Annabeth's POV

I woke up that morning. It was much earlier than I normally woke up. Everyone else was just waking up. I heard something. At first I thought it was inside my head, but it was really loud. It was coming from the back of the cave. Everyone else woke up to the noise "Can you hear that?" I asked.

"Yes," Hermione answered. "What is it?"

"I dunno," I said. "Maybe we should see what's making it?"

"Yeah…but it might be something worse than Lamia or Chimera," Ron said, sounding doubtful.

"Could be," I said. "But what if it's Aphrodite calling for us?"

"Why would her voice sound so low?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, there's only one way to find out," I said. "Come on."

The others reluctantly followed me to the back. It was really dark and I took my torch out from my pocket and flicked it on. What we saw honestly freaked me out. I don't know if it freaked the others out, but oh my gods it was scary. I was staring in the face of medusa. But then I realised… this couldn't be medusa, you can't look at her. I'd be stone if it were the real medusa. I realised it was a stone statue. There, behind it was a wooden door. I looked at the others. They had odd expressions on their faces. I took a deep breath and opened the door, hoping I wouldn't find something too creepy.

Through the door though was a large iron gate.

"Should we go through?" Ron asked, still doubtful. I nodded.

"I think we should… to save Aphrodite," I replied.

Percy opened the door, it made a deafening creak and swung open, revealing a tunnel carved out of the rock. We stepped through, but suddenly we heard a voice echoing through the tunnel.

"Welcome, Demigods, to your test. If you are to succeed and get a clue on where to find Aphrodite, you must pass these three stages, each one harder than the last. You cannot turn back, this is your destiny." Suddenly the gate slammed behind us. "But now, I announce… Stage one has now begun!" The voice chilled me to the bone. I felt I knew it from somewhere but I really didn't know where from. What was this test? But I had a feeling we were about to find out. The ground collapsed underneath us. The solid rock floor had gone and now we were dropping like stones. I looked down for a second, but I couldn't see a bottom. Suddenly Harry shouted out, "Annabeth, grab the rope!"

I looked and saw I was just about to crash into a small rope. I managed to move my feet out of the way and grab it. Hermione, Percy, Ron and Harry did the same.

We were now suspended in the air, dangling. Suddenly, Hermione shouted out, "Look, there's a ledge there, and there's a tunnel leading off it. We should swing over there. I think that will be the way out." We nodded and tried swinging. It didn't work. We were about two metres out. Obviously it was made to be impossible. And then Hermione spoke up. "I have an idea. I'll test it out to see if it will work first though."

"Is it safe?" I asked.

"Probably," Hermione replied, a glint in her eyes. She took a brown stick out of her pocket. She flicked it and said, "Wingardium Levi…"

"No!" Ron said. "Don't, we'll get expelled!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Ron, it doesn't work abroad. I tried last summer when we were on holiday in Italy. I did like ten spells there."

"Of course, you're always right," Ron said.

"Right, where was I? Oh yeah, um, Wingardium Leviosa!" She flicked her stick as she said it and let go of the rope. I thought she was going to fall but instead, she started floating. And just like that she floated over to the platform. "I'll float Annabeth and Percy over. You two do yourselves," She said. I looked at Percy. He had a confused expression on his face. I mouthed, "Just go with it." He nodded.

"Are you ready?" Hermione asked. We both nodded. "Good, Wingardium Leviosa!" She flicked the stick and nodded at us. We realised this meant that we had to let go. I took one hand off, and I seemed to be floating. I gingerly took my other hand off and suddenly I was floating. Percy did the same and soon we were standing on the solid ledge.

"Is that, um, a wand?" Percy asked, looking at the stick.

"Of course, silly," Hermione replied, as if it were obvious. Harry and Ron did the same to themselves and soon we were all standing on the ledge. Suddenly I spotted a piece of paper hanging on the wall.

"Look," I said. "There's some paper on the wall, maybe it could be a clue for the next stage." I reached up where it was and pulled it down. There seemed to be a riddle on it, probably a clue for the next stage."

"What does it say?" Ron asked.

"Um, before the riddle there is something saying, 'you have completed stage one.' And there's a riddle below it, saying, 'Take the tunnel that takes you east, but a beast you shall meet' what does that mean?" I said.

"I think it means we have to battle a monster," Percy said. "And take the tunnel."

I nodded. "So what are we waiting for? We need to take the tunnel!" Hermione said.

We all nodded and followed Hermione down the dark tunnel. I wondered what we'd meet at the end; I hoped it wasn't something too scary.

A/N: I'm really happy with this one. It's a great one. The next chapter will be stage two and the one after that will be stage three. And I think you'll get a shock at the end of stage three, I can't believe I did it, but it makes the story. And I'm sorry for not updating for almost two weeks. I was ill and then it has been a really looong week this week too. I've decided my story will be a bit longer, maybe 18 or 20 chapters. Ps please please read and review!