Hi, it's 8DemigodRunner8 again! I am truthfully so sorry for the delay on this posting; I've gotten to be very busy and just haven't been writing as frequently as I'd like. I hate making you all wait, but now I've finally got the next chapter up! Good news: the next chapter should hopefully be up in a day or two. Bad news: My updates are, unfortunatly, going to be more spaced out than I'd originally planned them to be. However, I've made you all wait long enough. Time for the new chapter!
Disclaimer: I haven't nor will I ever own Percy Jackson and the Olympians/Heroes of Olympus, sadly. All rights go to Rick Riordan.
Percy's POV
Percy absolutely hated feeling useless. He despised being sick. Most of all, he couldn't stand not being able to protect his friends and family. As you can imagine, he was having a pretty sucktastic time in Tartarus.
After he'd taken a swim in the Lake of Life, Percy had been feeling horrible twenty-four seven. His own legs could barely support him, his eyes struggled to remain open, and he had absolutely no energy.
After Annabeth had Iris messaged Nico, the two demigods had begun their trek back into the cold, unforgiving darkness that encircled the Lake of Life and infinitely extended beyond. It wasn't long before the eerie light of the Lake was swallowed by the immense blackness that swept through Tartarus, and the only light to aid them on their way was the faint shimmer of Percy's magic blade- Riptide.
As Percy leaned on Annabeth and tried to remain awake, he asked, "How…How do we know… if w-we are even…going north?" Percy struggled to say, finishing with a loud yawn.
Annabeth hesitated, slowing her pace and becoming very quiet. Percy knew what she was going to say before a sound escaped her lips. "Truthfully…I don't know. Just a hunch?"
Percy was familiar enough with Annabeth to know she hated not knowing something. Being a child of Athena, this was completely normal, and being as lost as she was right now must have been agonizing for her.
"You're…probably right anyways," Percy comforted his girlfriend with a sleepily tilted smile.
At his compliment, Annabeth drew him closer to her side. "Thanks, Percy."
And so the son of Poseidon and the daughter of Athena continued walking in the direction of what they hoped was the Doors of Death. Percy, although he trusted Annabeth with his life, was indeed worried that they might not be heading north after all. They were fresh out of compasses, and down in Tartarus there was no North Star to lead them. It was a pure gamble, really.
At one point the ground dipped down, causing Annabeth to stumble as she tried to keep Percy upright.
Helping her back up, he mumbled, "Lemme…Let me walk on my own now for a bit, 'k? I can tell you're tired."
Even in the barely-there glow of Riptide, Percy could see her about to protest. Not giving her a chance to deny his request, the ill demigod hesitantly let go of her shoulders and put all his weight back onto his own feet.
Okay, I'm standing on my own. That's…that's good, Percy encouraged himself. Now just- He tried to take a step forward, wobbled a bit, and on his second step he fell to his unsteady knees with a grunt of unsuccessful effort.
Annabeth hurried to Percy's side, lightly pulling his weak arm up onto her shoulders and wrapping her own arm around his waist. She hefted Percy to his feet once again- she was stronger than most people gave her credit for- and Percy caught a glimpse of her concerned expression for him.
"Annabeth, don't worry. I'm fine, really."
He could see her eyes wetting with unshed tears. "No, Percy," she whispered. Then, her voice getting louder, "You're n-not alright, okay? I know that. You know that. So stop pretending to be fine. We will make it out of here, heal you, then you can say you're fine."
Percy gave her a half-hearted smile, trying his best to lighten the mood. "Hey, didn't you say so yourself to…to not be pessa…pessi-"
"Pessimists, yeah," Annabeth corrected her boyfriend with a sigh. "No matter what trouble you end up getting into, you still manage to be a Seaweed Brain."
"The one and only," the son of Poseidon stated with mock pride and put his fist over his heart. That made Annabeth laugh, a precious sound he hadn't heard in a long time. Smiling with delight, Percy laughed along with her. They laughed longer than that joke deserved, but it felt so good to be happy for a change that they were filled with a content joy that just brought on more waves of rolling laughter.
It may've been five minutes before the couple finally calmed down and were able to get back to reality. Percy's sides hurt from laughing, and his face ached from smiling so hard. Annabeth wiped her tears of joy from under her eyes and let out one last chuckle before straightening up and rewrapping her arms around Percy.
"I love you, Percy Jackson," she said, still grinning like a young girl on her birthday.
"I love you, Annabeth Chase," he replied, hugging her a bit harder and breathing in her sweet presence as if it was the last time he would ever do so. Judging from the circumstances, it could be…
It was then that Percy noticed something as he hugged his best friend, something simultaneously reassuring and anxiety inducing.
It was quiet. Like, completely silent. Not the quiet of a library or the quiet of a night in the open country. This…this was the silence before a storm. Suffocating, thick, and steadily increasing in tension.
He guessed Annabeth had felt him tense up, because she immediately asked, "What's wrong?"
"Don't you hear it?" Percy whispered, not wanting to break the almost tangible silence.
"What? I don't hear…anything," Annabeth whispered back, realization dawning on her. "We need to get moving. A stillness like that just…just can't be good."
Percy nodded, not sure though if she even saw it or not in the darkness, and began to lean on her again. They set off at a quick pace, trying to outrun a nonexistent pursuer.
Percy hadn't told Annabeth yet, but he could feel the poisoned water tracing its way slowly throughout his body. His legs felt like lead, explaining the reason why he'd been barely able to walk and was basically relying on Annabeth for any movement at all. The demigod's arms were sluggish and heavy, leaving him doubtful that he'd even be able to defend himself in a fight; truthfully, he was just relieved that the water hadn't made its way to his heart and brain yet. Once it got there…well, Percy didn't want to think about it. He hadn't told her about the poison's progress because he knew she'd only get more stressed out than she already was, and he needed her to focus on the task at hand rather than fret about his present state of sickness.
Percy admittedly didn't like relying on others. He always felt like a burden, as if he was a thorn in their side that they just had to put up with until they could get rid of him. Now he wasn't even just a bothersome load to protect; Percy had to practically be carried around. The son of Poseidon felt guilty for forcing Annabeth to drag his sorry butt across Tartarus with no help from him whatsoever. He'd obviously try to protect her when the time presented itself, which he was sure it would, but really...what help would he be now? Percy sighed inwardly; there was nothing he could do about it but try to keep up with Annabeth as they continued to quickly walk farther through Tartarus.
That's when he heard it- a horrific sound piercing the idle quiet that resembled the wail of a dying soul. Annabeth and Percy both instinctively whipped around, searching for the source of the terrifying shout. Not surprisingly, they saw nothing in the unending blackness that surrounded them.
They didn't need to say a single word to each other on what to do; immediately Annabeth snatched out her dagger while Percy clicked Riptide into existence.
"Keep going," Percy muttered, trying to keep his voice at a quiet tone. "We can't let…whatever it is…get us." The two half-bloods started to sprint, but soon Percy realized he couldn't keep up with that speed- much to his frustration- and instead they jogged. The wind picked up drastically as they ran, clawing at their clothes and harassing their hair. They weren't actually going all that fast, so why the wind was suddenly this fierce was really unnatural. It was, of course, blasting them towards the creature that had emitted the wail rather than the direction they wanted to go- away. Ever since the first screech, the being's noises had softened into moans and whimpers, sounding as if there were many monsters' voices now. Definitely not good.
"We…can go…a-a little faster than this…if you want," Percy slurred as they continued to jog, mysteriously losing speed.
"I'm actually trying go as fast as I can!" Annabeth exclaimed, confusion evident in her voice. Percy could see her heels digging into the ground as she tried to pick up speed, and he then noticed that they were physically leaning forward in haste of getting away.
"We should…We should be going faster than this…what with all the effort we're putting…in," Percy observed, really pushing to go faster. However, it was like moving through molasses, and they were making almost no progress anymore.
Then Percy saw the first shadow. In the heat of the moment he'd casually glanced down and saw a tendril of darkness slither out from behind him, smoothly wrapping itself around his wrist.
"Ah!" Percy yelped, yanking his hand away. "Annabeth-"
"What the-" he heard Annabeth say as her leg shot upwards, shaking her ankle as if warding off another shadow tendril that had tried to grab her. "What are these things?"
The moans and screams that had been trailing behind them had steadily grown louder, and now it felt as though whatever-it-was was right behind them. As always, Percy saw nothing in the darkness behind them, but he just knew something was there. Call it a demigod instinct.
"Hello?" Percy called out to no one. "Just…show your- your-" He let out a yawn before finishing his sentence, "-yourself."
"Percy!" Annabeth gasped, pointing at the hem of his orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. He looked behind himself to see another tendril of shadow take the shape of a sharp hook and cling to his shirt, tugging him backwards like a tow truck would a stalled car.
"Get off!" Percy yelled at it, not knowing if it understood him or even had a brain, and he tried to pull out his celestial bronze sword. Much to Percy's horror, his arms were barely responding to his will. Now I can't even draw my sword? Percy thought, panicking. "This is bad, this is bad." Annabeth got the message on what was occuring with Percy and used her own dagger to slice off his shirt's hem, sending the shadow flying backwards due to it's own inertia.
"Your arms are already growing numb?" Annabeth questioned her boyfriend, not bothering to hide the anxiety in her voice.
"And my legs." Percy figured he might as well stop trying to hide it. The Lake's water was making a major impact on him- fast.
As they continued to walk, shadow spears didn't stop clinging to their shirts, pants, arms, and even their hair.
Annabeth sucked in a breath as one caught a handful of her blonde, curly ponytail and yanked back violently. The daughter of Athena sliced the darkness away with her trusty dagger, creating another horrible wail in the distance.
"What is with this thing?" Annabeth spat, shaking off a tendril on her upper arm as Percy tried to lift his foot and stomp on a shadow.
"Thing? I'd hardly like to be called a thing."
Percy and Annabeth stopped dead in their tracks, frozen with dread. The shadowy monster that had been following them had finally spoken, it's voice wavering as if it was trying to mask a cacophony of screams and shouts. Even so, faint yells and shrieks were flying through the air, using the darkness as their transportation.
"Who…are you, then?" Percy demanded, looking around for the speaker.
"My shadowy hands didn't give you a clue? And I thought monsters were known as the dumb ones. I am Cheriskia, the monster of shadows and all-around a man to be feared by all."
Under her breath, Annabeth muttered to Percy, "Cheriskia. That's 'shadow hands' in Greek."
"Wow, way to get creative on the names," he said sarcastically back.
"Hey, I don't name the monsters," Annabeth retorted.
Suddenly, a giant shadow that was shaped like an abnormally large hand crept in between the two and subtly wrapped its way around Annabeth's waist.
She gasped at its cold touch and screamed as it lifted her up into the air, pulling her backwards.
"Annabeth!" Percy called out in vain. It wasn't much longer before the second hand yanked him back as well. He was carried high up into the black sky; somewhere below he'd dropped Riptide, leaving him with no light.
That's when he saw the face. The half-formed head of the monster of shadows materialized in front of him- the face of Cheriskia. While his hands happened to be large enough to extend from Percy's shoulders to his knees, his head and body remained an average adult size, emitting a dark glow that enabled Percy to be able to see him in the first place. His entire form was black and writhing with shadows and screaming faces; it reminded Percy of Hades' toga and cloak filled with trapped souls. Even with his spooky shine, Cheriskia's face was barely discernable among the darkness surrounding him. Percy could barely see his dark nose, cruelly twisted grin, and deep eyes that resembled black holes.
He had no hair, and…he had no back of his head. Nor a back of his body. Where his ear should've been his skin dissolved into the air, leaving him looking like a half-finished mold of a Greek statue. His torso adorned a black toga that also dissolved into the air at his knees. Cheriskia's arms were also shadow like, but they grew in size from his shoulder to his large, clasping and clawed hands. The noises of despair that had been filling the air for the past ten or twenty minutes finally ceased to exist, dissipating quickly as Cheriskia prepared to speak.
"Oh, the Earth goddess will be sso pleased at my catch," the monster mused, stringing out his s's like a snake would. Percy was surprised that his tongue didn't flicker each time he rolled his s's, so much did he sound like a snake. "The bounty on your heads iss enough to leave me living large for the resst of my life!" he exclaimed with a maniacal laugh. His pitch black eyes swept over the two demigods as a predator would his prey. "The famouss sson of Posseidon and his ssidekick daughter of Athena..."
"I'm nobody's sidekick," Annabeth growled back at him.
"Oh, tessty today, aren't we?" Cheriskia grinned, bringing her closer to his dark, shadowy face. "Gaea didn't sspecifically assk for your return, you know. In fact, your bounty is jusst as good as the other girlsss…I'm sure she wouldn't mind if I killed you and brought her only the boy..."
"Let her go!" Percy yelled at the monster, trying to wriggle out of his tight grasp. Sadly, the half-blood's illness prevented him from doing much, and he basically hung there like a rag doll. Percy felt his face grow red with frustration at his incapabilities.
"Well, well, well, Percccy Jacksson," Cheriskia said, floating over to me and abandoning his conversation with Annabeth. At least she was safe for the time being. "In all truth, I thought you would've put up more of a fight than thisss. Thiss, well, iss pretty pathetic."
"Yeah, well…I'm not at my best right now," I grumbled angrily. Cheriskia pulled in even closer so that now I could smell his rancid breath that reeked with the scent of death. I guess Nico isn't the one I should be calling 'Death Breath' anymore, I thought to myself. The half-formed monster, presently gripping Percy to the point were he was struggling to even draw in a breath, was searching his sea-green eyes for something, though Percy didn't know what.
Cheriskia must've found what he'd been looking for, because next he smiled and looked at Annabeth curiously. "He swam in the Lake of Life, didn't he? Seriousssly, I'd expect a daughter of Athena to know better than to let him do that." Turning back to Percy, he scoffed, "Some girlfriend you've got there."
"How did…How did you know that she's my girlfriend?" Percy asked him, desperately trying to keep his thoughts from wandering and struggling to get even simple questions out. Oh no, he gasped inwardly. It's reached my mind. Ever since the swim, Percy's thoughts had been slow, but now…now he had trouble even remembering what I had been about to say. He was scared. Really scared.
Cheriskia's reply snapped Percy out of his troubled thoughts. "Word getss around, even in Tartaruss. Besides, every monster who'ss ever met you, apparently, knew you'd end up together. It was inevetible, really." He chuckled. "At leassst, that'ss what I've heard."
"So…what do you…want…with me?" the demigod stumbled out, his mind already forgetting both small details as well as important memories.
Cheriskia rolled his eyes. "You are the ideal sssacrifice for Gaea. She has offered an unimaginable amount of drachma for your capture and return. I plan to collect that reward for myself." Out of the corner of his eye, Percy noticed Annabeth moving around slowly in her hand prison, and once she made eye contact with Percy he knew what she was trying to do. She had a plan, and in order for it to work he had to keep Cheriskia talking and unfocused on his second prisoner.
"Why... Why don't you s…send Gaea both of us, instead o…of killing one of us? The kill wi...will only give you a small amount of...of satisfaction, while the money will la...last longer...You'll get both our rewards, rather…than just mine."
Cheriskia paused, drawing back a little in thought. "You bring up a good point, Percccy Jacksson. Perhaps I will-"
Suddenly, the monster let out an ear-piercing screech of pain, which was sounded straight in Percy's ear, and briskly dropped both Percy and Annabeth to the dirt floor below.
Luckily for them, they weren't as high up as they'd originally assumed, and the fall did nothing but squash the air out of Percy's and Annabeth's lungs. Gasping, Percy's shaking arms pushed him into a sitting position, from which he attempted to stand.
"C'mon, let's go!" Annabeth ushered him, running over and supporting her boyfriend once again. "I was able to stab his hand, but it sure wasn't a good enough hit to kill the beast."
A loud roar of outrage from their former captor confirmed her suspicions. "You sneaky little BRATS! I will turn you in to Gaea, AND I WILL SSTOP AT NOTHING TO GET THAT REWARD!"
"Pretty strong words for a guy who whines for his mommy at a little pinprick!" Percy stupidly taunted the monster, only causing Cheriskia's rage to rise.
"Run!" Annabeth screamed as Cheriskia came out of his rampage, charging the two half-bloods.
"W-Where?" he asked her frantically, gesturing to the black expanse before them.
"Uh…there!" Annabeth pointed to a tiny smudge of orange light on the horizon, so faint that Percy hadn't even noticed it before.
"COME BACK HERE!"
"That's our cue!" Percy exclaimed, getting a sudden rush of adrenaline that gave his legs barely enough power to flee towards the unwavering light up ahead. Annabeth grabbed his hand and, with her added speed, they sprinted off towards what they could only hope was safety.
And scene. How was that? Cheriskia is my own OC, and when it came to his name, I looked up the Greek terms for shadow (skia with an accent on the "a") and hand (cheri with an accent on the "e") and combined them together. Cheriskia is probably not how you actually say "Shadow Hands," but it worked as a name.
First off, before I get to individual thank-you's, I'd like to say that I am so grateful for all of your patience in waiting for my chapters to come out! I'll try and publish them asap, but sometimes my schedule gets so busy that I can't write as much as I'd like to. Please continue to follow even if my chapters are published less frequently than they used to be, and my goal is to finish at least a chapter a week.
Thank you to geniveve-jason, xCaydieKane, alyaJackson, cjsmile5, and GAKUENALICEROCKS for the story favorites, thank you to godsarereal and GUAKENALICEROCKS for the author favorites, thank you to alyaJackson and GUAKENALICEROCKS for the story follows, and thanks to GUAKENALICEROCKS for the author follow!
GUAKENALICEROCKS: Thank you so much! I really appreciated the tip on having them fight some more monsters, and I'm so happy that you like the story! Again, sorry for the slow update.
Hibye: Thank you! And I do feel bad for not updating sooner, but here it finally is! I'm super glad that you like this story as much as you do and please continue to review and read!
As always, reviews, follows, and favorites are greatly appreciated! Thank you to those who already have!
-8DemigodRunner8