Aj: Hey. Anika hasn't killed me yet so here's the next chapter.

Camp

"We're all agreed that we have to do something. But the only way to defeat Kronos is to save Max. I know a lot of you hate her, but if that stands in your way then we all die." Percy stated, looking at every demigod individually.

"You can defeat Kronos without saving Max. You are the child of the prophecy. Not Max. All she has done is hurt the people she loves, especially Fang. You can do the job quicker if you don't focus on Max." Rachel argued. There were a few murmurs of agreement, but most people remained silent. They had decided that for now it was best to be impartial, or else the camp could be here all day while Kronos was taking over Olympus.

"This is ridiculous. Here's what we're going to do. The people that are willing to help Max will come with Percy to fight Kronos. The rest will go to rescue the kidnapped campers. Which, thanks to Angel, we know is on Staten Island. So, who wants to come to save Max and defeat Kronos?" Annabeth offered.

Percy and the remaining flock, minus Angel, raised their hand while others looked conflicted as to what their choice should be. Grover looked like he wanted to raise his hand, but he was scared to have to face Kronos.

"I'll do it." Grover decided, hesitantly raising his hand. The remaining flock was looking at Angel angrily, but if she noticed it, she showed no sign.

"Sorry, but Clarisse wants to go help the campers because that's where she thinks the action will be. And we all know Clarisse's strategies usually consist of, 'going in and pummeling the enemy'. I have to lead that group. I do want to help Max though." Angel explained.

"No way am I taking orders from a little brat!" Clarisse yelled from across the table. Angel looked at Clarisse sharply, and with a confused look on her face, Clarisse began to hit herself in the head repeatedly. While Clarisse kept hitting herself repetitively without signs of stopping anytime soon, Angel looked at the other campers who were protesting her leadership.

"Any other objections?" She asked the shocked campers innocently. They instantly shook their heads no and Angel crossed her legs and smiled happily, as if she had just gotten a new toy.

"With that out of the way, we don't have enough people to help save Max. Annabeth—"

"Sorry Percy," Annabeth interrupted, "But I don't really like Max. It would be weird if I helped save her. And I'm needed more helping to get the rest of our army back." Percy nodded solemnly and the five going instantly knew they would be killed from their lack of numbers.

"Aww… Percy, I can't believe you weren't going to invite us. Really hurts a girl's feelings." A voice crowed from the doorway. All heads turned to see Thalia Grace, her lieutenant uniform clashing with her shirt that had the words, "Death to Barbie" on it and featured a Barbie head with an arrow through it.

"Count us in. If girls help save her, plus the fact that a boy possessed her, she's more likely to join the hunters. And you know, no Green Day fan left behind." Thalia announced.

"How did you get here?" Percy asked, hope welling inside of him at the sight of fifty or so trained killing machines on their side.

"We walked. I see you haven't gotten any smarter, even with Annabeth's influence. And did you really think we would miss a good fight?" Thalia answered. Percy gave her a half smile, used to her wisecracks by now, and turned to the campers.

"Let's fight."

Max

After I had sobbed for days, literally seeing as hell time moves faster than Earth days, I had continued to walk along the stairwell that lead out of Tartarus in a winding almost never ending trail that burned any skin that touched it from the tortured souls that it had devoured. Someone really needed a new decorator down here.

It was then that I noticed that the opening out of Tartarus wasn't getting any closer with the steps I took. It was almost as if I was on a never-ending treadmill. In a single swipe I pulled my fist back and punched the stonewall next to me with all of the strength I had. The stone didn't even crumble, but I'm pretty sure every bone in my hand did, judging by the soreness and the blood. And I might have just yelped like a cat whose tail got stepped on by a two thousand pound guy wearing cleats. It could've been anyone though.

The stone around me resembled blood with specks of white mixed in the rock. I had half of the mind to think it was really blood mixed in with bone, judging by the standards of this place. Every step I took was shaky and gave me a third degree burn, but strangely, I had the strength to be able to keep moving. I don't know how long exactly I had been walking. My best guess is a week with the luxury of exactly one rest, no food or water, (Not that Tartarus had demons dressed up as lunch ladies serving us anything) and no sleep. It was better than what was waiting for me down there though.

I shuddered at the thought of anything else they would put me through. I had escaped, something most souls haven't been able to figure out how to do, but now they were searching for me 24/7. It's a miracle that I had escaped capture for this long. When I had run into that guy, Danny or something, I had thought at first that he was a guard in disguise. But no, he was just a creepy kid from the future that I accidentally brought. His arrival, as much as I hate to say it, actually gave me hope. If he knows me in the future, maybe I will survive. Maybe.

The sound of rocks shifting made me freeze and back up into the cave wall, attempting to look flat. I cursed in my head as I saw a group of bulky shadows heading my way. My raptor vision made out the armor that the guards in Tartarus wear. So much for escaping.

I gave up my attempt at trying to stay hidden and ran for my life. I had discovered two days ago that running only increases the burning, but I had no choice unless I wanted to be tossed into the damned soul pit for even longer this time. I had never run this fast in my entire life. Not even when I was running from the school or from erasers.

Eventually I came to a larger slab of rock, only to find out just in time that it was a cliff. I skidded to a stop right in front of it, my toes hanging off of the edge. I looked back at the guards to see they were closing in on me too quickly to be possible, and my new BFF was in the front, the alcoholic smell that he always had mixing in with his sweat to make him smell worse than a landfill. And believe me, I know what they smell like. I unfurled my wings and was about to jump when a voice interrupted my concentration, "Not yet, young hero. I must test your worthiness."

With that, flowers began tangling around my ankles, holding me firmly to the rock floor, which burned even worse I might add. And whoever was doing it apparently forgot to take off the thorns. It was insulting that the great Maximum Ride was taken down by flowers.

When I had been conscious, I had seen Kronos use his/my powers. I think that with a little more practice after seeing how it was done I would've been able to control my powers. Unfortunately, Tartarus was a little busy ripping out my very humanity and sanity with tortures that are too gruesome to describe that I hadn't been able to work practicing into my schedule. Meaning, I couldn't just freeze the guards.

Within seconds, said pains in my ass caught up with me and the flowers let go as soon as I was in my torturers grasp. As much as I struggled, I was overall too weak from everything I had gone through lately to be able to break free. I had been captured, and I knew from the grin on his face that I was going to the pit of damned souls. And the title fit perfectly. Because my soul would be damned forever.

"It was naughty of you to try and run little birdie," He paused to chuckle at his oh so clever joke, "But now you get to take a visit into the pit for double the usual time." He announced as I stood at the edge of the pit, bound inside of a straight jacket made of bones that had some skin and blood still left on it. I shivered slightly as a spirit's claws grazed my toe, as it was trying to pull me in.

"But I don't think that's enough." He added, leaving me confused. He suddenly pushed me down onto the plank that extended into the radius of the pit that I was supposed to jump off of and took my hoodie off, leaving me in my Green Day tank top where the slits of my wings were. I saw a glint of something in his hand and craned my neck to see what it was. It was a butcher knife. He pressed the ice-cold tip against the area the slits were in and quickly made my wing slits larger. Not without cutting my back. Then he forcefully pulled my wings out so they were expanded into the thirteen-foot wingspan. I instantly knew what he was doing and struggled harder than I ever have as he placed the blade against where the bone met my skin.

It was useless. He swung the blade like an ax and with one swift, but painful movement my wing had been cut off. In reality it may have taken six seconds for my wing to have been amputated from my body. It felt like so much more as I had felt the blade cut into my bone and slice through my skin and feathers. My back was arched in pain and I hadn't even tried to keep in my blood-curdling scream. I might have even felt the waves of pure agony strong enough to reach Kronos. That might just be me hoping though. Blood was spreading through my entire back and I almost didn't notice him positioning for the second wing. But I did, and it was even worse than the first blow, with it being combined with the pain of the other wing.

My wings tumbled off of the platform, my blood staining the feathers, and the souls snatched them up hungrily and began swiping more furiously at my legs trying to get me to fall down to them. My torturer swiped his dirty, and now bloodstained, fingers across my chin and pulled my face around almost 270 degrees so that I would be looking at him. I was too dizzy from blood loss to refuse, and my mind was distantly wondering if I would be reduced to becoming one of those souls. His nails digging into my skin forced me to look at him grinning at me in a triumphant sort of way.

"Have fun, girl—"

"What happened to birdie?" I interrupted as snarkily as I could, although I just sounded weak.

"Well you aren't a birdie anymore, are you? I heard you were friends with the mistake of a boy that caused my death. I'll be sure to tell him this is his fault." He replied. I winced at the painful reminder of the absence of what made me—well, me. It was as bad as him chopping my arms off, maybe worse. I would never soar again, even if I did manage to escape. And that would never happen, seeing as I would most likely become one of those souls after this trip. With the blood loss catching up to me and the painful thoughts swarming in my head, I slowly tumbled off of the plank into the pit.

Anika: I hope that chapter was worth the wait. Tell us if it was. And the chapter countdown is back with only four chapters left.

Aj: For those of you who have read another story of ours, The Duo, than you know about my famous bonus chapters. I will do another, even better, one if we get ten reviews this chapter. Do it for the bonus chapter! There, I will torture characters of your choice with funny, and random, tortures. So get reviewin'! –Aj.