Chapter 8 ~ Fiery Sightseeing
Chapter 8 ~ Fiery Sightseeing
Percy looked amused at Bianca and Annabeth. They had their eyes squeezed shut as tightly as they could. Percy laughed softly as he released her hands from his shoulders and Annabeth waved her hands in panic to feel something.
"Percy, get the hell back here!" cried Annabeth.
"Percy, that's not funny!" agreed Bianca with her. "Now you better make sure we can open our eyes."
Percy was still chuckling when he finally decided to put the two girls out of their misery.
"MOM? Where are you? Mom? Thanatos? Lyssa? Anybody home?" he called out into the hallway.
"Hehehe!" a chuckling voice rang out. "Those demigods look delicious. Maybe we'll roast them with potatoes. When was the last time you had demigod meat, Percy?" the female voice rang.
"Nah, I think we should just toss them out to Tartarus and watch them get chased by monsters. But the monsters won't kill them, no, haha, they'll chase them until they die of exhaustion. Hahaha, that's always fun to watch." said a male voice. "Remember when we did that last time, Percy? We took turn turns throwing knives at them..."
Bianca was shaking with fear and Annabeth had her knife out and was holding it so tightly that her knuckles were turning white, but also seemed very nervous. She didn't seem so eager to hold onto Percy's shoulder anymore. Percy just rolled his eyes.
"Children, stop scaring our poor guests!" called the voice of Nyx.
But this only seemed to make Annabeth more nervous. She spun around with her eyes tightly closed, searching for the source of the voice that had so far been the only one not to threaten her death.
Why was she still so nervous when she heard the voice of the Goddess of the Night? Oh, right, that was the incredibly powerful daughter of Chaos, a Primordial Goddess, who had beaten Athena to a pulp in front of Annabeth's eyes just over two weeks ago. And now, after such a short time, Annabeth had gotten the chance for a new quest to prove herself and would probably be eaten as dinner by the Goddess of the Night and her crazy children. Why on earth had she come here, to Tartarus, the worst place imaginable? Thalia's tree was poisoned, that was obvious, but there were other powerful healing artifacts in the world of Greek mythology.
Bianca had similar thoughts running through her head. What was she doing here? She risked her life for a tree? No, she was risking her life for a home. In that short time, Camp Half-Blood had become home for her and Nico. Nico. Her little brother was clearly happier when he found out their father's identity. But when it became partially clear to the campers that they were both children of Hades, they were shunned by most. He was still too young to understand.
But some had not, Bianca remembered. Annabeth was neutral to her, she hadn't really treated her any differently than other campers. Interestingly, some Apollo campers had gotten along well with Nico. And then there was Percy. He was the reason she was here in the first place.
He was the reason both girls were here. They were here because they had taken a leap of faith in him. He had gotten them into this hellhole and he would handle this too.
Annabeth, unlike Bianca, had less trust in Percy and was currently thinking about how to painfully kill hem without being killed by his mother.
"Yes cut the crap! I did not do this kind of stuff. Well except for this one time with Uncle T... never mind. Mom, could you please turn off the 'Turn-Every-Mortal's-Brain-into-Jell-O-Mode' so they can open their eyes?" asked Percy impatiently.
Bianca and Annabeth relaxed at hearing this and Annabeth stopped twirling around while holding her knife and had lowered it a little bit.
Lyssa and Thanatos came running into the room laughing while Nyx summoned some remotes from the shadows into her hand. She looked frantically at the various devices and then pressed a few buttons. Nothing happened for a while and Percy bobbed his feet up and down with a frown on his face. Nyx pressed a few other buttons, shaking her head. Suddenly the TV sounded in the next room.
"Oh Percy darling, could you help me with the remote controls? I just can't remember which control is for what," Nyx said with an exasperated sigh, handing Percy the many controls as he held out his hands and was rolling his eyes.
"Okay, let's see. Hmmm, first I gotta turn the TV off... so now the other things... hmm... no, that's the sound system... DVD-player... ah there it is... aaand done." said Percy as he pressed a button. The room lit up brightly for a moment and then it was filled with soft light so Annabeth and Bianca could see something and at the same time not go insane.
Percy was about to show mercy to the two demigoddesses and finally allow them to open their eyes in the face of the three gods, but Thanatos put his hand on Percy's mouth and pointed to Lyssa with a grin.
Normally, Percy would be fully on his siblings' side and prank the shit out of everyone, but he wanted to prevent his companions from thinking he was a crazy man-eater. Percy squirmed in Thanatos' grip, but the god of death did not let go and continued to prevent Percy from saying anything and held on tight. The faint sounds of fighting he emitted, however, now led Bianca and Annabeth to think that the other had just been kidnapped. Nyx rolled her eyes, but did not stop her children. After all, it was rare to see Thanatos and Percy cuddling around like that.
Lyssa, meanwhile, crept right in front of Annabeth and Bianca, who still had their eyes closed. The black carpet with stars on the floor swallowed the sound of Lyssa's footsteps. She grinned and didn't stop doing it. Her grin became so wide that her entire cheeks were now widened by her grin. Her teeth became pointed and long and she opened her mouth wide. Lyssa's tongue became long and forked like a snake's and spread blood-red spit in her mouth and on her lips.
Percy cursed inwardly.
"Who had thought it was a good idea to give gods the ability to change their appearance? No wonder they were all extremely hot. Except for Hephaestus... If you think about it... Why can't that guy change his appearance to something normal? It doesn't have to be on the level of Aphrodite, but just something non-disgusting would be enough...
Damn ADHD! Concentrate Percy, Lyssa is about to eat your friends!"
"It's okay, you two can open your eyes." Thanatos called out.
Percy used his moment of distraction to elbow him in his stomach and wiggled out of his brothers grasp as he let out a gasp, but it was already to late. Annabeth and Bianca opened their eyes to the horrific face of Lyssa and jumped back while letting out a girly scream.
Lyssa reverted her face back to normal and both her and Thanatos broke out laughing. Percy walked up to them slapped the back of their heads while Nyx just rolled her eyes at the antics of her children.
Bianca and Annabeth glared and gripped their weapons, but blushed shortly after that as they looked at Thanatos, who was wearing his usual half opened dark robes with his beautiful black wings exposed.
"Okay, now get outta here. And Than, put on some more clothes." Percy shouted at them, with flushed cheeks. He turned over to Annabeth and Bianca and said "Don't think about that to much. I gotta go and grab the few flasks of Phlegethon water from my room and we can head out."
Annabeth looked at Nyx and stuttered "L-Lady N-Nyx." while bowing and Bianca copied her actions. Nyx just laughed and waved them off.
"Don't bother children." she just said and gestured them to relax on one of dark leather couches.
"Okay so we're just going to wait here and talk…" Annabeth looked unsure as she laid her gaze on Nyx "… with your mother or something" she murmured.
Percy came back to the living room ten minutes later and saw Annabeth in the farthest chair from his mother staring at her. Bianca seemed to be a little bit more comfortable with Nyx and even managed a smile as Nyx told some baby stories of Percy.
"Okay Mom, stop embarrassing me please. Guys lets head out." Percy said in an exaggerated voice. Bianca and Annabeth nodded and followed Percy out the room after waving goodbye to Nyx through the hallways. After a short walk they reached the black stygian iron double front door.
"Don't we have drink it now?" Annabeth asked Percy as he reached out for the doorknob.
He facepalmed "Oh shoot, yeah I totally forgot, we don't want you to die already." With that Percy summoned two flasks of Phlegethon water.
Annabeth looked smug "That's why I'm the child of Athena."
Percy just waved her off while they eyed it warily and then gulped it down at the same time.
Looking back at the situation, Percy probably should have warned them about the disgusting, burning sensation the Phlegethon water brought to the taste buds. Percy cringed as Bianca and Annabeth made grimaces, choked and gasped for air while nearly falling to the floor.
"That," Bianca gasped "was the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted." Annabeth nodded and held her stomach in pain.
"Couldn't you have warned us?" Annabeth spat and glared while desperately trying to keep it in her stomach.
"Sorry…" Percy mumbled and opened the door. A gust of wind met the trio and a bit of ashes were blown into the Mansion of the Night. They stepped out and were immediately met by darkness, red clouds and distant light from fires and magma that randomly popped out of the ground.
"Welcome to Tartarus, the prison of the Titans, the pit of punishment, home of monsters and my backyard where I played football when I was younger!" Percy announced and spread his arms.
"I can barely see in here." Bianca said and felt shivers going down her spine as she laid her gaze on the most dangerous place known to the Greeks.
"Take this, I brought some flashlights." Annabeth said and pressed one into her hand. Percy obviously didn't need one as he could see perfectly fine in the dark.
"So were do we have to go now?" the dark eyed daughter of Hades asked him.
Percy pointed into a seemingly random direction, but he knew this plains like his own pockets. "We will have to go a few miles in this direction, go around the forest, then cross the fields of rebirth, climb a little bit up and then we should be there. Oh and by the way, don't step back or your souls will be wiped out of existence by Chaos." Percy explained and shortly after both Annabeth and Bianca slowly turned around.
The gates of the mansion had vanished and the dark palace seemed to float about one hundred feet under them over the gaping abyss. They were now standing at the edge of Tartarus. Both girls immediately stepped away and closer to Percy. And on that happy note the trio of demigods began their journey.
Bianca was sweating profusely and gasped for breath. They were about half an hour into their adventure and she already felt as if she had run a marathon. Even with the protection of the Phlegethon water the air or rather the arrangement of poisonous gases weren't meant for her lungs. Percy strolled in front of them and was as relaxed as ever.
Annabeth suddenly stopped when she heard a faint sound. A sobbing and crying sound. A person who was deep in misery. "What's that?" she asked with a frown.
Percy sighed loudly and rubbed his eyes. "Another happy member of my family. Of course we would run into her." he answered Annabeth and resumed walking forward.
The reached the source of the sobbing and looked at a woman, with tear stains all over her face. Her dark hair was messy and ruffled and her fingernails were long and sharp. She was sitting next to a polished bronze shield, that was full of tears as well.
"Half-Bloods? What brings you here? Ah let me guess you gave into your misery and want me to end your journey right now?" she asked with a quivering and raspy but somehow still powerful voice.
"Back of Akhlys, they're with me!" Percy shot at her. She broke down into sobs and tears anew, let her shoulders slump and let her dark almost rotten clothes get wet.
"Um, are you okay?" asked Bianca cautiously.
"You ask if I'm okay?" suddenly Akhlys cried out loudly.
Bianca and
Annabeth flinched at the loud noise and Percy grimaced, knowing what was coming.
"I am the embodiment of misery. I feel every bit of suffering and despair of this wretched world," She turned to Percy "I sense what misery will await you on your journey, brother."
Percy felt a cold shiver run down his spine.
"Okay, thanks for the warning and bye!" said Percy hastily, pulling Bianca and Annabeth by the hands to get away from Akhlys as fast as possible.
"I guess you guys know why we never invite Akhlys to our parties?" said Percy sarcastically to lighten the mood.
Bianca gave a nervous laugh while the gears turned in Annabeth's brain.
"Shouldn't we take their warning seriously?" asked Annabeth.
"Nah, she's just babbling crazy stuff." replied Percy, shrugging his shoulders. Inwardly, however, he pondered the meaning of her words.
The group had now arrived at the edge of a forest. What could be seen in the dark light of Tartarus were bare, dead trees, as gray as Akhlys' dress, sticking up like the ribs of a skeleton.
Percy brought his companion to a stop.
"We need to circle the area," he said.
"Why is that? Wouldn't it be more efficient to cross the forest and get to our destination faster?" asked Bianca.
Annabeth shook her head. "The forest offers many opportunities for ambushes. It is even darker than the rest of Tartarus. In battle, the trees would restrict our movement and escape opportunities are made difficult for the same reason. Whatever is in there probably moves faster through the trees and can see better than we can."
"Our tactical genius is right," Percy said. "That forest is where the Arai, the curses, live. They are also descended from my mother, but won't care about the lineage of their prey. They would attack us immediately in a swarm. We have to go around the forest."
Annabeth nodded in understanding and then suddenly held her stomach. She swayed briefly and then began to cough slightly.
"Ugh, what's happening to me?" she wondered, holding her hand over her mouth as she continued to cough.
"The Phlegethon water, it stopped working!" exclaimed Bianca.
Percy immediately summoned two more flasks of the fiery substance from the shadows and handed them to the two girls. Annabeth's coughing had become stronger and louder and her legs were shaking. Bianca helped her to sit down on the dusty floor of red stones and ashes and brought the flask to her lips.
Tears came to Annabeth's eyes as she choked down the liquid. When she was done, Bianca drank her share as well. When both stopped gasping, Bianca asked, "Why didn't I have the same problems?"
Percy was clueless and shrugged.
"Your father is Hades," Annabeth said, now able to breathe normally again "I guess as a child of the underworld you also have a higher tolerance for the influences of the pit."
At that moment, the group heard a loud screech above them. It sounded as if an old woman was trying to imitate a bird, but had smoked too much.
The fluttering of wings could be heard and dark figures appeared in the sky. More screeching sounded and more shadowy figures came into view.
"Oh shit, they've found us!" cursed Percy loudly, and started running for the edge of the forest in the approximate direction of the Phlegethon, Bianca and Annabeth close behind.
Annabeth readied her knife and Bianca summoned her bow, but Percy shouted "No, you can't kill them! They are the Arai, their curse will be on you if you do!"
"Then how are we going to defeat them?" shouted Bianca, jumping over some branches lying around as she ran.
Percy clenched his gloved fist, leaving behind a cloud of jet black smoke. A few of the now visible old witches with leather wings, seemed to have lost them, but there were still four chasing them.
The trio ran up to some raised rocks as the four Arai landed in front of them.
As if out of one mouth, the shriveled old hags spoke, "Aaah, fresh meat! We will feed on your flesh and make you feel the curses!"
Percy gripped some throwing knives from his belt, but he and the girls were hesitant to attack the Arai, as none wanted to get a curse off.
Suddenly, one of the Arai lunged for Bianca, clawed hands outstretched for her throat. Bianca had been able to deal with a hellhound, but these demonic witches were clearly faster.
The daughter of Hades couldn't even replace her bow with the hunting knives, let alone react to the attack. Percy saw no choice but to use his throwing knife to prevent Bianca's throat from being slashed.
With deadly precision, the black knife struck the ugly monster between the eyes. Her head was jerked back and before she hit the ground and she disintegrated into gold dust.
Suddenly, the knife in Percy's other hand fell to the stony ground with a loud clang. His gloved left hand felt numb, as if it was not there at all. Percy tried to move one of the fingers, but nothing happened.
The remaining three Arai laughed out loud."Feel the curse of the cyclops whose hand you severed!"
Percy groaned and Bianca shot an arrow at the feet of a demoness who was about to come closer. Before Percy could admire her for it, a loud crunch sounded. This was followed by a splash and a pile of blood from the one Arai who had tried to step forward splattered Percy and Bianca.
A large boulder had fallen on the ugly witch and crushed her like a pancake. Golden dust gathered around the remains as they crumbled. Percy jerked his head to the side and saw Annabeth emerging from the rock formation.
She had used her knife and a branch to pry out the boulder and drop it right on top of the Arai.
Bianca and Percy stared at her with widened eyes, waiting for the Arai to curse and laugh. Percy was confused. Did that count as being killed by the stone and not by Annabeth?
"Percy, the trees!" shouted Bianca, releasing two more arrows at the Arai's feet. They hissed furiously, but did not burst into gold dust.
Percy glanced at a couple of large, bare trunks that Bianca had pointed to.
"Distract them!" he hissed, and Bianca nodded. She took her bow and slammed into it one of the Arai's faces. She fell on her back, wriggling like a bug.
Annabeth threw rocks from the rocks to the other old hag, careful not to kill her.
CRACK
One of the big logs slammed down on the Arai and Bianca had to roll out of the way. Percy had silently shadow traveled to the trees. He had then summoned his scythe into his good hand and cut down the tree. This now slammed with so much force on the two remaining Arai that they also crumbled to dust.
"Let's get out of here before more come!" said Percy, panting, and led the way.
They made it to a cliff after an hour and had a couple of encounters with Hellhounds and a Cyclops by then, but they were able to deal with them relatively quickly and without damage. Percy shook his left hand. The numbness had finally faded after the group gained distance from the forest.
Percy looked up at the hundred meter cliff face above them.
"Do we have to go up there?" asked Bianca.
"Yep!" said Percy, deciding to risk it. He grabbed them both by the shoulders and pulled them into one of the many shadows. They came back out at the top.
Annabeth nodded her thanks while Bianca remembered the China incident all too well, but decided not to snap at Percy for taking the risk for the shortcut.
"Okay, it's not far!" Percy said, pointing to the orange glow in the distance.
"I suggest we take a break before we go any further," said Annabeth as she and Bianca drank more firewater. "We should be rested for whatever awaits us."
Percy and Bianca nodded and Percy led them to one of the caves on the rock walls.
"It doesn't get any safer for us." he said, and began to walk into the dark cave.
He had barely taken a step inside. Then the cawing started. Hundreds of Stymphalian birds apparently nested in the cave and didn't like the intruders at all.
Percy threw one throwing knife after another at the nasty birds, but there were just too many.
Annabeth intercepted his wrist and took one of the throwing knives from him. She slammed it against her dagger and a loud CHIIING sounded.
Percy and Bianca understood and slammed their metal weapons against each other to make more painful noises for the birds, which now screeched and flew away. The cave was clear.
"Get some sleep, I'll take the first watch," Annabeth said.
Percy wanted to protest, but the use of his powers and the hike made him drift off to sleep quickly and he entered Morpheus' realm.
