Chapter 9 ~ Breaking the Bronze

A few hours later, Percy awoke. He had already taken a watch and started his second nap. Slowly, Percy sat up and wiped the dust from his clothes. He had taken off the armor again, but in retrospect it might have been more comfortable than the floor of the cave. Percy stretched and his back made some cracking sounds as he stood up.

"Good morning. Or day or whatever time it is down here right now." Annabeth greeted from the entrance of the cave.

Percy greeted back and after a quick glance at Bianca, who was still asleep, he walked over to Annabeth and sat down next to her.

Bianca also woke up as the warm feeling disappeared from her side that she had snuggled up to while sleeping. She suddenly blushed as she understood that it had been Percy she had instinctively snuggled up to. Percy, always the oblivious guy that he was, hadn't even noticed that he had been sleeping with his back snuggled up against Bianca. She decided not to get up until her blush had disappeared. Annabeth had seen it, of course, rolled her eyes but decided not to say anything.

"We should get going," Annabeth said.

"You're right," Percy said, nodding. "We shouldn't push the time difference between the upper world and Tartarus too far."

"How exactly does that work, anyway? Is there just a different time zone here? Or does time move faster here? Or slower?" asked Annabeth rapidly.

"Jeez slow down, girl." Percy mused.

"To be honest, I have no idea how that works. It doesn't just follow a set rule or logic. Sometimes time goes slower here, sometimes faster. The differences can be tiny or huge. The whole place is just weird," Percy explained.

Out of nowhere, a small pebble flew at Percy's head.

"What the Hades?" he muttered, then realized. "Sorry Uncle." he said with a grin when he realized it was his oh-so-lovable uncle who had controlled the pebble and didn't appreciate Percy badmouthing his domain.
Annabeth stared at him with wide eyes.

"Another nice member of my family. We are in his domain right now. Be glad you haven't met him yet, his presence would probably fry your great wise brain."

"Great wise brain?" asked Annabeth with a furrowed brow.

"Yup." replied Percy with a grin. "I think you need a nickname. I'll think of something."

"Shut up Batbrain!" responded Annabeth with a similar grin.

"Batbrain?" asked Percy in confusion as he tried to make sense of his naming.

"Because you're the son of the Goddess of the Night. And bats are nocturnal animals, but at the same time have teeny tiny brains, just like you." explained Annabeth, as if teaching a toddler arithmetic.

"Oh I'll get you for that one!" Percy said while pouting. Inside, though, he was grinning because he had finally broken through Annabeth's analytical shell and he had gotten her to make a joke.

"Stop being mean, both of you!" hissed Bianca, now rubbing the sleep from her eyes, sauntering over to them.

"Hey I'm not Nico, you can't boss me around!" shouted Percy as the group now resumed their journey and made their way to the River of Fire.

"I'm going to count to three. One... two... thr-" began Bianca.

"Oh look, a dead tree and there it goes towards Phlegethon. Only half a mile to go. Let's hurry ladies." said Percy, chuckling nervously while rubbing his head and huuried of into the direction.

Annabeth giggled, but held her hand over her mouth as she did so, while Bianca looked smug.

After a while Bianca asked "Hey Percy, you said your sister Lyssa was the goddess of madness, but at camp they always say madness is Mr. D's domain." She screwed up her face at the mention of the wine god. He always seemed so rude to her.

"Well, more precisely, Lyssa is the goddess of mad rage, frenzy and rabies in animals. Mr. D is more the god of the boring kind of madness where you sit confused in a corner babbling pointless stuff while eating your own hair off your arm. My sister is the goddess of the kind of insanity where you butcher your teacher with a chainsaw and wear her skin as a costume while you visit her family. Mr. D, of course, has an influence on that kind of madness, too." explained Percy.

"Didn't he once drive a bunch of pirates crazy and turn a few into dolphins?" asked Bianca.

"Yes, but Lyssa, for example, made Heracles tear his family to shreds with his bare hands and then bathe in the blood of his children," said Percy. Bianca looked in horror, while Annabeth frowned.

"That was the Queen of the Gods." she remarked.

"Hera wanted it, but can't drive anyone crazy. My dear sister, well, she was probably bored. Anyway, that's what she always says when she tells me about it. Trust me you don't want her as a babysitter." Percy said completely dismissing any meaning of names having power.

"Percy, I don't mean to insult your sister, but why are you hanging out with her? She's insane!" asked Bianca.

"Aren't we all a little crazy? Besides, it's never boring with her," Percy replied with a grin.

"Guys, I think we've arrived at our destination," Annabeth interrupted.

The trio had stopped and were now looking at the landscape that stretched out before them. In the darkness of Tartarus, surrounded by a shore of broken black glass, sharp as a thousand teeth, stretched a bright glow. In its fiery beauty, the Phlegethon flowed the river of fire. Unlike magma, these were real flames, not flickering upward, but flowing through the ashen plains like a liquid. Even further behind the Phlegethon, in the faint light that reached there, one could see the Fields of Resurrection, the place where monsters and immortals regenerated when defeated.

A cold shiver ran down Percy's spine as he gazed, as he had so many times before, at the otherworldly beauty of the river. One could even hear a slight rustling of flames. Bianca and Annabeth gasped aloud when they saw the sight. Few mortals had ever glimpsed the Phlegethon, since it did not spring from the underworld like the Styx, for example, but directly from Tartarus.

"Watch out for the broken glass!" advised Percy as he led the girls to the riverbank.

Bianca and Annabeth nodded, but they could not avoid a few cuts in their shoes, while Percy had summoned his armor and the sturdy combat boots in protect. His armor had been designed by Tartarus himself to withstand such harsh conditions, while the girls' clothes, well, not so much.

They stepped together to the shore and Annabeth was already thinking about how they could take as much Phlegethon water as possible. Suddenly the surface of the flames trembled and they began to get hotter. How the flames could give off any heat at all, but when they felt cold to the touch, Annabeth couldn't quite understand, which drove her insane inside.

Now, however, the heat was hitting them in the face and the flames were making waves when suddenly a figure grew out of the fire. It was the bare torso of a man, whose hair and long beard burned like fire. His skin gave off a slight orange glow. When Percy looked closer, he saw that it was actually the man's veins, like the river itself, burning like fire and showing through the pale skin. His eyes were two small flames, but unlike the violent explosions in Ares' eyes, these flames were more of a calm nature. His entire lower body was fused with the river, and at the point where he dipped into the Phlegethon, the flames leaped higher, making it look as if the river was part of a skirt he was wearing.

"Hello demigods." he said in a raspy voice. It was as if the crackling and popping of firewood formed a voice.

Percy had immediately summoned his katana and pointed it at the figure, Bianca had drawn both her hunting knives and held them protectively in front of her, and Annabeth had drawn her dagger.

"Who are you?" asked Percy suspiciously.

"Well, who do you think? I am the god of this river from which you want the water," he replied.

"You are the river god of Phlegethon." said Annabeth in amazement and began to bow.

"Correct, daughter of Athena." he said nodding and waved off her bow. Percy hadn't even tried to bow.

"Wait a minute," Percy interjected. "I thought river spirits were always female?" he asked, confused.

"Not quite, Batbrain. The main divine rivers have not only spirits but real gods. These can also be male." explained Annabeth.

"Again, correct." said Phlegethon.

"What do you want from us?" asked Bianca.

"I have an offer for you. I know what you want my water for, and I tell you, even if you had come with buckets, the water would not have been enough to heal the tree." Phlegethon began.

"How do you know about the tree?" asked Percy, already getting ready to fight a follower of the Titans.

"A small fragment of my essence is in every bit of water in my river, even if it is bottled. I felt what my water was used for. Don't worry I mean you no harm." he said, raising his hands reassuringly.

"What is this offer?" asked Bianca, lowering her knives as she considered this god friendly before her.

"I'm glad you asked, daughter of Hades," Phlegetheon said, grinning. "I am willing to help you and give you an amount of my water sufficient to heal the tree if you three will help me with a small problem of mine."

Percy sighed inwardly. "Of course, there are provisions for the help."

"Look, there's a dam further upstream. The Titans use it as a forge for the monsters' weapons by using the heat from my river. My water flows slower, and what's worse, it arrives colder further down, too!" Phlegethon explained, upset. "I want you to destroy this wretched structure and destroy everything in it. Then I'll help you."

"Guys I think we should do that. The prophecy spoke of a trial of fire. I think this is what we must do." Bianca said.

Annabeth nodded and Percy joined her.

"We accept this task, Lord Phlegethon." Annabeth said formally. Percy rolled his eyes, but Phlegethon grinned in delight and clapped his hands, disappearing in a burst of flames.

"He likes you, Wise Girl." said Percy, laughing as he nudged Annabeth. She scowled at him and Bianca giggled too. Bianca put her hands on both of their shoulders and pushed them toward the river, but away from the shore so they could walk across ashen red stone and not have to walk across the beach of shards.

As they came around a bend in the river, the path suddenly went up a bit, and after a short further march through the barren wasteland, a gigantic construction above the flames came into view. The flicker of the river reflected on the surface and Percy realized that the entire dam was made of celestial bronze. A gigantic monster of metal that stretched easily 300 meters in every direction on the sides of the riverbank.

Percy shadow traveled himself and his companions to the other side, so that they now stood at the higher place, where a whole lake of flames was dammed up, while on the other side of the dam the flames rushed into the depth.

"This is incredible," said Annabeth, "The whole dam is made of celestial bronze. No one has ever built such a structure. But what else could the architects have used? There is no other metal like this that could withstand the flames forever," she explained, her eyes glittering.

"Well, it's too bad we have to blow the thing up. Speaking of which, how do we do that?" Percy asked, shrugging his shoulders.

"I don't suppose you're carrying a few tons of explosives, by any chance?" asked Annabeth sarcastically.

"I suggest we sneak in and have a look around inside. Maybe there's a way to destroy it from the inside." suggested Bianca and Percy was impressed. It was a good idea, but how would they get in there?

In front of the entrance, two massive doors of celestial bronze stood 4 T elekhines, the strange mixtures of Doberman Pincher, human children and sea lions. They were holding some spears and waddling around while talking in their barking language.

Percy nodded to Annabeth and Bianca and drew a throwing knife next to his katana. Annabeth put on a blue baseball cap and disappeared, to Percy's surprise. Bianca readied her knives. Before the Telekhine could make even a desperate sound, Annabeth had crept up invisibly and plunged her dagger through the Telekhine's throat. He fell to his knees and pressed his pawed hands to the wound with widened eyes, but crumbled to dust after another second.

Meanwhile, Percy had sunk his throwing knife into the second Telekhine's forehead and at the same time shadow traveled next to the third and chopped its dog-like head clean off. Bianca was successfully shadow traveled behind the last Telekhine and rammed her one hunting knife through the neck and another through the back.

"Okay, that went well, but how do we get in?" asked Percy as he knocked monster dust off his armor.

The large bronze door had a viewing flap that would allow the guards inside to see them and recognize them as enemies. That way they would never get in.

"Can't you shadow travel us inside?" asked Annabeth, looking around for another entrance.

"No, the celestial bronze blocks it." replied Percy.

He was considering just knocking when a female voice sounded "Maybe I can help you, demigods."

The three whirled around, weapons drawn, and Bianca and Annabeth were about to advance on the figure now standing before them.

The hair of fire framed an unnaturally beautiful face, long claws adorned her hands and two uneven legs clacked on the stone floor as the Empousa sauntered over to them. She still wore the cheerleader uniform and gave a fanged grin when she saw Percy.

"Guys, take it easy. She's harmless." Percy said, gesturing for them to put down their weapons.

Annabeth looked at him as if he had gone crazy, while Bianca slowly but surely lowered her hunting knives. "Well, for us..."

"Haven't seen ya in while, Percy. You sly dog, got two ladies on your sides." said Kelli, grinning widely. The two fist bumped and Percy rolled his eyes.

"Always nice to see you too Kelli." he said. He turned to the girls. "Guys this Kelli, Kelli this is Annabeth and Bianca." he said pointing to the two. Bianca tried to smile and waved, while Annabeth just looked at Kelli suspiciously.

"Percy you do realize that this is an Empousa you've befriended, right?" she asked with narrowed eyebrows. She thought Percy had fallen under her spell or something.

"So what, my sister is a psychopath, my brother is death itself and my uncle is the personification of Greek hell, deal with it!"

Annabeth sighed, but put down her dagger. Kelli sniffed the air and her eyes lit up. "Ohhh, a daughter of Hades, you smell good."

"Uh, thanks." muttered Bianca, still wearing a forced smile.

"Delicious." said Kelli, licking her tongue over her fangs.

"Okaaaayyy, don't mind her." hastily interjected Percy as Bianca turned chalky white. "Hey Kelli, do you think you could help us get in there?" asked Percy.

"Hmm what do I get in return?" she asked, biting her lower lip as she looked deep into Percy's eyes. The latter seemed to loosen his iron will for a brief moment and choked on his spit. Bianca blushed in anger, why she didn't know either, and said dismissively "Well, looks like this Empousa can't offer any real qualities if she hangs around here and has to sell her nonexistent talents to us."

Percy's eyes widened. That didn't sound like Bianca at all right now. But Kelli jerked her head around and hissed, "Out of my way, demigods, I'll show you nonexistent talents!"

She shoved them all roughly out of sight of the door and knocked loudly. "Open up! Message for the master!" she shouted against the door.

The flap opened with a metallic clack and another Telekhine peered out at her. "What?" he asked, sounding as if a clump of dog hair had suddenly learned to speak.

"I have an important message for the master." Kelli repeated impatiently.

"We're not expecting anyone, so get out of here, witch!" he grunted.

"So you want to be the reason the master doesn't get his message, huh. So you want to be punished for not letting his messenger through." She asked with a wicked grin.

The telekhine started to get uneasy and shook his head slowly.

Kelli's smile grew even wider, "No," she said, her voice seeming to vibrate through her bones. Charmespeech filled the Telekhine's ears and his eyes glazed over slightly. "No, you want to be rewarded. You want to be rewarded for this. You want to let me in and be rewarded for it. You want to open this door and let me in." she said in an extremely clear voice that echoed off the walls.

Percy, Annabeth and Bianca watched intently as the Telekhine nodded and the flap closed again. A series of clicking sounds were heard and the door swung open. Kelli stood in front of the Telekhine grinning and smiling a dazzling smile.

"Oh thank you, what would I have done without you?" said Kelli, stepping closer to him. "Here, let me reward you." she whispered into his big dog ears and the Telekhine put on a silly grin. In a split second Kelli grabbed his neck and bit into it with her long fangs. The Telekhine was jerked out of his trance and gasped loudly as paralyzing venom was injected through the teeth into his fur-covered neck, but could do nothing more as his eyes looked up at her pleadingly. Kelli stopped short to look him in the eye and grinned when she saw the fear. Immediately she bit into his carotid artery again and sucked the monster blood out of his body with pleasure.

After a minute she was done and dropped the Telekhine, which now looked much paler due to the fur, on the floor. On impact, he burst into golden dust. Kelli wiped the rust-colored monster blood from her lips with a grin and walked out the door while the three demigods entered the building.

"Try not to die, Percy." she said, slapping him on the butt as he stepped past her into the building above the dam. She was gone from sight after a few moments.

"I don't like your friends from down here." said Annabeth with a frown.

"Me neither." remarked Bianca beside her.

Percy raised his hands and said, "By Tartarus standards, they aren't as bad as you think."

Annabeth just snorted at that.

The three hurriedly crept through the corridors of the dam. They had to put one or the other Telekhine out of action, but they made good progress. Suddenly they went down a staircase. At the bottom of the stairs, a long corridor led to double doors, but just as the trio was about to enter them, two cyclops came through the doors. Both parties froze for a second, but then Bianca summoned her bow and put on an arrow. Percy threw a throwing knife into the throat of the first cyclops in a flash and Bianca shot her arrow through the eye of the second.

"Bullseye," she said with a grin as the 12ft one-eyed giant crumbled to dust.

Percy gave her a thumbs up and the three of them stepped through the door. The room they entered was large and full of consoles and colorful flashing buttons. On one side of the room, a huge glass panel replaced the wall and provided a view of the level below. A single Telekhine sat bored in a chair, eating from his lunch box.

His eyes widened and he was about to raise the alarm when Percy quickly threw two more throwing knives and sank each one into one of the Telekhine's eyes.

"So far so good. Dam, this place looks like an Imperial Star Destroyer." Percy said, whistling through his teeth in awe.

"Like a dam what now?" asked Bianca, giggling as she read the lunch box label 'Momma's little demon'.

"It's a reference to a movie series produced by George Lucas. There are two opposing groups, one of which is the Empire. The interior architecture of one of the fictional vehicles shown in the movie resembles the equipment in front of us here," Annabeth explained.

Bianca only looked more confused than before.

"Dam you even manage to make Star Wars sound like a boring documentary!" exclaimed Percy. "And Bianca, how can it even be that you've never heard of Star Wars."

"I haven't heard of the dam movie, I've been put in the Lotus Casino before." Bianca deadpanned, but grinned as she caught up the joke and carried it on.

"What are we doing here brother?" a loud voice interrupted their banter.

The three turned and were relieved to find that the voice was coming from the lower level, where they had a good view through the glass.

What was down there amazed Percy. At least a dozen channels of Phlegethon's fiery water led to forging tables where Cyclopes and Telekhines alike made weapons using the heat of the flames. The fiery water flowed through several machines whose function probably only Hephaestus himself could decipher, and then, with much weaker flames, were discharged through a pipe in the wall.

But something did not fit into the picture here. Two figures walked past between the rows of working monsters. One was a gaunt man, had dark eyes, was as tall as an average adult and wore his black hair in a tied-back ponytail. He wore an elegant dark suit and could have passed for the CEO of a company, were it not for the hundreds of scars that covered him. Even from up there, Percy could easily see them, like so many little scratches that lined his face.

The other man was taller, significantly taller than the other. While the smaller one also had a relatively scrawny build, this guy was muscular. He had tanned skin, brown and curly hair, and wore a chiton that revealed his body hair. He was the one who had spoken.

"You know why we are here! We have to make sure that the production of the weapons continues!" hissed the smaller one in a smooth voice.

"But Prometheus, I thought you had foreseen that... mmpf-" the other tried to say as Prometheus slapped his hand over the taller one's mouth, preventing him from speaking.

"Not here, brother." said Prometheus, then frowned. He glanced to the side and then dragged his brother into a side passage where Percy could no longer see or hear them. He turned to Annabeth.

"Who were they?" he asked.

"Percy, you've known your kin to the gods longer than either of us, but you have no idea who they were?" asked Annabeth with a roll of her eyes.

"Well that little one was Prometheus, that's for sure." he said with a shrug.

"Percy even I know that, after two weeks of classes at camp." said Bianca, slapping her hand to her forehead. "The Titan of Foresight. The guy who gave people fire and-"

"-because of that, he was chained to a rock where an eagle eats his liver away every day. See, I do know," Percy finished her sentence. "But who is the other one, his brother?"

"I think it's his brother, Epimetheus, the Titan of Afterthought. He is the one who married Pandora, even though he should not accept a gift from the gods. "Annabeth explained.

"What kind of useless domain is that?" Percy snickered.

"Yeah, he's not the brightest, but he's still not to be underestimated in battle. He's still a Titan." replied Annabeth.

The three walked over to the consoles and Bianca and Percy looked cluelessly at the many buttons. "I think I got it." said Annabeth, after about thirty seconds. The two looked at her expectantly.

"I can deactivate the incoming water restriction so that all the pent-up water flows in uncontrolled. At the same time, I can close the drainage channels in the forges so that the water in there will flood everything. The pressure will rise in it and the magic substances used in the forges should lead to an explosion. The walls are only made to withstand such pressure on the dam side, but the rising pressure from the water and the force of the explosions will cause the walls here in the forge to collapse, destabilizing and carrying away the rest of the dam."

"You can tell that from these few glowing and unlabeled buttons?" asked Percy, confused.

"Athena always has a plan!" said Annabeth proudly and Bianca was about to shout "What are you waiting for?" when the air was filled with the clapping of hands.

"A good plan, daughter of Athena," said Prometheus in his smooth voice as he came in through the door. The trio immediately readied their weapons.

"But alas, you will never be able to carry it out. Did you seriously think two Titans would show up here to watch the forging process? Ha, we are above such lowly things." He continued, striding towards them.

"Well, what else would Kronos need two useless Titans like you for?" shot Percy back with a grin.

Prometheus merely raised an eyebrow, but from outside the door burst open and Epimetheus rushed in, his face red with anger and swinging wildly an axe. "Useless?" he shouted, "I'll show you who's useless is maggots!"

Prometheus raised a hand and stopped him. "Easy, brother."

He pointed at the three demigods. "Luke and Kronos are exceedingly interested in you, and it would be too bad if someone got hurt."

"We will never join you!" exclaimed Bianca.

"Besides, why would I join someone who employs useless guys like you?" scoffed Percy. "Clearly no good taste."

"Fools, without me you all wouldn't even exist. I showed you guys the fire. I knew you guys would show up here weeks ago, I have foreseen it!" Prometheus exclaimed, now a bit irritated while Epimetheus started shaking with rage.

"Did you also foresee that we would beat your useless ass?" taunted Percy back.

"No, I foresaw your imprisonment." said Prometheus, grinning "Capture them alive!" he shouted loudly and Epimetheus charged towards them, followed by dozens of Telekhines streaming through the door behind him. Percy, Annabeth and Bianca backed away to the glass wall. The exit was blocked and they were surrounded. The first group of monsters charged toward them, brandishing weapons from the forges.

Percy destroyed one telekhine after another, but new ones came at him endlessly. Suddenly, a large axe flew over him and Percy dove to the side as Epimetheus rushed at him. Prometheus stood in the background and watched the action. Percy stabbed at Epimetheus, who dodged and picked up his axe.

"What a bad throw..." thought Percy and began exchanging blows with the Titan. Only then he realized his mistake and wanted to facepalm. Epimetheus had missed on purpose, as he was not allowed to attack Percy without a challenge because of the Ancient Laws, and had thus provoked him to start the fight.

Every blow of the Titan shook Percy's bones, but Epimetheus had even less finesse than Ares. Percy dodged most of Epimetheus' axe blows and gave him cuts with his katana. As it was, Annabeth and Bianca were also able to keep the Telekines at bay, but were forced to break formation after Percy was forced out by Epimetheus. The two fought back to back, hunting knives and daggers whirling at high speed and slashing throats. The air in the control room filled increasingly with gold dust, but new monsters kept pouring in through the doors, now including Cyclopes, who joined the fight.

Then everything started to go wrong. Percy had started forming small projectiles of shadow with his glove and firing them at monsters, while at the same time fighting Epimetheus, when an idea came to him. He concentrated and created tendrils of shadow that wrapped around Epimetheus' arms. Percy's stomach tightened painfully, but he didn't let up and forced the shadows to pull Epimetheus to the ground.

The Titan struggeled, however, was forced to his knees while his muscular upper arms fought against the restraints of shadow. "Let me go and fight me, you coward!" roared Epimetheus, but Percy did not give in. Then Epimetheus threw the axe he still held in his right hand against the shadow tendrils wrapped around his left arm. They were cut at the moment Percy was about to step on him and stab him in the chest. Epimetheus freed his left arm and Percy jumped back, but Epimetheus grabbed the katana with his free hand. The titan hissed in pain, but did not let go and wrenched the blade from Percy's hand. Before Percy could do anything, like pull out another weapon, Epimethus tackled him and they both crashed through the glass wall.

Shards of glass scratched both fighters' skin and both blood and ichor were spilled. Percy was under Epimetheus when they fell about four meters. Below them was a metal floor and the last thing Percy saw before he was knocked out by the impact and his vision went black was Bianca looking down at him with wide eyes and yelling "Percy, Noooo!" but then being slammed directly into one of the consoles by a club and not getting up again.


"Percy! Percy, wake up! Gods, Annabeth what if he doesn't wake up? That fall looked pretty bad..." a voice woke Percy up.

He groaned loudly and put his hands on his face. "The light is too bright. Just let me sleep for five more minutes." he grumbled.

"Percy!" called Bianca.

"Slow down! You've been hit hard!" said Annabeth in a soothing voice.

Percy opened his eyes and sat up. They were in a dimly lit room, illuminated only by the light coming through the bars on the door. The room, like the rest of the dam, was made entirely of celestial bronze, making shadow travel impossible.

"Are you okay?" asked Percy anxiously when he saw the many scratches and cuts on the girls.

"We're fine, just a few scratches, but you crashed through the glass wall and then four feet down," Bianca replied.

"Damn it, I can't summon anything!" exclaimed Percy frantically as he tried to summon his weapons or even a flask of Phlegethon water.

Outside this prison cell he could at least manipulate the shadows, here nothing worked at all.

"How are we going to get out of here?" thought Bianca aloud, but neither Percy nor Annabeth had any ideas. Their weapons had been taken from them and the door looked pretty solid.

"Whatever happened to Athena always having a plan, Wise Girl?" asked Percy.

"I'm trying, let me think..." hissed back Annnabeth angrily, glared at him.

Normally Percy would have flinched at that look, but now it seemed rather funny. Percy chuckled softly to himself. He tried to hold it in and rocked his feet but then had to laugh out loud. "A daughter of Athena without a plan, hahaha!" he gasped out.

He didn't see Bianca's and Annabeth's eyes light up red for a second, nor did he know that his looked the same as the two girls started laughing hysterically as well. Soon the loud, uncontrolled laughter echoed off the walls and two Telekhine guards took notice.

"Hey what the hell is going on?" barked one of the Telekhines, pounding on the cell door. Inside, all three had maniacal grins on their faces and foam was pouring out of their mouths.

"Hahahaha, it's just so funny!" laughed Percy, staggering around.

"Okay, that's enough!" shouted the one Telekhine and opened the cell door. It swung open and it was as if a switch had been flipped. As he got closer and the light fell on Percy's face, which was covered with cuts, the Telekhine knew something was wrong. Percy's head whirled around to face him and the surprised Telekhine was tackled by him through the door and out into the hallway. He tried to reach for the sword hanging from his belt, but Percy flailed his arm wildly and snatched it away. The sword clattered on the floor.

Percy only saw red. He sat on the Telekhine's burst and started scratching his face with his bare fingers. Blood wetted his lips after he jabbed a finger into the Telekhine's eye, causing a fountain of blood to spray into his face. He didn't even notice that his powers were working again and he unconsciously commanded Shadows to hold the helpless Telekhine on the ground, whose screams now filled the hallway. Foam dripped from his mouth and all the Telekhine could see through his other eye was the look of a hungry animal.

Percy licked his lips and suddenly felt his stomach growl. Such a craving. A hunger.

He grinned even wider and the screams soon came to an end as he bit into the monster's neck, right through the throat and vocal cords.

All that could still be heard was the gurgling of blood from the Telekhine before it crumbled to dust and the agonized screams of the second, who had just been torn to pieces by Bianca and Annabeth.

Each had taken either arms or legs and then pulled in opposite directions with the strength of a demigod after overpowering the Telekhine, tearing the poor monster in half and raining innards down on the girls before he too burst into golden dust.

Suddenly Percy's vision cleared, the red haze before his eyes had disappeared, and he slowly realized what he had just done. His legs were shaking and cold sweat was running down his neck. A feeling of nausea threatened to overwhelm him. Percy began to cough and then could not hold it in any longer.

"I just bit someone's throat out!" he repeated over and over in his head. The taste of blood filled his mouth and then he threw up. As he started to do so, the girls did the same.

After about five minutes they were able to move again.

"Let's never mention this again." gasped Bianca, her face pale as a ghost, and Annabeth and Percy nodded in agreement.

They made their way back to the control room, gathering their weapons from the room the guards had come from on the way.

"Wait Percy, are you sure you can do this? You look pretty messed up!" Bianca asked worriedly, holding Percy by the arm as they crept through the corridors trying to avoid the monsters.

"I'm fine Bianca, really!" replied Percy, somewhat irritated. No way he wasn't going to have their backs now.

He was testing out if his powers still worked normally with the shadow manipulation and to show Bianca that he could continue when something strange happened. Percy had pulled the shadow to him from a corner as a test, but when he let go, the shadow attached itself to his body and was sucked into the wounds.

Percy gasped as the skin renewed and healed itself on the many wounds caused by the broken glass. After a short time, the cuts were healed and he felt refreshed with new energy.

"Whoa! Did you just heal yourself with the shadows? Can I do that too?" asked Bianca with wide eyes, running her finger over the spot on Percy's arm where there had been a wound until just now because the glass had passed the armor there. She did not notice how Percy blushed slightly at her touch.

"I don't know, just try it." he said and Bianca tried to pull the shadow towards her as he did, but nothing happened and she let go again.

"I guess I need to practice some more." she mumbled disappointedly and hung her head.

Percy tried to cheer her up, but they had just reached the control room. It was time to put Annabeth's plan, which she had made on the way, into action.

The door swung open and the three looked into the astonished face of Prometheus. Epimetheus stood by the hole in the glass and surveyed the damage.

"Guess you didn't see that coming, huh?" mocked Percy, slapping his glove on the floor. Darkness exploded and Percy, as always, felt a tug in his stomach as he directed the wave of darkness directly at Prometheus.

The latter was caught off guard and was thrown across the room like a projectile, right into his brother. Epimetheus had not seen this coming and lost his balance. Both Titans roared angrily as they hit the ground below with a loud crash.

"You little maggot, I'll skin you for this!" screamed Epimetheus, and this time Prometheus didn't seem opposed to the idea either.

"As if you useless Titan could!" shouted Percy, jumping down to them. In the fall he summoned his scythe and just missed Prometheus' head, but had a soft landing as he landed on Epimetheus' stomach.

The latter cried out and boxed Percy against the nearest wall. Percy grunted but was able to get to his feet as Bianca distracted him with arrows from above. Annabeth, meanwhile, ran around pressing various buttons.

Percy jumped around and dealt blows with the scythe, which had a longer range than the katana, dodging Epimetheus' axe blows and the dagger that Prometheus was now swinging at him as well. Fortunately, the two were not exactly the strongest or fastest fighters, otherwise Percy would have been dead long ago.

He jumped over forging equipment and grabbed containers of Plegethon water with the shadows to throw at the two Titans.

"Percy now!" shouted Bianca after receiving the signal from Annabeth.

Percy grinned at his opponents and shouted "Eat firewater, you useless idiots.

Then he did something he had never done before. He produced a new cloud of darkness with his glove and ordered the shadows to cling to his back. Then he let a rope of shadows shoot up his back from the shadows to the hole in the glass above him. Behind him the channels burst with the water of the Phlegethon and just as it flooded the room in a tidal wave Percy was lifted up by the shadows and reached the platform.

The two Titans were crushed against the wall by the wave and shortly after were no longer visible in the flames.

"Are they dead?" asked Percy, gasping.

"I don't know, but we will be if we don't get out of here soon!" shouted Annabeth, and Bianca dragged Percy toward the exit.

They ran as fast as they could through the corridors as the ground shook and began to steepen slightly.

"Faster, come on we can make it!" shouted Percy pointing to the door at the end of the hallway in front of them. Behind them they heard explosions, screams of monsters and metal bending.

The three of them burst through the exit not a second too late, as the dam collapsed directly behind them and was pulled down into the depths. In the fall, the construct exploded into small pieces that rained down on them. Before they could be killed by a hail of metal, Percy grabbed the two girls by the shoulders and dragged them into a shadow with him.

When they came out again, they were standing on the bank of the Phlegethon, but downstream from where the god had appeared to them. This time, too, the god appeared in a burst of flame, but began to cough and spit out small pieces of metal from his mouth.

"My gods, you did it!" he shouted with a grin, and his eyes lit up brightly. "I may be full of little metal shards from the explosion, but I can handle it!"

"It was our pleasure!" said Annabeth, exhausted.

"Here you've earned this!" exclaimed Phlegethon happily, pressing a flask into her hand.

"Um, that doesn't exactly look like enough firewater to make heal the tree tough." exclaimed Percy after eyeing the tiny flask.

"Oh don't worry, young one. This is an unlimited supply of my waters, more than enough to heal your tree." he explained.

"We thank you for your help." Bianca said, while trying to smile which wasn't easy after all the fighting, while being covered in ash and blood and she started to feel the effects of the air.

"Farewell." Phlegethon said and sunk back into the river of fire.

"Well then, let's get back!" said Percy and yawned. He laid his on their shoulders one more time and prayed for his mothers help because of his nausea.

After a few seconds of the familiar cold feeling and darkness, the trio emerged from the shadow of Thalia's tree at Half-Blood Hill.


Well, what do you guys think? I tried to be as original as possible and I don't think, that I've read something like this anywhere else. Please review, it really motivates me to write more or give me some constructive critique. I want to make this as good as possible. Next we will see some of Thalia(obviously) and then we will follow trough the Titan's Curse story line. I already have some original ideas for that one, so don't worry it won't be the same thing as in the books. But after the next chapter, which will be shorter, it will take some more time so be patient.

~Deadzio