Hi all, and welcome to the next chapter! This chapter might surprise you, because I took something of little significance, and made it into something important to the plot. Behold, the next chapter!

Time was slowing down. I stared into Medusa's green eyes and snaky hair. She was looking bemused.

"Persseuss Jackson," said Medusa.

"Yeah?" I was starting to get a little scared. How come I didn't get turned to stone?

The answer, believe it or not, came from inside my shirt. The blue sapphire amulet was glowing with energy. Hades must have given me the wrong necklace. I pulled it out.

She saw me examining the necklace. "Ahh, yesss. Hades' necklace of power. It has chosen a new master." she said with a dry laugh. "I can show you how to unlock its true potential."

I uncapped Riptide. "And I would be interested, why?" I put it to the side of her neck.

"Foolissshh boy," Medusa said with a snarl. "It can raise the dead."

That stopped me short. Medusa took advantage of the silence and continued, "The helm of darkness was just a ruse. This is his true symbol of power."

"You lie," I said, though I wasn't sure. What if she was telling the truth?

I put the amulet back in my shirt, where it glowed with heat and energy. "I'll find out how to use it for myself, thank you." I said. Before I had even gripped Riptide to cut off her head, a fine beam of blue energy lanced from the amulet and struck Medusa in the neck. She screamed and flailed and disintegrated into golden dust.

Half an hour later, we met back at the train station. "Guys, we have a problem." I said to the others.

"What?" asked Thalia anxiously. She was carrying Annabeth at the time.

I pulled out the necklace. "Hades gave me the wrong item. I met Medusa in an alley. I looked her in the eye, and the sapphire protected me. She thinks that it is a so-called necklace of power, and that I am the new master of it. The necklace killed her with some sort of energy."

Thalia paled. "Necklace of power?"

"Yes," I said.

"I have heard stories of this necklace of power," Grover cut in. "If what I have heard is true…"

"What you have heard is true," said a recognizable voice. I turned. Athena was walking toward us, with a panicked expression on her face. "So the necklace has chosen you as its master?"

"Apparently," I said, pulling out the necklace. "It killed Medusa for me."

Athena looked even worse. "We have to get out of here," she hissed.

"Why?"

"Just get about fifty feet away from us, now."

I didn't argue with a goddess. Especially a goddess that is wearing an expression of mortal fear on her face. Athena was.

I could see her checking Annabeth's pulse. She paled visibly, then ran to me and grabbed the necklace. My head jerked forward. She tried to pull it off, but it was somehow attached to my neck.

With a flash of light, Athena and I were standing on a sand dune in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. "Why here?" I asked.

"That necklace has unlimited power, but at a terrible cost. It is an evil thing. It draws energy from anything that cannot resist its call. In short, all mortals and spirits of the dead. The less willpower they currently have, the more it will drain from them. You almost killed Annabeth with it." Athena said, somewhat angrily. "Where did you get it?"

"Lord Hades gave it to me," I said, feeling hollow. "He said it was an empathy-link amulet."

"Прокляните это!" she swore. "It holds little cost for Hades, as he draws power from the damned in the Fields of Punishment. He must have given you the wrong one. You must wander until the necklace runs out of power. When you start feeling tired, call Apollo. He's always nearby these desert climates."

She was about to wave her hand to disappear when I cried, "Wait!"

"What is it?"

"Medusa said that this necklace could raise the dead. Is that true?" I asked desperately.

"I know not," said Athena. "Do not try it, because by my estimation, the energy released would be equivalent to you being struck by the master bolt. Hades could contain the energy, but you cannot."

She disappeared on that cheery statement.

Great. I was supposed to wander aimlessly in the desert until the magic wore off. Who knows how long that would take? Hades was charging it for eternity. I had a feeling Athena didn't tell me because I might get severely depressed, and do who knows what.

I walked, and walked, and walked. I had no idea how long I walked with no apparent direction, but I never got tired. The necklace must have been nourishing me. At least it was releasing power. Maybe it would go quicker now.

I saw a couple of hooded figures in the distance, but they didn't appear to notice me. Must have been the Mist. I was starting to get really bored.

A thought struck me. Maybe the empathy-link thing will work with this! I concentrated on the face of Annabeth, which wasn't hard. Hopefully connecting with her would consume some of the necklace's energy.

Instead of her consciousness, I connected with another of her memories…

I walked into the room, hiding under a shadowy balcony. There they were, Thalia, Luke, and Grover, hanging like smoked hams from the ceiling. The one-eyed monster was starting a fire in the room.

His one eye flicked to me. Fear flooded my body. "Annabeth," he said, using my father's voice. I shivered. "I love you. You can stay with me. You can stay with me forever."

I walked forward, mesmerized. The Cyclops laughed and grabbed for me. I ducked and ran aimlessly. I saw his foot nearby and did the only thing that made logical sense at the time.

I pulled out my knife and stabbed it. The Cyclops howled in pain and clutched his heel. I ran to Thalia and cut her ropes.

Thalia's eyes were blazing. She cut Luke's and Grover's ropes, and bade them to stay back. Luke came anyway.

The Cyclops roared furiously. He smacked Luke with the back of his hand and knocked him across the room.

Thalia pulled out her sword with a cry. Lightning shredded a hole in the ceiling and struck the sword. Thalia watched, amazed. The sword was crackling with heat and energy.

She spun the sword like a javelin and struck the Cyclops in the stomach. That was as far as she could reach upward. It screamed and waved its hand around haphazardly, trying to catch Thalia.

She did the unthinkable. She struck the hand, and jumped on it. She ran up the arm, jumped, and struck the Cyclops right in the eye. It flailed and fell to the ground. Thalia scaled down his body, and drove the short electrified sword into its heart. The Cyclops disintegrated into golden dust.

I abruptly returned to consciousness. There was a familiar figure standing before me, one that had always interrupted me.

Luke.

Cliffies! Cliffies! More cliffies! Mwahahahahahahaha! Verop, when you read this, know that it is payback for your EVIL cliffie. I know I use Luke a lot for cliffies. Who knows? He might die for good this time.