Ohmygods, 190 reviews!
Do you realise we only have TEN to go until freakin' 200?!
That is just way too awesome. You guys are the very, very best!
I doubt we'll reach two hundred with this chapter (even though we would if only half of the people who favourite this would review, hehe * hint hint *)
but no matter when or even if not, I love you all anyway.
This chapter is kinda scary-ish in my opinion. The next will be in the same setting.
Would you guys like Penelope's POV again?
And also, thanks to Em for reminding me what Leo still has to tell Pen. I was planning on doing a scene where he does, but I completely forgot, so thanks ;)
Okay, I don't own anything you recognise (except Penelope, as you would recognise her from previous chapters I guess, so this Disclaimer's a bit senseless).
Enjoy!

Chapter fifty-seven: Under the Ground
~Leo's POV~

Darkness. Complete darkness.
That was all Leo could see when he woke up. He felt groggy, like he was recovering from a bad
bout of flu. Only this situation was so much worse.
His head felt clouded, but he could still remember what had happened. The berries making him
lose consciousness, the strong roots coming out of the earth like skeletal hands, dragging him under... After that he'd blacked out.
When the fog had cleared a bit from his mind, he felt the ground beneath him. It was damp and hard enough to be stone, but the crumbly quality of it made Leo realise it was actually earth. His hand shot out in front of him, only to bang against a ceiling maybe half a metre above his body.
No, oh no. Please not this.
Leo could feel his breath quickening, as the image of him sealed in a tiny chamber miles underneath the surface burnt into his mind. Forcing himself to breathe in slowly and exhale the same way, Leo tried to stay calm.
Penelope he thought, and turned his head to look around for her before remembering that it was completely dark. Instead, he let his hands wander, groping around his tiny earth made cell. It was just long enough for his feet to fit, but too low to allow him to sit up. The best he could do was lift his torso a few inches before he banged against the ceiling.
He couldn't even turn around...
Focus! He told himself, and continued feeling out the space as best as he could with only his hands. Suddenly, his right hand touched something soft and warmer than its surroundings. Oh gods, please don't let this be maggots. Leo prayed silently, before squishing the thing a little. It stirred, and Leo got hold of it more tightly.
There were three things actually, the middle one slightly longer than the other two, and he could just barely feel their ends, which had a hard side. Fingertips Leo realised.
"Pen?" he whispered, afraid to open his mouth least some sort of earth worm might fall into it. His voice sounded muffled, and he repeated the word, trying to talk louder. "Pen?"
He could hear an odd scuffle, as if a person was moving near him. And then:
"Leo?!"
"Pen!"
"Where are you? I can't see!" Penelope's voice had a panicky edge to it, and Leo tried to feel some other part of her, but he couldn't. They must be separated by a thin but strong wall of dirt, with only a little gap in it for their hands.
"Can you feel my fingers?" he asked, and the fingertips he was holding wiggled a little.
"Yes! Oh gods, Leo what happened?! Where are we? Wait, I'll try to get u-" Leo was about to shout wait but apparently Penelope had already tried sitting up, as there was a muffled thunk and her fingers twitched in pain.
"Ow!" she muttered, before it seemed to dawn on her why she'd hit her head, and where they were.
"What the- oh no. No no no no. Too small..This is too tight."
With a jolt Leo remembered that Penelope was slightly claustrophobic. He'd once found her locked inside the Demeter's cabins' tool shed (Zeus knew why) and it had taken a while to calm her down.
He knew she was probably freaking out over there.
"Listen, Pen, you have to stay calm. It'll be okay, you hear me? I'll figure a way out. Somehow."
Leo said to her, trying to sound reassuring and firm, and not the way he really felt, afraid and shaky.

Apparently his speech was having no effect on Pen whatsoever, for he heard little thunks, like fists hitting the dirt walls.
"It won't open, Leo! Can't breathe...too tight...we'll suffocate! We can't-" she cut off, and for a horrible moment Leo pictured her hyperventilating and blacking out, but when the cold voice spoke inside his mind, he knew why Penelope had gone silent.
Welcome, little demigods, to my humble domain.
"Gaia!" Leo yelled, and smacked his fists against the ceiling as well, trying to get to the goddess, to hurt her for doing this to them.
You are wasting your efforts, son of Hephaestus. My embrace cannot be broken unless I am willing to let you go, and as you might understand, I am not.
"What do you want from us?" Penelope hissed.
You have regained a little of your strength I see, daughter of Hecate. But do not cherish it, it will leave you soon, for this is what I want: Your strength, your powers, your own spirit I will extract from your bodies while you lie here, until there is nothing left of you but empty shells. And then I shall rise. You see, my little pawns, the Blood of Olympus is not merely the blood of demigods, it is their very heart and soul, that are filled with belief and hope in the Olympians. This is what will resurrect me. And now, I finally have what I have waited for for so long. Soon I shall wake, and my children will rule the world beside me!
"You're mad" Leo spat, trying hard to keep the horror from his voice. "Our friends will find us. The others will defeat you!"
Gaia laughed, a more terrible sound than anything Leo had ever heard. It reminded him of his mother's death, of a blazing workshop and Esperanza Valdez's screams as she burned.
But his anger did not strengthen him, instead it seemed to drain out of him, until he was weaker than before. "What?" he muttered, as he almost blacked out again.
Gaia was still laughing.
Oh yes, I ask you, get angry at me, Leo Valdez. The more you feel the more I can suck out of you. Think of your mother, of how I killed her. Let the anger take hold, strengthen me and you will be with her soon enough.
"No, Leo!" Penelope's voice came from beside him, and her fingertips pressed into his. He focused on this, not allowing any other thought to enter his mind.
And as for your friends finding you Gaia continued I am afraid they have no chance of doing so in time. They are heading for Epirus, to save the Athena girl and Poseidon's son, although those two are almost lost as well. But you see, little heroes, you are not in Epirus. I have taken you to where I plan to rise, stronger than ever before: The ancient and glorious city of Athens.
No, no it couldn't be true. Percy and Annabeth would be okay. The others would come get them. Yet doubt sneaked into Leo's mind, as he realised the others would be waiting for them in Epirus. And even if they came to look for them, they would probably look in Turkey, and not miles and miles away in Athens.
"Leo" Penelope whispered, her voice terrified but with a note of resilience in it. "We'll survive this. We'll fight this somehow. There must be a way."
Oh, there is a way the cruel voice of the earth goddess filled their minds once more. But the joke is, Penelope Rider, that this one gave it up. His fire might have gotten you out of here, yet it is gone, for which I must thank you, really. You received it as the crucial blessing to restore your soul to your body, yet you cannot use it as such. And your own powers have not yet returned, but before they will, I shall seize them. So you see, there really is no option left for you anymore. Spend the rest of your week alive regretting your choices, little heroes.
And with that the voice went silent, and Leo knew somehow that Gaia was no longer with them, but that she had gone on to terrorise others for the moment.
It was even worse than Leo had thought, and hopelessness filled him, making him feel even more drained. They were both silent for a long, long time and Leo dimly noticed the dampness of the ground chilling his bones.
"We have to fight" Pen's whisper barely reached his ears. As he felt her fingers press into his, a tiny bit of willpower resurfaced inside him.
Leo Valdez would not give up like this. He hadn't gone through everything he had only to end up slowly dying in some dirty hole that an old hag had dug for him.
He would save them, he would save them all. The world would fall to fire, for even if it no longer burnt on his skin, it was still in his heart.
"I'll get us out of here, Pen." he said, and his words cut through the silence like sharp blades.
"I swear it on the River Styx."