Chapter 12: Taken
Annabeth's P.O.V
She had left Nico to take care of Will after doing his bandages, and went straight back to her sleeping bag afterwards. Annabeth needed her sleep, after all, they had decided to try and track down Percy the next day, and wouldn't stop to rest until they knew where they were going.
Every night before she went to sleep, she had started to read, not just because – well who wouldn't like to read? – but because she was training her newfound power by losing concentration but still keeping the book in the air above her, and turning the pages when she needed to. However, the first few times, this had ended in Annabeth dropping the book on her head, earning a muffled "oof", and either Nico or Will coming to see what had happened, which was embarrassing. They had decided not to tell Nico though, much to Will's protests. Although they were making sure he was always safe, if he was taken, they didn't want Tartarus knowing what Annabeth could now do.
So after reading for about fifteen more minutes, she decided to put her book down and get some rest. Rolling over, Annabeth lost consciousness surprisingly fast for a demigod.
She was back in Ariadne's lair, standing over the pit that lead to Tartarus. But instead of Percy holding onto the top of the lip and Nico trying to pull them back up, Annabeth was on the lip, and Percy was the only one dangling over the edge.
"Percy!" she yelped. The son of Poseidon looked up as she said that, but his eyes – his eyes were still black.
"Annabeth!" he yelled back, before taking in the scene around him. He was surprisingly calm.
"Are you – are you really you, or is this my own dream?" Percy questioned.
"It's me, it's me Percy! I miss you so much! Oh gods, why are the fates so unfair?!" she babbled, it all coming tumbling out. Suddenly, their hands became sweaty and slippy. Annabeth was finding it hard to hold on.
"I guess our time will be short," Percy said, too calmly for her liking. "Just know that you can't do what I would do."
"What?"
"Don't put me first. Keep Nico safe before me, save yourselves if it comes to it. Just know that Jason and I, we've become a bit more… dangerous."
"Percy, I can't do that, it would kill me, you know I can't-"
"Shhh, yes you can. You can do anything," Percy interrupted. Slowly his hand slipped from hers.
"I love you, Wise Girl," he finished as he fell into the depths of hell again.
"I love you too, Seaweed Brain," she whispered as the scene shifted back to her "room", and her eyes fluttered open.
Nico's P.O.V
Nico and Will had gone back to sleep after checking Will's bandages and making sure that otherwise, they were both fine. They would have fallen asleep holding each other, but their surroundings were too hot. They just ended up getting sweaty and uncomfortable. So after wishing each other a good night's sleep, they fell in to oblivion.
It wasn't long before Nico woke again. He had had a surprisingly dreamless sleep, and didn't know why he had awoken. He turned over in his sleeping bag, to find an unconscious Will next to him, looking as beautiful as ever. Suddenly, he heard a quiet footstep outside the tent, and realised why he had woken up.
The footstep was so quiet, so practiced, that it was almost unnoticeable to the untrained ear. Nico, however, had had a lot of practice with sleeping lightly, something he wasn't exactly happy he needed to train. What happened next, Nico didn't know why he did it. Instinct kicked in, and he pretended to still be asleep. He suspected the person outside was either Jason or Percy; a monster wouldn't be so quiet and no other demigods, or that he knew of, were down in Tartarus. Therefore, he had no chance of fighting them – they were the best fighters of their time, and even then Tartarus had enhanced everything about them. Who knew what they were capable of.
So Nico rolled back over in his sleeping bag until he was laying on his back, arms sprawled out to his sides. He had a plan, but neither of his friends were going to like it.
The zip that held the main flap down slowly started to open, so quietly that it didn't wake any one up (except for Nico, of course). Once it was fully open, a body made its way through, a flash of blond hair coming into Nico's restricted view through his eyelashes. "Jason," he thought. Suddenly, a wad of cloth was smacked into Nico's mouth, and he decided it would be too suspicious to not "wake up". So he flipped over in fake surprise, and slapped Jason across the face.
He wasn't sure why he did it. He just, well, did. He blamed it on reflex. Jason, however, didn't look too happy about his "reflex", and held his arm down with iron-like strength.
"Hello, Di Angelo. Have you come to save your friends? Too bad, they're way past saving now," Jason, with Tartarus's voice, whispered. Suddenly, Nico felt a prick in his arm, and looked down to find a needle in his shoulder. He decided that then was the time to use his new skill he had been practicing.
Nico shook his arm, and the long sleeves of his shirt relaxed, not having any flesh to support it from the bone. Luckily, Jason didn't seem to notice. So in order to avoid Tartarus from knowing about his new power, he pretended to lose consciousness. As he felt the needle being removed from his shirt, he twitched his arm as slightly as possible, turning in back into a fleshy one. Next, he was heaved on to Jason's shoulder, and carried out the tent.
Fortunately, his head and arms were laid down Jason's back, so the demigod couldn't see Nico open his eyes and bring up a small skeleton from the ground. Telepathically, he talked to the skeleton, out of fear his voice would be heard if he whispered.
"Follow me to wherever Jason takes me. Then return here, and lead Will and Annabeth to where I will be. Before they enter, however, you must warn me that they are coming. I will seem to be under their spell, but just trust me. I will talk to you about when to let them in," he instructed.
"Yes, master," it responded, before sinking back down into the ground.
"Good," Nico thought. "At least now they can find me. I just hope my plan works out."
