*** As of 12/13/12: I'm very sorry about writing that long AN at the end. I was all PMS like when I wrote it. Please ignore, and I won't do it again. Sorry:) ***

Sorry for Typos/OOCnes/EXTREME SHORTNESS! Hope you enjoy? This is not my best, so don't say that you hate it. No one hates it more than I. So... sorry?

Happy Reading!

Chapter 11

Annabeth

"Percy, they're gone now," Annabeth said shakily. "You can slow down."

Annabeth wasn't sure if that was going to be possible. It was like there was a brick on Percy's foot. He refused to let up on their speed. Annabeth was constantly holding onto something for fear that they were going to crash into the black walls that now surrounded them.

They were in some sort of dark tunnel system. Annabeth wasn't sure where the tunnels had started. She didn't remember Percy driving into them, but after they had left the forest, it had been pretty hard to see anything around them, even with the headlights on. Forget about watching for the enemy hellhounds chasing them; Annabeth couldn't see the road in front of her.

Somehow, though, they'd ended up in the black tunnels. They were pretty narrow, kind of like a two lane road with no margin of error. The tunnel would fork off every once in a while with sharp turns that if weren't done precisely would cause them to crash into the wall and die a painful death.

Annabeth shivered. If she was going to go down, she didn't want it to be like that.

"I'm serious Percy. They're gone." She couldn't be sure, but no need to worry about it now. About an hour or two had passed since the attack.

Percy grunted. "Annabeth, I don't trust them. Those hellhounds were wild and freaky. They definitely were not Mrs. O'Leary. I will not risk you getting hurt anymore than you are right now."

She laid her hand on his arm, and he flinched away and first, but then leaned in a little bit to her touch. "Trust me Percy. You look like you're going to wet yourself."

He glanced down at his pants briefly. "I'm fine, and you're not. We need to find you medical attention, and I will not rest until I find you some." Annabeth almost laughed. Percy could be just as stubborn as she was.

"Okay fine. You'll waste away driving a car, Seaweed Brain. I prefer my boyfriends wide awake rather than terror-stricken and tired. We don't even know where we are."

"So what?" Percy shrugged his shoulders. "This seems like the right way to go."

"We're in a tunnel, driving like we are on the Autobahn."

"The auto-what?"

"Never mind." Annabeth relaxed against the back of the seat and rubbed her neck. Her ankle had begun to throb and she couldn't feel her midsection. She was hungry. She moved her hand forward and checked the glove box for food. Thankfully, she found three little granola bars.

"Bon Appetit," said Annabeth, tossing one at Percy. He caught it with master reflexes and studied it for a minute.

"You know, on every quest, we've always had granola bars as our meal."

"Yeah." She remembered the old days during her own quest through the Labyrinth. They would sit around with Tyson and Grover and have granola bars and fruit juice boxes. Back then, she'd had a huge crush on Percy, but then confused by Luke's confessions, and jealous of Rachel. She was so glad that all of that mess was fixed. Aphrodite liked to make people's lives interesting, that's for sure.

Percy and Annabeth still ate the granola bars with record speed. Afterwards, Annabeth leaned her head down and closed her eyes. She was so much more tired than usual.

It didn't take her long to fall into a dreamless sleep. It was like floating on clouds and eating cotton candy in a pink world where she and Percy were safe and she was hurt. The sun shone brightly, and the sea was a sparkling green like Percy's eyes.

Her dream world was so over the top fourth grade-ish, it was sad. But it was happy to her.

When she woke up, Percy was still driving, but his eye lids were dropping slowly. Annabeth yawned loudly and rubbed her eyes. Yawns were contagious, and Percy yawned also. He turned and looked at her. "Welcome back to the world of the living." Which wasn't completely true.

"Percy, you're going to crash the car by falling asleep. And when we die from that and go to the Underworld, I will be SO mad at you. So park the car and sleep."

"I was just sleeping before," protested Percy.

She raised an eyebrow. "And how long ago was before?"

"Back when we were in the jungle," he admitted.

"I know that. My question was when was that? I've been asleep and I would like to know how long." She thought she had been pretty straightforward, but then again, this was Percy she was talking to.

"Hm, you fell asleep about eight hours ago."

"WHAT? Eight hours? No way." She knew it was true, but she didn't want to believe it one bit. "I've been asleep for eight hours?"

"You have. You should go back to sleep too."

"Not unless you do. You're going to pass out sooner or later, and I won't quit saying this until you do so."

"Fine." Percy eased onto the break and stopped the car. He took the keys out and shoved them into his pocket. He jumped out of the car and ran over to her side, opening the door for her. "Are you pleased now?" He carried her a few feet away from the car and sat her down.

"As a matter of fact, I am." He sat down next to her and leaned against the wall. It was made of a cool black stone that smelled like charcoal. She put her hand against it and felt something powdery come off on her hands.

Percy yawned again. Annabeth watched his eyes close, and her slumped down and fell on his face. "Ouch," he mumbled absently, and she giggled.

Soon there was snoring coming from Percy, and Annabeth knew that he was finally asleep. She pulled his head into her laps and stroked his hair gently. He murmured in his sleep and turned on his side. His hand moved a little bit like he was trying to hit something, but fell with a thud to the ground.

Annabeth bent down, wincing with her wounds, and kissed Percy on the cheek. He was sweaty. But it didn't matter to her. He still looked incredibly handsome.

"Oh, Percy, what am I going to do with you?" Annabeth sighed. He didn't answer. No one did. Her voice echoed all around her.

Annabeth felt like she wasn't alone. Those other voices that were surrounding her didn't seem like her own. They seemed deeper, more fatigued, and millennia older.

The echoes were the voices of Gaea.

So, I few hours ago, I received a review. I wouldn't call it a flame, or constructive criticism, but it seriously pissed me off enough to get on here and write a chapter just so that I could say this (I don't like writing chapters that only contain author's notes :).

So the review was from an anonymous person, who named themselves 'Bored'. They said that they liked the story, but that I was, and I quote, "A little lazy." They also said that they had no patience for how long I was taking to write my chapters, and that I was upsetting them. They had reviewed me before, and said that I only cared about getting reviews and would only update once I was satisfied, and they were going to quit reading or something.

My response to that:

I'm going through some very hard things in my life right now, so it's kind of hard for me to get on here and write. Chapters will be posted once/twice a week, and that's all. I honestly don't think that means I am lazy, but whatever.

And so many people have said that I only care about reviews. Um, no I don't. Don't get me wrong, I love reviews, but I write because I like writing. Telling me to update will not make me update any faster. Sorry, but it's true.

Wow, I sound so paranoid, I know. But I just needed to get this off my chest, because it's honestly been hanging over my head since I started writing my Mark of Athena story (Which is over a year).

*** As of 12/13/12: Once again, sorry for writing all of this. I won't do it again. It's just it was Guest Reviewer, and I couldn't reply to him without this. SORRY ***

-BBH