Disclaimer: All rights go to Rick Riordan
After several months of HIATUS, here you go!
Also, I've decided that if you want a certain PoV for the next week, then you can comment with a short reason why (I need some inspiration for a 3,000+ word chapter (literally a sentence would work, I just want to know why you want me to write from that person's point of view) and then if I pick yours, I'll you! Just remember that this is cross-posted, so I'll only you on whichever site you commented on!
"Ugh," I heard Percy groan from half-way across the room. "Why me? Why us? Why is this a thing?"
Thalia had just volunteered to read the next chapter, and had revealed that it was from Annabeth's point of view. Percy and Annabeth had only just recovered from the first section of Tartarus chapters. Now they had to do it again.
What kind of sick creature would make people re-live the most painful time in there lives- in what would probably be anyone lives- for, what, entertainment? Chaos, apparently
I'd been tasked (well, more like I volunteered) to help Percy with the pain of Tartarus as much as I could, while my father did the same for Annabeth. So far, neither of us had been able to do much at all.
Not to mention, whenever I tried to help, I could feel a little bit of what Percy and Annabeth were feeling, though not much. Enough that I highly doubted that Chaos was doing this out of the goodness of their heart.
I sighed, before turning back to Nico, who I'd been sitting next to since the chapters about Rome started up. Luckily he'd been a plant for most of the violent parts (he told me not to worry, because apparently this wasn't the first time he'd been a plant) (that made me worry even more)
I'd heard of Nico from some of the other campers, and they'd all said he was some terrifying wild child who would stick zombies on you if you so much as disrespected him. Whoever had started that rumor had obviously never met Nico.
No, I scolded myself, now is not the time to catch feelings for someone you barely know. That can wait until there aren't two impending wars.
I sighed, slowly standing up and walking over to Percy as Thalia started reading.
"ANNABETH DECIDED THE MONSTERS wouldn't kill her. Neither would the poisonous atmosphere, nor the treacherous landscape with its pits, cliffs and jagged rocks.
Nope. Most likely she would die from an overload of weirdness that would make her brain explode.
This made a few people laugh, but most of us were just dreading what was to come.
First, she and Percy had had to drink fire to stay alive. Then they were attacked by a gaggle of vampires, led by a cheerleader Annabeth had killed two years ago. Finally, they were rescued by a Titan janitor named Bob who had Einstein hair, silver eyes and wicked broom skills.
Sure. Why not?
"Why are these things that actually happened to us?" Percy said, looking downcast, "I mean, if we walked up to some mortal on the street and told them that these were actually things that had happened to us, we'd be thrown into a mental institute."
"Well," Annabeth countered, "If we told a mortal on the street anything about our lives they'd think that we were crazy."
Percy nodded, "True."
They followed Bob through the wasteland, tracing the route of the Phlegethon as they approached the storm in front of darkness. Every so often they stopped to drink firewater, which kept them alive, but Annabeth wasn't happy about it. Her throat felt like she was constantly gargling with battery acid.
Annabeth lurched forward and started coughing uncontrollably.
"Why does my mind have to be so descriptive?" she managed to say hoarsely.
Her only comfort was Percy. Every so often he would glance over and smile, or squeeze her hand. He had to be just as scared and miserable as she was, and she loved him for trying to make her feel better.
Aphrodite looked like she was going to die.
Though that was relationship goals.
'Bob knows what he's doing,' Percy promised.
'You have interesting friends,' Annabeth murmured.
Understatement.
'Bob is interesting!' The Titan turned and grinned. 'Yes, thank you!'
The big guy had good ears. Annabeth would have to remember that.
'So, Bob …' She tried to sound casual and friendly, which wasn't easy with a throat scorched by firewater. 'How did you get to Tartarus?'
'I jumped,' he said, like it was obvious.
There was a moment of silence. Even Thalia was shocked.
I wish I had someone who would jump into Tartarus for me.
Wait, no, that's a depressing thought. Depressing thoughts are illegal in times of crisis, I told myself.
'You jumped into Tartarus,' she said, 'because Percy said your name?'
'He needed me.'
"I thought Titans were supposed to be evil," someone whispered.
"They are!" Zeus thundered.
Those silver eyes gleamed in the darkness. 'It is okay. I was tired of sweeping the palace. Come along! We are almost at a rest stop.'
A rest stop. Annabeth couldn't imagine what those words meant in Tartarus. She remembered all the times she, Luke and Thalia had relied on highway rest stops when they were homeless demigods, trying to survive.
Wherever Bob was taking them, she hoped it had clean restrooms and a snack machine. She repressed the giggles. Yes, she was definitely losing it.
Annabeth started laughing on the couch.
"Why am I laughing?" she managed to say, "None of this is funny?"
"The lack of impending death is probably a factor," my father said matter-of-factly.
Annabeth hobbled along, trying to ignore the rumble in her stomach. She stared at Bob's back as he led them towards the wall of darkness, now only a few hundred yards away. His blue janitor's coveralls were ripped between the shoulder blades, as if someone had tried to stab him. Cleaning rags stuck out of his pocket. A squirt bottle swung from his belt, the blue liquid inside sloshing hypnotically.
Annabeth remembered Percy's story about meeting the Titan. Thalia Grace, Nico di Angelo and Percy had worked together to defeat Bob on the banks of the Lethe. After wiping his memory, they didn't have the heart to kill him. He became so gentle and sweet and cooperative that they left him at the palace of Hades, where Persephone promised he would be looked after.
Apparently, the Underworld king and queen thought 'looking after' someone meant giving him a broom and having him sweep up their messes. Annabeth wondered how even Hades could be so callous. She'd never felt sorry for a Titan before, but it didn't seem right taking a brainwashed immortal and turning him into an unpaid janitor.
And now I feel bad for a Titan. Great. Today is just getting weirder and weirder.
If you told me yesterday that I would be reading a book about the future- okay, that's weird, but I've seen weirder. But if you told me yesterday that I would be pitying a Titan, I would have had you committed.
He's not your friend, she reminded herself.
See, weird.
She was terrified that Bob would suddenly remember himself. Tartarus was where monsters came to regenerate. What if it healed his memory? If he became Iapetus again … well, Annabeth had seen the way he had dealt with those empousai. Annabeth had no weapon. She and Percy were in no condition to fight a Titan.
Okay, I didn't feel so bad for him anymore.
She glanced nervously at Bob's broom handle, wondering how long it would be before that hidden spearhead jutted out and was pointed at her.
I looked over at Annabeth. She was pale, sweaty, and looked on the verge of passing out. I knew that my father was doing everything he could, but unfortunately, that was pretty much nothing. She was taking this chapter worse than Percy was because it was from her point of view, I think.
Following Bob through Tartarus was a crazy risk. Unfortunately, she couldn't think of a better plan.
Welp, there doomed.
I didn't say this out loud of course, but when the best plan Annabeth Chase can come up with is "follow a Titan aimlessly through hell", it was a pretty good indication that things weren't going so well.
They picked their way across the ashen wasteland as red lightning flashed overhead in the poisonous clouds. Just another lovely day in the dungeon of creation. Annabeth couldn't see far in the hazy air, but the longer they walked, the more certain she became that the entire landscape was a downward curve.
She'd heard conflicting descriptions of Tartarus. It was a bottomless pit. It was a fortress surrounded by brass walls. It was nothing but an endless void.
One story described it as the inverse of the sky – a huge, hollow, upside-down dome of rock. That seemed the most accurate, though if Tartarus was a dome Annabeth guessed it was like the sky – with no real bottom but made of multiple layers, each one darker and less hospitable than the last.
And even that wasn't the full, horrible truth …
They passed a blister in the ground – a writhing, translucent bubble the size of a minivan. Curled inside was the half-formed body of a drakon. Bob speared the blister without a second thought.
Several people looked slightly green.
Please don't vomit, I silently prayed. If they threw up, then I would have to make sure they were okay, and while I usually don't mind helping people I really didn't feel comfortable leaving Percy when the next sentence spoken could involve Percy's death.
I cursed at myself again. Morbid thought were not helpful.
It burst in a geyser of steaming yellow slime, and the drakon dissolved into nothing.
Bob kept walking.
Everyone shuddered.
Monsters are zits on the skin of Tartarus, Annabeth thought. She shuddered. Sometimes she wished she didn't have such a good imagination, because now she was certain they were walking across a living thing. This whole twisted landscape – the dome, pit or whatever you called it – was the body of the god Tartarus – the most ancient incarnation of evil. Just as Gaia inhabited the surface of the earth, Tartarus inhabited the pit.
I had a feeling that someone was going to lose their lunch very soon. Why did Annabeth have to be so descriptive?
If that god noticed them walking across his skin, like fleas on a dog …
Yep, my prediction came true. Maybe I did inherit some prophetic abilities from my father who had thankfully already checked over the person and determined that they were okay. One (of many) perks of being a god allowed you to be in several places at once. I guess that explains why I have so many siblings...
I hate my brain sometimes. Why did that have to be something that I was now thinking about?
Enough. No more thinking.
Agreed.
'Here,' Bob said.
They stopped at the top of a ridge. Below them, in a sheltered depression like a moon crater, stood a ring of broken black marble columns surrounding a dark stone altar.
'Hermes's shrine,' Bob explained.
Hermes sat up straight in his chair, instantly listening. Connor and Travis did the same.
Why was there a Hermes shrine in Tartarus?
Percy frowned. 'A Hermes shrine in Tartarus?'
I guess Percy and I think alike.
Bob laughed in delight. 'Yes. It fell from somewhere long ago. Maybe mortal world. Maybe Olympus. Anyway, monsters steer clear. Mostly.'
'How did you know it was here?' Annabeth asked.
Bad question, Annabeth.
Bob's smile faded. He got a vacant look in his eyes. 'Can't remember.'
'That's okay,' Percy said quickly.
Annabeth felt like kicking herself. Before Bob became Bob, he had been Iapetus the Titan. Like all his brethren, he'd been imprisoned in Tartarus for eons. Of course he knew his way around. If he remembered this shrine, he might start recalling other details of his old prison and his old life. That would not be good.
And the terror was back. Great.
They climbed into the crater and entered the circle of columns. Annabeth collapsed on a broken slab of marble, too exhausted to take another step. Percy stood over her protectively, scanning their surroundings. The inky storm front was less than a hundred feet away now, obscuring everything ahead of them. The crater's rim blocked their view of the wasteland behind. They'd be well hidden here, but if monsters did stumble across them they would have no warning.
'You said someone was chasing us,' Annabeth said. 'Who?'
Yes, who? Please tell us, really. The suspense is killing me.
Don't get me wrong, suspense is great in, like, horror movies. Not so great in real life.
Bob swept his broom around the base of the altar, occasionally crouching to study the ground as if looking for something. 'They are following, yes. They know you are here. Giants and Titans. The defeated ones. They know.'
The defeated ones …
Annabeth tried to control her fear. How many Titans and giants had she and Percy fought over the years? Each one had seemed like an impossible challenge. If all of them were down here in Tartarus, and if they were actively hunting Percy and Annabeth …
'Why are we stopping, then?' she said. 'We should keep moving.'
'Soon,' Bob said. 'But mortals need rest. Good place here. Best place for … oh, long, long way. I will guard you.'
Bad idea. Having a Titan guard you well you sleep should be a common-sense bad idea.
Annabeth glanced at Percy, sending him the silent message: Uh, no.
Exactly Annabeth, exactly.
Hanging out with a Titan was bad enough. Going to sleep while the Titan guarded you … she didn't need to be a daughter of Athena to know that was one hundred percent unwise.
I completely agree.
A quick look around told me that I wasn't the only one.
'You sleep,' Percy told her. 'I'll keep the first watch with Bob.'
I glared at Percy.
He looked at me hopelessly.
Do you have a better idea? he seemed to say.
I didn't.
Bob rumbled in agreement. 'Yes, good. When you wake, food should be here!'
Is there a Tartarus delivery service I didn't know about?
Annabeth's stomach did a rollover at the mention of food. She didn't see how Bob could summon food in the midst of Tartarus. Maybe he was a caterer as well as a janitor. She didn't want to sleep, but her body betrayed her. Her eyelids turned to lead.
Our Annabeth already seemed to be unconscious.
'Percy, wake me for second watch. Don't be a hero.' He gave her that smirk she'd come to love.
I looked at Percy again, my message clear.
Seriously, don't be a hero. Because when you nearly die, I'm the one who has to put you back together, and that is traumatizing for both of us.
'Who, me?' He kissed her, his lips parched and feverishly warm. 'Sleep.'
This was a horrible situation, but that was adorable.
Annabeth felt like she was back in the Hypnos cabin at Camp Half-Blood, overcome with drowsiness. She curled up on the hard ground and closed her eyes."
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