Alex's POV
Don't you wonder sometimes if what you are doing is the right thing or not? Well, surprisingly, I don't. I do everything before I think it through.
Being down it the tunnels again were not the funest thing I could be doing but I could feel the son of a bitch down here. It was dark despite the fact that the sun was up outside. Our flashlights guided the way and Thalia held my hand.
The walkie-talkie Percy gave me was tucked tightly in my back pocket. He didn't know if it would work down here but he gave it to me anyways.
"So are the two of you, like, together?" Nico asked after two hours of searching.
Thalia and I looked at each other—we were waiting for the other to answer him. I spoke up first. "Thalia and I have a good thing going, but have yet to decide on whether we are together, together."
I raised an eyebrow at Thalia and she nodded in agreement. "And we don't need any loud mouth Death Child to ruin that."
Nico looked sheepishly away from her, but I noticed that he didn't apologize this time. "I won't say anything. Alec knows a secret of mine and I'd rather that stay a secret."
I smiled at Thalia and then looked pointedly at Nico. "Actually, I know two secrets and a couple embarrassing stories."
Nico rolled his eyes. "I'm not the only one who seems to trust you with their secrets. What is it that Annabeth is hiding anyways?"
I smiled. "There is a reason people trust me with their secrets, Nico."
"And why don't I know any of these stories or secrets?" Thalia asked looking offended.
"Don't worry about it, babe." I kissed her lightly on the lips. "If I could tell you, I would."
Thalia sighed. "I know." She leaned in and kissed me on the lips and it lasted a while.
Nico cleared his throat. "Still here, guys."
Thalia huffed, dropped my hand, and continued on ahead of us. I turned and glared at Nico playfully. "You are such a fucking cock block."
Nico and I laughed. "It is not my fault you two are trying to have a sexual moment right in front of me."
"Yes, it is! You could have averted your eyes, ya perv!" We laughed again and Nico just rolled his eyes.
"Hey, guys, come look at this!" Thalia called from up ahead.
We hurried to catch up with her and I saw what she was pointing her flashlight at. About four feet above our heads was an opening, right in the corner. "Nico and I will lift you and then Nico will go and then I will come up afterward."
Nico rolled his eyes. "How are you going to lift me? And even if you do, how are you going to get up there?"
I smiled. "Don't worry about it. Now help me with Thalia."
Nico sighed and did as he was told. I cupped my hands together for Thalia to step in and Nico did the same. Once she was sure of her footing, we began to lift her. When we were closer enough to our shoulders, Thalia stepped on them and reached out for the ledge. "I got it." She called.
"Are you sure?" I asked before moving.
"Yeah, all I have to do is pull myself up."
Nico and I stepped back and watched Thalia as she scrambled up the ledge. Once she was up she turned to look down at us. "It's not very wide up here. And it's even darker than the halls."
I nodded and then turned to Nico. "Your turn."
Nico glared at me and didn't move. "You can't lift me."
"You can't get up there by yourself."
"And you can?"
"Yes." I answered knowingly. I cupped my hands and looked at him. While he was staring at me, we heard a noise. Something was coming very quickly down the halls. "Hurry!" I snapped.
Nico quit arguing and stepped into my hands. I pushed upward with everything I had and he sailed up fast. Nico caught the edge of the opening and Thalia helped him up.
I took a few steps back and then ran forward. I jumped as I neared the wall and took a few steps up the first wall; I pushed off that wall and then used the next one to keep me going. I was very near the ledge and all I needed was one finally push to get me there. The problem was: the wall broke off as I pushed against it.
I tried desperately to grab the ledge but I missed it by mere inches. Suddenly an arm shot out and grabbed my wrist. The owner pulled me up quickly and we fell onto the floor. I looked up to see Nico holding onto me as if he was still trying to keep me from falling.
I also saw Thalia staring at us and the way we were laying on the floor. I was lying on top of Nico with my head resting on his chest. I sat up quickly, I was sure my face was red but I tried to pretend it was nothing. "Thanks, Nico."
Nico sat up and his cheeks seemed to have some color to but I wasn't certain. "No problem."
I heard a fierce snarl from below and I peeked over the edge. My eyes flared in recognition. "You!" I growled. "What the fuck are you doing back here? I thought I killed you once already!"
The Hell Hound paced the floor below. Nico came up next to me and glanced down. "That is impossible." He seemed to mumble to himself.
"What?" I snapped. "It has the same eyes, scar on its chest, everything."
"That's not it, Alec." Nico said. "That thing has no life force. It should be a corpse not a breathing, walking animal."
I stared down at the Hell Hound. Its eyes were red and they glared at us with purpose. It was here to kill us. It wouldn't leave with anything less than our lives. "I told you I killed it."
"Or maybe it was dead to begin with." Thalia said shakily from beside Nico. Her eyes went wide. "Look at its leg, Alec! Oh, gods, that's not possible."
I looked where she pointed and my heart stopped. It had a large, black wound on its leg—one that looked very much like mine. I glanced at my forearm and then reached up to remove the bandage.
I gasped at what was there. A wound, just a few sizes smaller than the one on the Hell Hound, was there. I flashed back to hearing Max say that Ashley had had a wound like this as well, and Nico said I had died and that my life force was low. Now this Hell Hound was living and breathing when it should have been dead. I realized that the hound had also been trying to bite us. Most hounds just try to rip you to shreds with their claws but not this one.
Is this what happens when you get bitten? Do you become one of those . . . things?
My world started to spin suddenly and soon everything went black.
Percy POV
It had been two hours since Alec and the others had left to go back into the tunnels. Everyone was asleep but Annabeth and I were on watch. "Why didn't you go?" Annabeth asked me. "Was it really just to keep me here?"
I nodded. "I know you are hiding something from me, Annabeth. I can't let you risk more than you need until I find out what it is."
Annabeth looked away. "There is a problem with that."
"What?" I took Annabeth's hand in mine. "You know you can tell me anything."
Annabeth looked me in the eyes. "If I tell you, you are going to worry that much more about me. I can't have you trying to keep me and Alec safe while also trying to keep yourself alive. You don't need this right now, and to be honest I don't either."
"Annabeth, if you would just tell me, we could work it out."
"How?" Annabeth began to get tears in her eyes. "This can't be fixed, Percy!" She looked away and I heard her say something under her breath that sounded like "I can't . . . myself into this."
I was getting tired of this. "Annabeth, you either trust me enough to tell me or you don't. If not then we really need to re-think everything."
Annabeth's eyes went wide and she looked scared. "What?"
I began to speak again when I heard a roar come from the tunnels. Three Hell Hounds burst from the opening and I pushed Annabeth behind me.
I pulled out Riptide and the hounds didn't seem to like that. They snapped and growled furiously. Nox, Max, and Rachel woke up. The tree of them and Annabeth stood up next to me and drew their weapons. Nox and Max were using celestial bronze swords the camp had supplied him with. Annabeth still carried her dagger that had gotten her through the battle in New York. Apollo had personally given Rachel a sword years ago when she insisted on training with the rest of the demi-gods.
We threw ourselves into battle. The first Hell Hound went after Rachel and she fended it off as best she could. Max and Nox were on the next one and the final one went after Annabeth, which means I was fighting it to.
I jumped forward and trust my sword into the hound's face. He roared and snapped at me. Annabeth shot forward and punched it before she swiped at it with her dagger.
The hound dodged and came at us again. It knocked Annabeth over and then turned its attention to me. I took a couple steps backward and then tried rushing it. Before I had taken three steps the creature erupted into ash.
Annabeth was laying on the ground with her dagger held up. I pulled her to her feet just as Max ran past the two of us. The Hell Hound was chasing her and she was running?
I dismissed the thought when I saw Max run up a tree and do a back flip, landing on the hound's back. She crammed her sword in his head. The hound disappeared and Max fell on the ground.
Rachel and her hound were nowhere in sight. I noticed Nox was missing as well. I thought about going after them but when I heard an agonized yelp from the woods I didn't bother.
One minute later, Rachel and Nox came back. We were just about to question our former beliefs of not going down in the tunnels—if that is what came out, what was still there?—when five more Hell Hounds came out of the opening.
"Oh, fuck!" I shouted.
"Ahh shit!" Nox said at the same time.
Nico's POV
Alec had fainted and nearly fallen off the ledge. I would be sure to remind her that this was the second time I had stopped her from falling. Thalia shook her several times to try and wake her up but she was still out cold.
"Alec!" Thalia shouted. "Wake the fuck up! We have to move!"
I rolled my eyes. "Why don't you just smack her already?"
Thalia turned to glare at me. "No! I won't do that! She can get up on her own!"
I sighed, snatched Alec from Thalia's grasp and smacked her hard across the face. Alec sat up quickly and looked around dazed. "I told you." I said smartly to Thalia.
Unfortunately, she ignored me and grabbed Alec's shoulders. "How many times do you plan on scaring me half to death?"
"What?" Alec asked dazedly. "I didn't mean to—"
Thalia smashed her mouth onto Alec's and they began to just make out as if I wasn't even with them. I sighed and looked away. Did they really not care that I was here? I am a fifteen-year-old and a boy! They should realize that—if I was smart—I could have stared at them the entire time. Nooooo, I'm stupid.
"You don't have to stare off into space, Nico." Alec told me.
I looked back at them and they smiled at me. Thalia began to grin. "You should join us next time."
I stared at them in utter shock and astonishment. The two of them began to laugh. "We're kidding, Nico. You don't have to freak out." Alec told me.
"I wasn't freaking out." I said. I really wasn't. I had just found myself imagining the situation and now I couldn't get it out of my head.
"Ahh, did poor, young Nico get blue balls?" Thalia asked playfully.
I faked a laugh. "You're such a riot, Thalia, really where do you come up with such great jokes?"
Thalia smiled at me and stood up. "We should get moving now."
Alec and I stood up to and I stopped her from swaying. "I agree, sitting around here isn't going to help us get anything done."
Alec smiled at me as Thalia walked on. "Don't let her bother you." She whispered.
I shrugged. "I can't really blame her, I would want this body to." I flexed my arms playfully. Alec started cracking up laughing. "To bad she doesn't realize that I don't do the whole 'bi-sexual girl' thing."
"Really?" Alec asked. "I thought that was every guy's fantasy?"
We reached a small opening that we had to duck through. "Not every guy is like that."
Right before Alec ducked through the opening, she paused—I realized her mouth was really close to mine—and eyed me up and down. "Well, that's too bad."
She smiled playfully and ducked through the opening. I looked up toward the gods. "What do they want from me?" I whispered in exasperation.
Percy's POV
After we finally won the fight against the Hell Hounds, I couldn't find Annabeth. I searched around for her and I heard something from way up in a tree.
I searched its branches frantically and I saw Annabeth in one of the highest ones. "What the fuck are you doing up there?"
"I was trying to get the fuck away from that Hell Hound and it just kept coming. It finally got stuck long enough for me to kill it, but . . . now I'm stuck."
I laughed. "You can be very stupid sometimes, Wise Girl."
Annabeth faked a laugh. "Just get me down; I don't think I'm allowed to be up this high."
I started to climb the tree when I realized what she said. "What? Why would you not be allowed up that high? Zeus loves your mother."
Annabeth froze where she was. "Don't ask, Percy, please."
"Annabeth, can't you just—"
"I said don't ask, Percy!" Annabeth snapped.
I had just reached where Annabeth was and instead of leading her down, I glared at her. "You either trust me or you don't, make up your mind now."
"I trust you." Annabeth said instantly.
"Then why won't you tell me?"
"This isn't a matter of trust, Percy. I just don't know if you can handle this right now." Annabeth looked away. "It is hard enough me knowing. If you knew . . . if you decided . . . I just don't know."
I stared at her. "Annabeth, please." I pleaded. "I can't stand the thought of you hiding things from me. It drives me crazy. You do know that no matter what you tell me, it won't change a thing between us, don't you?"
Annabeth looked at me. "Percy, I . . . I'm, err . . . I'm thinking that this is not the best place to have this conversation."
I sighed. "Fine!" I helped her down from the tree in silence.
At the bottom of the tree, Annabeth put her hand on my face. "Percy, please understand that I'm doing this to help you."
"Bull shit!" I snapped. "I'm tired of this, Annabeth. You need to tell me what the fuck is going on!"
Annabeth turned away from me and sighed. "I'm late."
I stared at her in confusion. "And where the fuck is it that you have to be?"
Annabeth turned and stared at me like I was the stupidest person on the planet. "No, Percy!" She clenched her teeth and walked away before she could hit me.
I stared after in complete confusion. What the fuck?
Alec's POV
Nico kept eyeing me strangely. I had only been kidding when I said that—or that's what I kept telling myself—he didn't need to keep staring at me the way he was.
We began to move as if we were all sleep walking. "I think we should take a break." Thalia said.
"I second that motion." Nico said. He sat down against the wall and Thalia and I followed.
Thalia laid her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes. "Today has been a long day." Thalia mumbled.
"I know, babe, you should get some sleep." I told her. She didn't answer.
After a few moments Thalia was asleep. Nico and I sat across from each other, and he was still fucking staring at me. "What?" I finally asked.
"Do you think it is weird dating someone who has the same body parts as you?"
I laughed. "No, it's actually more comfortable."
"How?"
I smiled. "I don't know, Nico. It just is."
"I know you have never had sex with a guy, but have you ever . . . even messed around with a guy?"
I nodded. "When Max and I had our little thing going, I also had a thing going with another boy—she had a thing going with your brother so she didn't really care who I had. I would never sleep with him but we did mess around."
Nico shook his head. "So if Max was fucking Nox, why did she keep coming back to you?"
I grinned evilly. "Because I'm that fucking good."
Nico laughed. "I'm serious."
I sighed. "Okay, look. Guys, they know how to do certain things to a woman. They know just enough to make them get off, but another woman? They know where the right spots are. They know what feels good and what feels great."
"How?" Nico asked seeming very interested.
I rolled my eyes. "How do you think? We have all the same places! What would feel good to us, we know would feel good to other girls. Its common sense, moron."
"Oh," Nico said looking off into space. "So why do you like girls anyways?"
I thought about that for a moment. "Because I've never met a man who could make me cum the way a woman does."
Nico started laughing. "Maybe you've been with the wrong men."
"Oh, really? And just what who would be the right man?" I asked, mostly just kidding and some just to see what he would come up with.
Nico shrugged. "I don't know a porn star or something?"
I laughed. "Just face it; no man can do the things to a woman an experienced woman can."
Nico frowned. "Why is it that we can sit here and talk about sex without it being awkward?"
"I'm really not sure. I guess I'm just comfortable around you."
Nico blushed slightly but tried to hide it. "So . . . since you're just so comfortable around me, can you maybe do me a favor?"
I shrugged—being sure not to wake up Thalia—and smiled. "You saved my life . . . twice today. It seems to me that I owe you."
Nico looked awkward for the first time. "Can you teach me . . . how to do whatever it is you do?"
I frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I wanna' learn how to . . . make a woman keep coming back even if she is fucking some other guy."
I thought about that for a moment. I knew it would be weird and I had no idea how I was going to teach him but I did owe him . . .
I smiled at him. "Once you learn what I know, whoever she is won't need to fuck another guy."
Nico smiled and laughed. "Thanks."
Then I had a thought. "I do have one condition."
"What is it?"
"I'm going to have to talk to her first, but if she agrees, you have to practice on her." I saw him glance at Thalia momentarily. "Not her!" I snapped.
Nico laughed. "I was just making sure."
I glared at him. "I meant Rachel."
So tell me what you think and how the rest of this should work out. Should I have them find the monster first? Should I have Percy freak out about the baby thing and beg them to come back? And then start with the "lessons"?
Really lost need help, R&R!!!!
