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Annabeth

After Percy had left her, Annabeth had had a great little chat with her mom. At least, as great as it could go when your mom delivers a death sentence to you.

At the moment, she stood on the bank of the river Tiber, and stared at the murky water, full of polluted items.

According to her mom, the coin was going to guide her – it would glow hotter the closer she got to the statue. And somehow, the statue would save them. At least according to Athena it would.

She took a breath and held up the golden drachma-sized coin, watching it gleam in the sunlight. Slowly but surely, as she held her concentration (which was not easy for an ADHD demigod), the murky water slowly parted to reveal a stone staircase leading down.

Annabeth knew for a fact that it hadn't been there earlier. She could see to the bottom – it wasn't that deep, and there were no stairs. But magic didn't care what was possible and what wasn't.

She took a step forward, holding her breath as the river smell became stronger.

Taking faster steps, she was soon completely underground, with only the small coin as guidance, as well as her bronze knife which glowed brightly in the darkness of the path that she walked on. Her coin slowly grew brighter, but that didn't make reassure Annabeth at all. There should have been monsters, or traps by now...

"Who goes there?" A voiced suddenly hissed from the darkness.

Annabeth mentally face-palmed. She had to think that?

"My name is Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. Now, who are you? I need to continue on my journey and I will kill anything in my way if necessary."

There was a repeated hissing sound from the darkness, and Annabeth realized with a start that the creature was laughing.

"By all means, Annabeth, go ahead. We have been waiting for you for over millennia. Ever since your mother turned our mother into what she has become, we have been waiting for you. Watching you since the day you were born, sending out spies to monitor you, but you did not notice. Our mother is still here, but there are more of us than just myself. Many more and you can be sure that you will meet them. As to what I am...you know what I am, my dear child. I am your enemy."

Annabeth raised her glowing bronze knife, her arm shaking slightly. "Why are you here?" She demanded, her voice quivering slightly. She hated spiders. Why, of all things, did there have to be spiders down here? Why couldn't it have been a hydra, at the very least?

The spider chuckled. Or at least that's what it sounded like, anyway.

"I am here, my dear girl, because of your mother and her precious statue that you are trying to retrieve."

Annabeth stared into the shadows, frozen, not sure what to do. "I...the statue...at least let me fight you."

The monster laughed. She had no idea how big it was, but she had a weapon. More than one, if necessary, but she hoped that it wouldn't come to that.

"Come right on, dearie."

She took a deep breath before charging at it. That was her fatal mistake.

As she ran forwards, her foot caught on a rock and she slipped, falling face-first into...nothing.

Before she realized that she was falling, she landed. The ground felt soft...strange. Usually the ground was harder than that...

She reached over and felt it. After a few seconds she figured out what it was.

Spider webs.

Annabeth felt her heart climb into her throat. She was lying on a bed of cobwebs, somehow woven together to form a floor.

She spotted her knife a few feet away, shining in the darkness.

She crawled forward; testing to make sure it was stable, then walked briskly and snatched it back to her.

She sighed in relief; it was all fine now. Mostly. The only problem was-

A loud crackling noise came from the middle of the room, and she froze. It sounded like fabric being ripped apart...

Just as she figured it out, the floor broke and she was once again sent tumbling down a hole.

Annabeth had to choke down her scream as she fell through blackness, and for a moment she panicked, imagining that she had fallen through Tartarus.

No such luck. She crashed into the floor at a very unwelcoming speed, and she heard her arm crack underneath her.

Tears sprang to her eyes and she gasped, trying to block out the overwhelming pain that exploded in her arm. She cradled it, remembering to check and make sure it was still in its right place, but unable to think about anything else she could do.

After about ten minutes of sitting on the ground, Annabeth forced herself to get up.

"Come on Annabeth, you have to get to the statue," she muttered, just for some reassurance that she wasn't dead yet.

She slowly got to her feet, and then realized that she would have to make a sling for her arm. She looked around using the dim glow of her knife to find anything that might be useful.

The room she was in was in a square shape and made completely of rock, with a small circular hole in one corner that looked large enough for her to slip through.

In another corner, though, was an old rotted towel, bunched up into a ball.

Annabeth groaned when she saw it, and then realized that it was the perfect thing. And she knew who had made it appear – well, probably at least. It was most-likely Hermes, but it could've been Athena or Iris.

She walked over and picked up the yellowed fabric. As it unravelled a sharp clanging noise rang throughout the room and Annabeth froze.

Then she unfroze as she realized that it was herself that made it. She put the knife on the soil to see what it was...

Ambrosia! She grabbed it and started eating it, feeling the pain fade a little already. Once she started feeling warm, though, she took another mouthful and stuffed the rest into her pocket.

She then proceeded to make herself a sling and continued following the trail. There was a wooden ladder that led completely down, nailed to the wall, and it took her several minutes to reach the bottom. Once she got there, she was forced to walk in a freezing stream to a large cavern, which was where everything awaited.

She took a deep breath before entering – she didn't know what was in there, but pushed one of the two doors open with her good arm.

She gasped.

THE END! I hope you guys enjoyed my story! Thank you so much for all your reviews – I really appreciated it and hope that you all will read my next book, House of Hades. Thanks once again for being (sort of?) patient with my terrible updating skills...did you fall for that? Huh? Huh? I'm just kidding! I wouldn't end a story like that! Three more chapters though and I'm done! :D