Here is the chapter!

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I am sooooooooooooo sorry for not updating in a while! I've just been so busy lately. Sorry. :(

I OWN NOTHIN

Annabeth should have known it would all go to hell.

Of course, they were already in hell, but that wasn't the point.

Everything was looking up (well, sort of). They had a cure for Percy, and his curse.

Annabeth still couldn't believe Gabe had dunked Percy in . . . there. Gabe was a clueless mortal that took it one step too far - and look at the results. Percy had to take a potion that would put him through unbearable pain (for 24 whole hours).

Why did they always get the worst luck?

Annabeth had been flashed into the middle of Percy's living room, where the others were all sitting and talking calmly.

When they saw her, they were first very quiet. Then the wave of questions came.

"What happened at-"

"Did you-"

"Anything that-"

"Did he-"

"How did it-"

"QUIET!"

The voice was, surprisingly, not Annabeth's. It wasn't Percy's, Jason's, Frank's, Leo's, or even Piper's. It was Hazel's.

"Let the girl speak!" she scolded.

They all looked expectantly at her. She took a deep breath. She decided to go with the good news first.

"He gave me a cure," she said three-quarter heartedly (not quite half-heartedly, but she wasn't exactly enthusiastic).

Everyone began cheering - that is, everyone except Percy. He could tell something was wrong.

"But. . ." he asked.

She sighed. "He said it was going to hurt a bit."

Piper piped up. "Well, that's better than having the curse, right?"

Annabeth hesitated. "Ummm. . ."

Percy obviously knew something was wrong. "What is it, Annabeth?"

She sighed again. There was no getting out of this.

She walked up to Percy and leaned into his ear. "Hades said . . . he said that it would hurt worse than the Acheron."

She leaned back to see Percy's face in complete shock. His eyes were wide with fear.

He ran off into the house.

"Annabeth, what did you tell him?" Jason asked.

She sat down where Percy had sat. "Well, I told him exactly how much it would hurt."

They all looked at her expectantly.

She sighed, yet again. "It'll hurt worse than the River Acheron."

Everyone gasped. For a moment, no one said anything.

"For how long?" Piper asked. "A minute? An hour? Two?"

"Ummm . . . 24 hours?"

More gasping.

"Is there anything else we can do?" Frank asked.

Annabeth shook her head. "If we don't do anything soon he'll fade away into nothing."

Everyone was silent.

Until a certain grinning, raven haired boy ran in, shouting, "I found it!"

Piper stood up. "Found what?"

"The duct tape," he said casually, holding up a role of the grey stuff.

It was Annabeth's turn to stand up. "What?"

Percy sighed. "Look, I'm not going to make you guys listen to my annoying screams for . . . how long was it?"

"24 hours," Annabeth told him.

Something flashed in Percy's eyes. Was it fear? If it was, Annabeth couldn't blame him. She felt terrified, and she wasn't even the one that had to go through with it.

But whatever he had felt a moment ago was replaced by a lopsided grin. "Look, you guys are going to tape my mouth shut right after I take it. You're going to leave the room, and my house, for the 24 hours. I don't care what you guys want. This is what I want. Just let me have this. Please?"

Annabeth tried to resist his baby-seal eyes, and his reasoning. But she knew that when Percy had his mind set on something, it was going to happen.

"Fine." Annabeth tried not to look at him as he danced around the room, going "YES!"

A little while later, they were all surrounding Percy's bed. Annabeth still felt really bad for what was about to happen. She looked into his sea-green eyes and saw beyond the "I'm fine" look. She knew that he was secretly beyond terrified.

She twisted the vial between the tips of her fingers, causing the light blue liquid to bubble up on the inside. Was this the only way? Apparently it was. She just wished there was a . . . to put it lightly, a less painful way to remove the curse.

"Alright, Percy," she said. "You ready?"

He grinned. "Whenever you are."

She smiled slightly, but it didn't reach her eyes. He was pretending to be strong for them. Sometimes she wished he wouldn't hide his feelings like he did.

"Here you go." She gave him the vial.

He took it delicately, as if it was a stick of dynamite set to go off at any moment.

They all waited for him to uncork it. He just stared at it for the longest time. Annabeth was starting to get impatient.

"Anytime now," she said.

"Uh, Huston, we have a problem," Percy said. Just then, his free hand flew to his head.

All too late, they realized that he was shaking.

Annabeth tried to take the vial from him, but his grip was like iron. Her hand slumped to her side in frustration.

He started grunting in pain, and he closed his eyes shut tightly.

"Percy," Piper said calmly, her voice laced with charmspeak, "give us the vial."

It would have worked. He raised his hand as if to give them the vial.

It would've worked.

It would've worked.

But the Acheron chose that exact moment to attack.

Percy's body jerked. Both of his hands flew to his head, the vial still tightly clutched in his one hand. His hands continued to flail around.

But his iron grip didn't last forever.

The vial flew through the air. Time slowed down. Annabeth wanted to reach out and grab it, but she was too shocked to move. The others must have felt the same way, since they all watched it tumble through space as if it were in slow motion.

The vial smashed into the wall, and the shattering sound echoed throughout the room.

1,012 words. Meh.

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