"I'm just a demigod, Bob. That thing will kill me, I think you oughta grab it," I said, motioning towards the herbs that Bob and I were collecting.

"Oh," Bob scratched his head. "Right." He picked up the plant and added it to our stash. He froze, then tilted his head as if he were listening to something.

"What is it?" I whispered. I got down low and took my dagger from the sheath at my side.

"Titans." Bob swung his broom low to the ground slowly as if preparing for a fight. I knew the Titans were his brothers. Bob's expression was cold, angry. Like a bad titan. He grabbed my arm and pulled me into the hut. "Titans," he repeated. Damasen turned around instantly with his weapon at his side. He looked ready to abandon his sheep and jump into a fight.

I stepped between him and the door. "Wait, this is our chance!" I said. Neither Bob or Damasen reacted. Charlie did.

"We can follow them to the crack," he rephrased.

Damasen lowered his weapons, as did Bob. If we wanted to follow these titans, we had to leave immediately. We couldn't miss this chance. Damasen looked around the hut that had been his home for so many years. Then, he looked back to Charlie and I. He grabbed a large bag of herbs and other supplies that he'd gathered when we'd first told him about the crack. "We'd better hurry," he said.

Charlie smiled and picked up the backpack Damasen had made us and threw it at me. Bob didn't have a backpack, so he was ready to go. Small Bob had taken an attachment to Charlie and now nested his his curly mop of hair. Damasen grabbed a few odds and ends that sat around the hut as we left. He almost seemed to be procrastinating, even though he knew we were running out of time. I kept turning back to look at the hut as we got further away. Once we caught up to the titans, I made a mental picture of the hut we'd called home for the past month, probably longer. I was actually going to miss that drakon bone hut. Damasen rested a hand on my shoulder (which was difficult seeing as his hand was bigger than my face) as if to tell me he knew how I felt. This had been his home much longer than it had been mine. Charlie's hand guided me back to our path and hopefully, towards home.

We'd been walking for awhile (hard to tell how long) when I began to wish we'd made some soup before we left. The titans didn't stop for breaks so we nearly lost them many times when Charlie or I grew tired. We'd been putting off drinking the fire water but we both knew we'd have to stop soon. The titans didn't stop that night to sleep, they didn't even seem tired. Charlie and I on the other hand, we were leaning on each other to stay awake. It must have been days because usually I didn't depend so highly on sleep. I felt like I'd been walking for multiple days and I caught my eyes dropping many times. There was nothing to describe or think about as we walked. The scenery never changed, monsters didn't attack because we were with a giant and a titan. Damasen thought they may attract monster but apparently it was the other way around.

"I feel like we're being watched," Charlie said. We didn't talk much because we all knew how good titans' hearing was, but Charlie just couldn't help himself.

"It's Tartarus, of course you feel like you're being watched. This place literally brings nightmares to life," I sarcastically whispered back. He stopped talking after that. Every time Charlie got close to falling asleep he would start a fire in his hands and focus on making it dance across his fingertips. I didn't have the ability to entertain myself, so I watched Charlie's fire. It made me even more tired. It would dance, growing and shrinking in size. Sometimes he even got the fire to look like the small outline of a person and they would dance so elegantly along his fingers.

Next thing I knew, I fell face first into the ground. I woke up the moment my face made contact with the floor and cursed almost too loudly.

"Jase!" Charlie hissed in concern and held me up.

"I'm up, I'm awake!" I promised.

"Yeah, and you gave yourself a bloody nose to get there."

I raised my fingers to my face and grimaced when they pulled away red. The taste was all too familiar to me.

"Friends need to stop?" Bob asked. Charlie scoffed as if to say yeah, thanks for noticing

"No, I can keep going," I lied.

"No, he can't. We can't," Charlie said. I sighed but didn't disagree. The titans were fading into the distance. I could tell they were beginning to notice us, but they hadn't yet figured out if they wanted to attack.

"Go," I suddenly said. Charlie saw the titans disappearing, then nodded quickly.

"Jason, Charlie, we have been through much together. I will not leave you behind," Damasen put his foot down.

I gave him a small smile. "Won't, or can't?" I turned his own logic against him. Damasen didn't have an answer. Or he might have, but he didn't give it to me.

"We owe it to you, we owe you more than this. You saved us, provided us with a home and food and training and even new shoes. Your opportunity is fading quickly, you'd better hurry," Charlie stepped in. I knew our chances of surviving dwindled if we split up from Bob and Damasen, but I was ok with that. I wanted them to get out more than I wanted myself to.

"No leave friends behind." Bob frowned.

I smiled at him and pointed towards the titans. "You have to go. Charlie and I can find another way. There are endless monsters in here all trying to get out, we can follow them. We need to stop, we need rest. And we're going to continue to need rest throughout the rest of our journey. If you're with us, we'll attract more monsters and put you in danger. We can and we will get out," I smiled slyly at Damasen as I spoke. "But it won't be by your side. When you get out, go to make a little farm and raise sheep, look up at the stars every night. Send a message to Camp Half Blood telling them where you are and when we get home, we'll find you," I promised. Damasen looked at me and I passed him a silent message. He knew I would never forgive myself if they didn't get out. If Charlie and I survived and found that Bob and Damasen were still in here, I would probably jump back in to find them. He knew that they needed to go. For my sake and for theirs.

"We must hurry." He turned to leave but came back to give me a hug. For a giant, it was a pretty weak hug. Probably because he didn't want to kill me. Bob and Charlie joined in on the hug and I felt safe, for just a moment. Small Bob licked the tears off Charlie's face to say goodbye. "Stay safe, Jason. Remember what you have learned. You will survive this," Damasen whispered to me.

"I can survive this."

AU: Would you guys like more chapters of Charlie and Jase's adventures, or would you rather see more about what's happening in the outside world?