I watched helplessly as he fell past me. I jumped to the ground, ignoring the sharp pain in my ankles as I did. I ran to his side.

"Charlie!"

He groaned in response. I tore my eyes away from his crumpled form to the River of Fire. I ran to its edge and forced my hands inside. It burned, more than anything I'd ever experienced. I'd been hit by a hydra when I was younger, and this still hurt more. And I had to drink it. But first, Charlie.

"Ok, this might burn. Open your mouth," I said. Charlie chuckled as if something I'd said was somehow humorous. While he giggled, I poured the fire down his throat.

"It burns!" he yelled.

"Well yeah, it's fire."

"But it burns!" He sat up and began trying to scrape the fire off his tongue as if it was bad food. "I've never been burned before," Charlie said, much quieter this time.

"The fire resistance," I muttered.

Charlie shrugged. "I didn't even know I had that until I landed on your ship. But that doesn't mean I didn't have it. I've never been burned before," he glanced at my hands. The fire had burned me, but it had also healed me. My hands were red and calloused, like a long ago scarred injury.

"Now it's my turn." I took another scoop of the water into my hands and forced it down my throat. It felt like I was being burned from the inside. I gagged and breathed in, hoping to get some cool air into my lungs. Of course, being in Tartarus, it didn't work. I ended up coughing up death itself, hopefully not literally.

"Well, feel better?" I asked.

Charlie huffed annoyingly. "Can somebody feel better and worse at the same time?" he asked.

"I don't know, but we've got to drink this stuff if we want to live. We have to follow the monsters, but we must attempt to stay close to the river as well."

Charlie nodded and looked as if he was about to say something sarcastic, but we were interrupted.

The same loud roar from when we first landed, but this time it was closer. "Charlie get up, we have to run!" I grabbed his wrist, but he pulled away.

"Or we could fight," he said. I turned to look at him, finding that the usual expression had been replaced with one of determination.

"What?"

"Listen, we're probably going to die in here anyway. Plus, that thing isn't going to stop chasing us. We might as well fight it now while we're still strong," he explained.

"Sure, strong."

"Think you can waterbend the lava?"

I looked at him funny. "Waterbend?"

He smiled and shrugged. "It's from a-, nevermind. It's a mortal thing, I guess."

The roar got closer, then something came into view. It was a titan, that much was for sure. He was smaller than a normal titan, but that wasn't the most surprising part. I gasped and found that I couldn't breathe.

"Jase, what is it?"

The titan raised it's broom, seconds from smashing us to bits. He brought his arms down and the broom nearly smashed our heads.

"Bob," I whispered. The titan's broom stopped as it reached my hair.

"I am Bob," it said. It was quieter than a whisper, it was as if it were a question.

"I know!" I grinned and approached him quickly, only to be nearly smacked away by his broom.

"Who are you? How do you know Bob?" he asked.

"Bob, you're a hero!" I said. Bob looked confused.

"My name is Jase Jackson. My parents are Percy and Annabeth, they speak very highly of you. We all thought you were gone,"

He didn't speak. He picked me up and held me up to his face. "You smell like strawberries. Like Annabeth."

I smiled and pointed at my hair. "Same shampoo as my mom," I pointed out. Bob stared at me curiously, then wrapped me in a fierce hug.

"Bob smash titan smash titan!" he set me down then raised his broom over Charlie, who screeched in terror.

"I thought this was a good guy!"

"He is! Bob, stop!" I got between him and Charlie.

"Bob no smash?" he questioned.

"No smash!"

Bob lowered his broom. Charlie huffed in relief and let his body relax. "So, why does Bob here, or whatever his name is, want to kill me?" he asked cautiously.

"Your mother is Calypso. You're half titan, remember?"

Charlie's gaze dropped. "Right." He still seemed upset that his parents hadn't told him. I smiled reassuringly and set a hand on his shoulder.

"Bob, do you know where we are?" I asked.

"Tartarus," Bob answered plainly. I tried not to roll my eyes.

"Yes, I know that. Do you know a place where we can rest? Some place safe?

"Yes, to friend!" Bob cheered. He didn't even ask why we were here to how we'd arrived. He just took off in the opposite direction of the river. I didn't want to leave the Phaethon, but Bob was trustworthy. Bob was the reason our parents survived. Charlie looked at me for an answer. Instead of saying anything, I ran after Bob.

"What friend?" I called. Bob didn't reply. We kept running. A

fter a long while, Charlie was huffing and puffing. He grabbed my arm, telling me that ne needed to stop.

"Bob! Wait!"

Finally, Bob listened. "Friend is close," he said.

"We need rest. Please, Bob." I sat down and leaned my head against a rock. Charlie followed suit. "We don't have any weapons, or food, or water. We need supplies."

Bob pointed behind him. "We stop here."

Then I realized that Bob hadn't been listening when I told him to stop. He'd brought us here for a reason. Bob was pointing at a shrine, something I'd heard of many times from my parents. Mom loved to brag about when they went to the shrine because she wanted us all to know that she was the one that discovered Riptide could be used as a pen. A fist of longing punched me in the gut as I remembered my parents.

"Bob, what time is it?" I asked, staring hungrily at the shrine.

Bob only shook his head. "Time is different in Tartarus," he said. Yeah, my parents told me that too.

"Ok, then I guess we wait here until food arrives," I said.

"Wait, food will arrive?" Charlie perked up, suddenly interested.

"It's from Camp," I explained. Charlie raised his eyebrows. "Oh, right. As demigods, we burn some of our food for offerings to the gods. This is one of Hermes shrines, it must have fallen down here years ago. When the kids from at Camp burn offerings, some of it goes here."

"So we get food?" Charlie grinned and I chuckled softly.

"Yes. But even more importantly, we can send a message. Let the others know we're ok," I said. "Now, we just need to find paper and a pen," I muttered. I began patting my pockets, although I knew there was nothing there. Bob pulled a small notepad from the front pocket of his overalls.

"Great, thanks Bob. But we still need a pen."

Nobody had an answer for that. I sighed and clutched Bob's notebook. My parents must be worried sick, I knew they were. They were terrified of Tartarus, and it made me guilty to know that by jumping in after Charlie, I had hurt them. They knew what it was like to be here, so I knew they'd be worried. I needed to tell them I was ok. I had to.

"Charlie, make a fire," I commanded.

"What?" he raised his hand and tried to get the fire to ride across his fingertips. He was inexperienced, it didn't work. He caught his whole hand on fire instead.

"The rocks, set fire to the rocks. Scorch them. I need the soot to write."

Charlie shrugged and blasted a column of fire, probably larger than the one he'd been trying to make, and nearly caught his flannel on fire as well.

"That's good!" I said quickly. Charlie sheepishly stopped the fire. "Thanks." I took my finger and dragged it through the soot, then placed it onto the paper. "What should I write?" I asked.

"This was your idea, why are you asking me?"

There was so much I wanted to tell them. But what all could I fit onto one piece of paper? I let my finger slide across the paper.

We're alive

It was all I put. We were alive and that's all they needed to know. Now we just had to wait. So we did. We waited.

And waited.

Waiting...

Still waiting.

Waiting some more.

Still…

Wait….

Ing…