The jolting ride on a Titan's shoulder passed in an excruciating blur. Percy was nearly delirious from pain. Flashes of memories ricocheted around his brain, all of the monsters he'd destroyed suddenly clamoring for his attention. I did it to save my friends, he thought dully. Or my life. Does that make me a monster? He didn't have the energy to decide.

He didn't know how long the jolting lasted. Time was meaningless as the burning sensation licked along his veins and the inside of his skin. Once or twice he felt a soft hand brush his forehead, like someone was checking his temperature. He couldn't find the energy to open his eyes, though. The waves of pain rippling through his body were all-consuming.

Finally, thankfully, the jolting stopped. Suddenly, it felt like he was sinking into a soft, warm pile of blankets. The pain eased for a brief moment as his body relaxed, but it came roaring back quickly. He groaned.

It was hard to say how much time had passed when he had the sudden sensation of being lifted up by large, gentle hands. A bowl was held to his lips and something warm and pungent was poured down his throat. Percy wasn't sure whether it tasted good or disgusting—it wasn't Phlegethon water, at least, so that was something.

As he drank, the fire scorching his insides seemed to recede. Slowly, very slowly, it dwindled until it was a dull burn. The tension melted out of his muscles. Percy opened his eyes. Everything looked hazy, and he suddenly felt calm and sleepy. He blinked a couple of times, then noticed Annabeth standing beside him, her hands resting on his arm. Gods, she was beautiful. But she looked worried. About him? Maybe. So he tried to reassure her with a smile. "Feel great."

And then a wave of drowsiness rolled over him and dragged him down into the darkness.

He drifted almost back to consciousness once, but the scene didn't make any sense. The ceiling above him was made of what looked like reptile skin. Low voices murmured nearby, there was the crackling of a fire, and he was lying in what appeared to be a very soft bed. A warm smell of animals permeated the air, and he almost thought he heard the soft bleating of sheep. When his head drooped to the side, Annabeth was next to him, fast asleep, curled on her side, one hand resting on his arm. Good dream, Percy thought drowsily before drifting back into the dreamless dark.

When he woke up for real sometime later, it was with his heart pounding because he was pretty sure something large had just roared nearby. Disoriented, his head whipped around, trying to understand where he was and what he was looking at. "What? What—where—what?"

Then he heard Annabeth's voice, and his panic calmed slightly. She slipped her arm into his and said, "It's okay."

He looked to his left and realized she was in fact sitting next to him on a massive bed, Small Bob curled up on her lap. Outside, the monster roared again. Feeling like he'd missed a few things, Percy asked, "That noise…where are we?"

Annabeth was watching him intently, brow furrowed, but her voice was gentle when she asked, "How much do you remember?"

Percy frowned, thinking. He resisted the urge to brush a few strands of hair back from his girlfriend's face, since he had no idea who else was around, and instead tried to focus on her question. What did he remember? The last thing he could recall was the arai and possibly almost dying. That was about it. When he told Annabeth this, she nodded slightly, as if that was about what she'd expected to hear. Before he could question her more about where they were and what was going on, a giant shape loomed over the bed. Percy swallowed back a yelp. Annabeth didn't seem surprised or bothered by the giant, so he tried to follow her lead.

"There is no time, little mortals," the giant announced. "The drakon is returning. I fear its roar will draw the others—my brethren, hunting you. They will be here within minutes."

Ugh, Percy thought. Just great. So much for their rest stop. Still, he did feel better, like some of his strength and energy had returned. Hopefully enough to get them the rest of the way to the Doors, however far that might be.

The giant tossed a couple of satchels at Percy and Annabeth. "Clothes, food, drink."

Percy studied his bag. It seemed to be made of the same reptile hide as the tent. But at least there wasn't a peace sign embroidered on it. That was a definite improvement from the last man-satchel he'd been gifted by an immortal. He scrambled up and stretched, working the kinks out of his back, then slung the satchel over his shoulder. Bob was leaning on his broomstick. When Percy raised a hand in greeting, the Titan nodded. Then his gaze landed on Annabeth and a slight frown wrinkled his brow.

"The Prophecy of Seven," Annabeth gasped.

Uh, what? Percy turned back to his girlfriend, whose face was lit with an idea. "What about it?"

She didn't answer him. Instead, she grabbed the giant's hand. The giant's eyes widened, and Percy was struck again by the thought that he'd obviously missed a few things while he'd been out. However, the pleading note in Annabeth's voice caught his attention as she said, "You have to come with us. The prophecy says foes bear arms to the Doors of Death. I thought it meant Romans and Greeks, but that's not it. The line means us—demigods, a Titan, a giant. We need you to close the Doors!"

Percy wasn't sure exactly how she'd come to that conclusion. It didn't sound too far-fetched, but he wondered if she was right. Chiron's words came back to him, from after Percy received his first prophecy: the Oracle's words often have double meanings…The truth is not always clear until events come to pass. Maybe Bob and this giant were the answer. But maybe they'd been right before, thinking it was the Greeks and Romans working together. Or maybe the true answer hadn't even been revealed yet.

Either way, it didn't matter. The giant withdrew his hand and took a step back. "No, child. My curse is here. I cannot escape it."

"Yes, you can." Annabeth scrambled up, following the giant even as he took another step back. "Don't fight the drakon. Figure out a way to break the cycle! Find another fate."

But the giant shook his head. "Even if I could, I cannot leave this swamp. It is the only destination I can picture."

Wow, Percy thought, that sucks. He ran through a quick list of places he loved—Camp Half-Blood, his mom's apartment, Camp Jupiter, that really great pizza place in Brooklyn, even the Argo II—just to make sure he could still picture them. They definitely felt a little dim and fuzzy at the moment, but they were there.

Annabeth hadn't given up on the giant, however. She grasped his hand again, forcing him to look down at her. "There is another destination. Look at me! Remember my face. When you're ready, come find me. We'll take you to the mortal world with us. You can see the sunlight and stars."

Uh, what? Percy thought for a second time. That sounded good in theory, but what the heck were they supposed to do with a giant once they got back to the mortal world? He guessed they could figure that out later. Besides, before he could think about it any longer, the ground shook. In the distance, Polybotes's voice rang out. "THE SEA GOD'S SON! HE IS CLOSE!"

Crap. Percy grabbed Annabeth's satchel off the bed and pushed it into her hands. "Annabeth, that's our cue to leave."

Annabeth had tears in her eyes, but she swung the satchel over her shoulder. And then the giant handed her a pretty sweet-looking sword. She took it and swallowed hard, still clearly fighting not to cry. Again, Percy wasn't sure what all he'd missed, but there was no time now.

Bob echoed his thoughts. "We must leave."

"He's right, Annabeth." Percy put a hand on her shoulder, and she nodded, wiping her eyes before following Bob to the door.

They set off quickly across the swamp, Percy trying to step where Bob stepped, to avoid falling into a quagmire. He thought of the muskeg again, and his chest constricted. To take his mind off of that, and to clear the tension he could feel in the air, he said, "Hey, Bob, thanks."

The Titan glanced down at him. "For what?"

"For saving us back there with the arai. Look, man, I should have been honest with you. That was wrong. I'm sorry."

Bob studied him for a moment. His silvery hair gave off a faint light in the dimness. After a moment, he said, "I forgive you."

Percy was hopping over a puddle, but his head jerked up in surprise. "You do?"

"Yes," Bob said simply. "Friends do not hold grudges." He held out his hand with a smile, and Percy shook it, feeling a smile creep across his own face.

"Cheers, Bob." Feeling lighter, Percy turned back to where Annabeth was picking her way through the marsh. Her new sword was tucked through the belt loop of her jeans, and her knuckles were white as she gripped the handle. When he approached and said, "Hey," she sniffed and swiped her hand over her eyes.

"Hey." She sniffed again, then asked him, "How are you feeling?"

"Good as new. Or at least, as good as you can feel down here."

She nodded absently, picking her way across a couple of dry patches in the midst of a particularly swampy piece of ground. "That's good. I'm really glad you're okay, Percy. There were a few minutes I thought—" Her voice caught and she shook her head, swiping at her eyes again.

Percy's heart twisted. He wanted to stop and put his arms around her, and just stay that way for a while. But they couldn't. The best he could do right now was take her hand and give it a gentle squeeze. "Hey, I'm fine. Promise. But, uh, what did I miss?"

So she filled him in on Damasen, the gentle giant and poison control expert. When she finished, Percy was a little stunned. "So you basically called out a giant and got him to make an antidote by pissing him off?"

The hint of a smile skipped across her face. "Something like that."

"You're awesome."

"Yeah, well." She squeezed his hand. "I'd like to keep you around."

"I'm very good with that." They were on a slightly firmer bit of ground, so Percy took the moment to lean over and kiss her cheek. "Thanks, Annabeth."

Her answer was to squeeze his hand again, even as her free hand came up to swipe at her eyes. They lapsed into quiet for a while, but continued to hold hands.

Annabeth couldn't let it go. Damasen had said no, but she couldn't rid herself of the feeling that she was right. He was meant to help them. That was what the prophecy meant. She felt certain of it. But she hadn't been able to convince the giant of that fact. Now, she wasn't sure what would happen when they reached the Doors.

We'll probably die, she thought miserably. We'll trek all this way across the stupid place, and we'll end up just dying at the Doors.

She shook her head. Stop it, she scolded herself. That's just the pit getting in your head. Think of something else.

So she forced herself to think back to the night she and Percy had spent in the stables, when he'd mentioned his daydream about New Rome to her. She'd been resistant at first, but now, in comparison to Tartarus, her perspective had changed and she could admit there was no harm in giving the place a chance. Right now, the idea of a place where she could go to college and not be bothered by monsters sounded pretty great.

Beside her, Percy muttered, "This place is worse than the River Cocytus."

For some reason, Bob's voice was cheerful when he responded, "Yes. Much worse! It means we are close."

Annabeth wasn't sure she wanted to know what they were close to. She glanced at Percy. His eyes were dark, focused on the lump in Bob's coveralls that was Small Bob. Worry gnawed at her gut, especially when she remembered how he'd reacted to the despair of the river.

So she took his hand, lacing their fingers together. His palm felt especially warm, given the chill of the air around them. "We're together. We'll get through this." She said it as much to convince herself as him.

And maybe it worked. His expression lightened somewhat as he said, "Yeah. Piece of cake."

She gave him a small nudge with her shoulder. "But next time, I want to go somewhere different on a date."

Percy almost smiled. "Paris was nice."

Yes, it was. In spite of feeling miserable, Annabeth smiled at the memory. Then she squeezed his hand, leaning into his arm. "I'd settle for New Rome. As long as you're there with me."

When she met his eyes, he was giving her the look that made her melt inside, the one that always reminded her that he was her boyfriend now, not just her best friend.

Before they could continue their conversation, the darkness dissipated to reveal a ghoul kneeling in front of them.

Of course Akhlys betrayed them. Annabeth was only surprised it took her so long, and that she'd gifted them, sort of, with the Death Mist before doing it. Not that Annabeth was at all excited about the Death Mist. She could barely look at Percy. Seeing him as a corpse, especially after their recent encounter with the arai, was too painful. It set all her alarm bells ringing, and she had to work hard to ignore them and focus on the task at hand.

Which, right now, was trying to fight a goddess while transformed into a smoky half-ghost.

But when Akhlys raked her claws across Percy's chest, then crouched like she was going to spring at him, suddenly Annabeth could move. She propelled herself over to the goddess's side and screamed, "HEY!" right in her face. Simple tactic, but effective.

Adjusting to moving as smoke was easier than she'd expected. She just had to lean in the direction she wanted to go. Weirdly, it reminded her of the time last fall when her dad had insisted their entire family go on a segue tour of downtown San Francisco. Quite frankly, it had been incredibly embarrassing, but the skills were coming in handy now. Annabeth hoped she would live long enough to tell her father that.

She dove between the goddess's legs, then tucked into a somersault and came back up on her feet. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Percy looking around, like he was trying to find something helpful on the barren ground. She was seriously hoping he could pull another "tremble before the horror of Diet Coke" moment out of nowhere.

Akhlys's talons wrapped around her wrist and Annabeth shrieked as she went sprawling across the ground. Even smoky and vaporous, skidding across gravel hurt. She raised an insubstantial arm to shield herself from the goddess's next attack, but it didn't come. Instead, she heard Percy yell, "Hey, Happy!" and Akhlys released her grip on Annabeth, turning to him and snarling, "Happy?" She charged at Percy, who dodged her swipes as he kept yelling what anyone else would have considered compliments.

Not bad, Annabeth thought, but she knew they were only buying time from the inevitable. They needed another strategy. She rummaged through her pack, looking for anything that might be helpful. Mostly what she found was drakon jerky.

Her head jerked up, though, when she heard Akhlys scream, "A slow death! A death from a thousand poisons!"

Horror-struck, Annabeth watched as poisonous plants swelled out of the ground, like a grotesque parody of wildflowers in a meadow. Sap dripped from them, making puddles on the ground that grew and spread, creeping towards Percy, who coughed and stumbled back, his corpse-like face growing paler.

"Percy!" Annabeth's heart was in her throat. She tried his trick of yelling positive attributes to get Akhyls's attention, but it didn't work. The goddess was too focused on her task, a manic grin lighting up her ghoulish face. She didn't take her mad eyes off of Percy, even when Annabeth hit her in the side of the head with a piece of drakon jerky.

"You will feed the eternal darkness," Akhlys crowed. "You will die in the arms of Night!"

Not if I can help it, Annabeth thought grimly. She started to shrug out of her drakon-hide poncho, thinking that maybe she could sneak up on the goddess and throttle her from behind. Gruesome and sneaky? Yes. Necessary? Also yes. But before she could make her move, the poison tide shifted. To Annabeth's disbelief, it started to roll back towards the goddess.

Akhlys stumbled back a step. "What is this?"

"Poison. That's your specialty, right?"

Annabeth froze. She'd never heard Percy sound like that, anger thick in his voice. As he rose to his feet, she didn't think it was just the Death Mist making his expression hard and furious. His eyes were the same as always, and they were blazing with fury.

How is he doing this? Annabeth thought dazedly. He shouldn't be able to do this. But Tartarus had its own rules. And apparently, here, in the dark and festering world of the pit, her boyfriend could control poison as easily as he normally controlled saltwater.

Akhlys gagged and stumbled as the poison tide reached her, scorching her skin. Annabeth winced at the sizzle. And then she realized the goddess was gagging on her own tears, clawing at her throat. Horror washed over Annabeth like ice water, chilling her to the core. When she looked back at Percy, her stomach dropped off the cliff.

He looked satisfied.

His face was still set in a furious grimace, but behind that, there was just a hint of an arrogant smirk. Suddenly, Annabeth was tumbling back in time, watching Luke smirking at the gladiators in Antaeus's arena. And before that, giving her a similar look as he trapped her beneath the weight of the sky. No, something deep inside her groaned. Not again, please.

Annabeth found herself on the edge of the cliff. She didn't even realize she'd been backing away. She almost didn't want to draw Percy's attention to her, but the poison tide was completely focused on Akhlys. Maybe he wasn't that far gone yet. "Percy!"

He glanced at her, but it was almost like he was in a trance. Annabeth wasn't even sure he could hear her. Still, she managed to say, "Stop…"

His lip curled as he turned back to Akhyls and the poison tide surged forward. No, please. This isn't you. This isn't you, this isn't you…don't do this. Don't be this. Don't become him.

"Percy, please…" The words were weak and desperate, but somehow, they must have worked. She watched the violence drain out of his face. A sob bubbled up in her throat.

"Leave!" Percy roared at Akhlys, and this time his voice sounded like it normally did when he was pissed off. As the goddess ran away, wailing, her plants dissolved. Percy stood in the midst of the dust, breathing hard. His expression was still furious, but the smug satisfaction was gone.

Annabeth stumbled over to him. To her relief, she was still able to grip his arms. When his eyes met hers, they looked normal angry, not that blazing fury that had lit them before. The remaining anger faded when he looked at her. Annabeth's lips trembled as she said, "Percy, please…" A sob escaped. "Some things aren't meant to be controlled. Please."

He swallowed hard and his jaw clenched. "Yeah. Yeah, okay."

As the anger drained out of his face, Annabeth's panic subsided somewhat. Her brain went back into strategy mode. "We have to get away from this cliff. If Akhlys brought us here as some kind of sacrifice…"

It seemed to take Percy a few moments to process her words, like he wasn't totally tuned into the conversation, but then he said, "She said something about feeding us to the night. What was that about?"

Annabeth doubted it was anything good. Her suspicions were confirmed when the temperature suddenly dropped and air whooshed past them. Percy grabbed her arms and moved them away from the edge of the cliff as a massive dark shape appeared in front of them. Annabeth felt her blood chill as the creature spoke in a gentle, malice-laced voice. "I imagine that she meant Night, with a capital N. After all, I am the only one."

The next moments were a blur as Annabeth tried to process what was happening and take in the goddess in front of her, while every one of her own internal alarm bells started clanging wildly. Beside her, she heard Percy's ragged breathing, on the edge of panic.

So, as the goddess bragged about how she would personally kill such fine prizes, Annabeth did the only thing she could think to do.

She opened her mouth and started talking.

Obviously, this scene continues in the book. It's a really well-written scene, though, and I didn't feel like I could add anything to it, so we're going to cut here and skip ahead in the next chapter. Again, my intention with this story is more for it to fill in some missing pieces, rather than rehash everything. Next chapter will be up next week : )