hunters, Amber, Thalia, and Jennifer," I said "Everybody else is a demigod. From Camp Half-Blood, we have me, Annabeth, Leo, Raven, and Piper. And from Camp Jupiter we have, Frank, Jason, and Hazel."

"Pleased to meet you all," Carter said "Wish we could all hang out under less dire circumstances."

"You and me both." Raven said, sitting back down

We all retook our seats while I filled Carter in on everything we knew, and he filled us in on what he knew, most of which was stuff we had figured out. He told us Sadie's life force could be found, but it was concealed. All they were able to do was sense the general area, but they couldn't get an exact lock.

"So," Leo said "Back to what Piper said, what's the plan?"

"Well, we don't know how many there are, and we're very likely going to be outnumbered," Amber said "So maybe, just bear with me here, improvise."

"That's what demigods are built for," I laughed "Making a plan, then throwing the plan out the window and making everything up as we go along."

"Holy Horus," Carter groaned "Sadie would love you guys."

"So," Walt said "How do we even get into this Tartarus place?"

"Well, according to Nico at least, the door should just open up once we hit it," Hazel said "We'd have to try to miss it, and even then we'd still hit it."

"Do mortals ever get caught in it?" Walt asked

"Probably not," I said "You'll find that the mist does a pretty good job of keeping stuff like that from happening."

Suddenly we felt the ship rock, violently. We were thrown to the side as it adjusted itself, coming back up. Even though nobody said it, we all knew we must've passed through the gateway, what else could ominous rocking mean? Without a word, we all headed up to the deck, unsure of what we would find. The sky was dark, and all hope seemed to be sucked from my soul as we stepped out into the harsh, chilled air.

"Don't seem that bad," Raven remarked, looking around "Just really foreboding."

"Where'd you learn that word?" I teased him

"Your girlfriend." He whispered

The two of us shared a quiet laugh. Raven was one of the few that could make those types of jokes to me because, despite his personality, I knew he'd never actually try anything with Annabeth, but she'd probably knock his teeth out if she'd heard it.

"Well, we're in," Walt grunted "Now what?"

"Now?" A voice echoed all around us "You die!"

In a matter of moments, two things happened at once. A man, or something resembling one, dropped from the main mast down to the center of the ship, two knives twirling absentmindedly in his hands. I recognized him immediately by the eyes, or what looked more like night vision goggles, Orion. At the same time, several large spiders came crawling over the side of the ship, each one carrying two or three men wearing ancient Greek armor on their backs. The spiders were the size of fully grown dogs, and the men on their backs had a slight red glow in their eyes, I figured they must've been the cultists that attacked Raven on Olympus.

"Spiders?" Annabeth shuddered next to me "Why spiders? Why spiders?"

"Who the fuck are you?" Raven spat at him "White Shaq?"

"Oh you do not know me, son of Artemis?" He asked, amused "But I know you, or at least, I knew your father."

"How in the hell did my dad end up with a friend that tall?" Raven wondered, cocking his head

"Oh we were not friends, I assure you," Orion laughed "I envied him, actually. He took the only prize I wasn't ever able to conquer."

"Raven," Jason hissed "That's Orion."

"Oh," Raven said, pulling his lighter from his pocket "Well in that case."

In a single motion, he flicked his lighter and pulled his gun from his waistband, letting off two quick shots. Each one found their mark and two of the cultists behind Orion dropped dead. Within another split second, Raven's gun was tucked away again and a massive beam of silver struck Orion, sending him flailing backwards. We all drew our weapons as Raven rushed forward, blocking a sword from another cultist and cutting him down with ease, taking out the spider behind him in the same stroke.

I used Riptide to block a sword as Annabeth stabbed his ribs, pushing him down as she cut another's throat. Jason and Leo were back to back, using a combination of fire and lightning to knock off the ones who were still attempting to climb the ship. Amber, Thalia, and Jennifer were running along the railings with unbelievable speed, letting off arrows faster than anybody could follow, each one finding a mark. Frank, Hazel, and Walt were backed up by the Greek fire crates, Walt's amulets were the only thing keeping the monsters away from Frank as he picked them off with arrows. Hazel was a blur of motion, striking down cultists in twos and threes, using her thinner blade to her advantage.

Carter and Piper were holding out together underneath the mast, Carter parrying each attack and pushing them back while Piper swooped in with her knife or used Charmspeak to convince them to jump off the edge of the ship. Raven and Orion were locked in a fierce battle, striking back and forth, neither one able to gain an upper hand on the other. Orion had a definite size advantage, but Raven rolled and slid between his legs, cutting his back or legs as he went.

"Help him," Annabeth said, nodding to Raven "I've got these ones."

I broke away and headed towards Orion, taking a strike but missing as he rolled away. Raven and I rushed him together, coming from either side but he was just too fast. He lashed out with his foot and sent Raven sprawling to the side, leaving me alone and already committed to my attack. He blocked it with ease and parried, narrowly missing my gut with his knife.

"You cannot hope to defeat me," He growled as Raven rejoined "I am a Giant!"

"That's debatable." Raven muttered, moving to strike

Raven pressed his attack, leaving Orion open for me to get several strikes in, but he healed himself faster than I could do damage. I saw Thalia and Jennifer go down under a crowd of spiders, Amber tried to help them but she almost got swallowed up too. One of the cultists got Frank from behind with a club, knocking him unconscious. Annabeth was fighting for her life, but I knew she'd be overwhelmed too if I didn't help her. I broke away from Raven just as a cultist tackled her, sending them both sprawling over the side of the ship.

"ANNABETH!" I screamed as she fell

One of the spiders shot a web out and caught her and the cultist halfway down, she tried to fight but they swarmed her, using the web to secure her to the spider's back and carry her off, the others were being loaded up just the same.

"I've got an idea!" Raven yelled to me "Get everybody that they haven't taken off the ship, now!"

"What are you thinking?" I asked him

"Just do it!" He yelled, catching a cultist's blade and slitting his throat

"Retreat!" I yelled to the remaining Demigods "Let's go!"

Walt used his amulets to fly he and Amber off the ship. I cut down another few cultists while Jason flew Piper and Leo down below, coming back up as fast as he could. I noticed Orion had retreated during the battle, leaving the massive number of spiders and cultists to deal with us. A torrent of lightning arced around the ship, frying groups of ten or so cultists and spiders at a time, most of them falling off the side of the ship as they climbed it.

Hazel and I were back to back, cutting down anything close, but we wouldn't last long. Jason touched down behind us in the nick of time, sending out another burst of lightning as he grabbed Hazel and I and shot into the air. I don't know how long we fell, but the ship was a good distance away when we finally landed, which was a good think I suppose.

"Raven's still up there." Amber said when Jason landed

"I'm going back up," Jason said, nodding "Back in a flash."

He took off towards the ship again, and in the distance I could see tiny flashes off silver light as Raven made his stand against the remaining cultists and spiders, who had no doubt turned their complete, undivided attention to him. Jason had become nothing more then a small dot in the sky, then every hair on the back of my neck stood straight up.

"Get down!" I yelled, tackling Leo and Carter to the dirt

Everybody else dropped as the Argo III erupted into a massive, green ball of fire, swallowing everything in it's path.