Okay guys, I hope you like what's going on so far! Leave me a review to tell me what you think! If you remember House of Hades, Annabeth is very reliant on Percy to help her fight, especially in this scene because of Bob the Titan. So, what do you think will happen now that he's not there? - N x

PERCY

I didn't know if she was okay. I didn't know if she landed or if she was still falling. I didn't know if there were monsters all around her and she was constantly fighting and hiding, or if she found a safe place to stay for a while. I could believe whatever I wanted to believe, but not knowing if it was true was the hardest part.

What would I do if she wasn't okay? If we got there and she wasn't there? Would we wait? Would we seal the doors, not knowing if she was dead or if she was alive and still making her way there? Nobody wanted to think about it, much less say it, but these were questions that had to have been lingering in our minds.

If I was there, I would know. I could help her and keep her safe, or maybe we'd die together, but at least we'd be together. She shouldn't be down there all alone.

Every time I closed my eyes, I just saw her. I saw her looking at me with glassy eyes and the smallest smile on her face as she fell. What was she thinking? What was going through her mind when she made me let her go?

This must've been what it felt like the eight months we were apart. I was in Camp Jupiter, and she was going around, searching for me, not knowing if I was dead or alive. She just kept looking, not knowing.

I remember her dagger landing into the sea, and I sent a wave. I stood on the shore, dagger in hand. "You dropped this."

Annabeth's face relaxed as a wide grin broke out on her face. She ran towards me and wrapped me in her arms. "I love you!"

She told me she loved me.

I didn't say anything at the time. It wasn't the right time. We were in the middle of what looked like the beginnings of a civil war. That, and I thought she likely didn't know she had even said it—that is was just a heat of the moment thing.

But she told me she loved me.

That day, she went off by herself to find our friends while fighting her way through a battle field and searching for a map. To say I was worried out of my mind was an understatement.

But if she got through that, she could get through this.

That was just training for this, right?

It had to be.

I had to believe she'd be fine. I'd have to believe it because she couldn't die without me saying it back.

"Percy?" Leo called.

"Yeah?"

Leo walked into the room. He looked at me from head to toe then chuckled. "You didn't sleep at all, did you?"

I sat up and shrugged. "At least I could say I tried."

"Yeah, well, Hazel's back. She says that there's a secret northern pass, but we're going to have to make a detour to get to Epirus," Leo informed me.

"Great, thanks," I said.

"Don't mention it." Leo shrugged and began walking out.

"Leo?"

"Yeah?" Leo turned.

"It's not your fault, you know." I had noticed Leo had been angrier since Annabeth had fallen. I think even a blind man would be able to see it. The way that he would glare at the Archimedes sphere and beat himself up. The way he tried to stay as busy as possible.

"It's not yours, either," Leo answered. "You did everything you could."

"I'll try to believe that," I said with a shrug. It was the best I could offer right now. "We should go as fast as we can."

Leo grinned. "Don't worry. Gaea's not gonna know what hit her."

Annabeth was in an open field, which unsettled me. She had to have known that staying in an open field wasn't safe—especially when that open field happened to be in Tartarus. Annabeth seemed to look around, paranoia running rampant across her features.

I couldn't help but notice how tired she looked. Her skin was covered in dried blood and dirt, and her clothes and hair in soot. Her normally bouncy, curly hair seemed matted and stiff. Her grey eyes searched around her desperately as her hand clenched onto something. I couldn't see what, but it was probably her dagger.

She didn't have her backpack—she didn't have anything on her except the clothes on her back and whatever she could carry.

She was walking on top of black, broken glass, following something, but I couldn't tell what. I couldn't tell much except what I could tell about Annabeth.

Her legs were wobbly, and she was still limping. Her lips were chapped. They looked like they haven't moved since she fell and started to turn into stone. She bit the inside of her cheek, and her shoulders moved up and down too much to tell me that whatever breath she took was laboured. Her hand moved to run up and down her forearm, as if to comfort her and say that everything was going to be fine, but the panic in her eyes seemed to disagree.

Then she stopped moving, like something had jerked her into position.

She looked around frantically.

"No, no, no," I could hear her whisper to herself.

"Well, well, well," a familiar voice said. Annabeth got into position to attack. I was finally able to see her weapon. It wasn't her dagger—it was a small shard of glass. Probably just 5 inches long. Five empousai had surrounded her. "If it isn't Annabeth Chase. Where's your boyfriend? If you're here, he should be here somewhere, right?" Kelli looked around.

I could see Annabeth physically resist flinching at the mention of me. Instead, she tightened her grip around the glass.

I remembered how dangerous Kelli was the last time we saw her despite her mismatched legs. If it hadn't been for Annabeth, she would have eaten my face off. And now she has four friends.

"What's the matter, Daughter of Athena? Don't have your weapon? Bummer. I was planning to use it to kill you."

"Tell you what, I'm willing to compromise," Annabeth said, gears turning in her head. "Find it, and I'll kill you instead. We could have a whole reenactment of last time."

"Last time?" An empousa snarled. Annabeth looked around, almost confused, like the empousai weren't what she was expecting.

"Oh, she didn't say?" Annabeth asked, getting back to the problem at hand. "Last time she was up there, things didn't go as planned. See, she was in charge of keeping my friend Luke Cartellan faithful to Kronos. That didn't go so well, did it, Kelli? In the end, Luke rejected Kronos and gave his like to expel him. The Titans lost because Kelli failed. Now Kelli wants to lead you to another disaster."

The four other Empousai muttered and shifted uneasily.

"Enough!" Kelli's fingernails grew into long black talons. She glared at Annabeth. "The girl lies. So the Titans lost. Fine! That was a pard of the plan to wake Gaea! Now the Earth Mother and her giants will destroy the mortal world, and we will totally feast on demigods!"

The other Empousai snarled.

"The demigods united!" Annabeth yelled. Her voice had the slightest shake, which wouldn't be noticeable to anybody who wasn't looking for it. "You'd better think twice before you attack us. Romans and Greeks will fight you together. You don't stand a chance!"

I could tell there was still something in the back of her mind. It was like she was stalling, more than trying to escape, but it didn't look like she knew exactly what she was stalling for.

"Bold talk for a demigod stuck in Tartarus," Kelli said. The Empousai began to close in around Annabeth.

"Wait!" She tried again. "Aren't Empousai the servants of Hecate?"

"So?" Kelli asked.

"Well, Hecate's on our side now," Annabeth said. "She has a cabin at Camp Half-Blood. Some of her demigod children are my friends. If you fight me, she'll be angry."

The other Empousai snarled at Kelli's direction, asking for confirmation and saying they wouldn't want to cross Hecate.

"You should follow Serephone," Annabeth said. "She's older and wiser."

"Yes!" The one called Serephone squealed. "Follow me!"

Kelli pounced, and Annabeth didn't have a chance to react. Thankfully, she attacked Serephone, and not Annabeth. But just as quick as it started, it ended. Kelli stood victorious over dust.

"Enough!" She yelled. "I stand with the side that brings us the most demigod blood, and that is Gaea! So I stand by Gaea!"

The other Empousai hissed in agreement.

Annabeth seemed to have all the colour drain from her face as the Empousai surrounded her. Kelli smiled.

"For two years, I churned in the void," Kelli said. "Do you know how completely annoying it is to be vaporized, Annabeth Chase? Slowly re-forming, fully conscious, in searing pain for months and years as your body regrows, then finally breaking the crust of this hellish place and clawing your way back to daylight? All because some little girl stabbed you in the back?" Kelli and Annabeth's eyes locked on each other, and they seemed to have been fighting a silent war. "I wonder what happens if a demigod is killed in Tartarus. I doubt it's ever happened before. Let's find out."

Kelli launched herself at Annabeth, but before I could see what happened next, I bolted up.

The view of Tartarus had abruptly change to the view of my quarters in the Argo II.