I've never been to this castle and I'm tired of my slow internet not telling me what it looks like so I'm guessing on all this. No it probably doesn't have half the things that I will describe but it's a castle. You you get the point. Since it's modern day there will be tours and stuff which costs money that they don't have. Because of this they are breaking in at night and using the mist to their advantage. Enjoy.

Chapter 8

Annabeth

It was the middle of July. The air should not have been cold. But I shivered with suspense. We had decided to wait until night fell to break into the castle. We didn't have the time to avoid tourists and who knew what type of monsters would be running around the place. Yep, it would go smoother if regular humans were out of the way.

Black iron gates stood in front of us. To make it even creepier black tips spiked at the top of every bar. Surrounding the entire castle was a thick stone wall at least twenty five feet tall. I eyed every inch of it searching for surveillance cameras. Knowing they usually were set up in corners or on the top of the wall they weren't hard to spot. The last thing we needed were security guirds to come around to stop us from getting in. I snapped my fingers and focussed on the mist's properties. I pushed it forward towards the cameras pointing at the gate. All they would be picking up now was probably some group of kids hanging out at the front and then leaving soon afterward. It wouldn't seem like anything was out of the usual.

"So..." Phoebe said eying the iron gate, "How are we supposed to break through that?"

"We don't." I gestured to her and myself, "Grover is going to."

He looked like he just choked on one of his pop cans. "Come on, Grover. You can do it." I encouraged.

"When did we decide that?" he protested.

"Two seconds ago." I gave him my signature 'you better do it' look.

"So suck it up, Goat Boy."

"Really didn't need the extra comment, Phoebe." he grumbled pulling out his reed pipes. "So do you expect me to dig a hole under, bend the gate, tare it down, or just, you know, old fashioned knocking?"

"How about the second one."

He tapped the tips of his fingers counting and mumbling what he had just said.

Phoebe rolled her eyes, "Just rip the gate off with your freakin vines so we can go in!"

"Ooh option five!"

"Uhg!"

Grover smirked and began playing his pipes.

Do not make me describe the sounds that came out of them. It was definitely not music, that's for sure.

Growing rapidly out of the ground were ivy vines that intertwined themselves between the bars. The vines thickened to the point where I couldn't even see the black bars.

Grover's... song became more intense. Meaning lower notes but still sounding just as horrid.

The metal groaned beneath the vines vicious pulling. A gap appeared between the green leaves as the iron bent.

I glanced at Grover. His face turned bright red and a look of determination burned in his eyes.

The moment the gap became big enough Grover's exotic tune ended. The vines receded into the ground.

"Simple enough." Grover said airily and staggered as he tried to clop towards the hole.

"You sure you don't need a break?" I asked concerned.

"I'll be fine. Do either of you have any food?"

I tossed him my last granola bar. He bleated and tried to catch the small thing but dropped it. Bending over to pick it up he grumbled, "It's dark."

"Sure." but I was not concealing my grin or my snicker very well. It felt good to laugh after almost three days. But then Will's grim face appeared in my mind reminding me of our friends and my smile slipped away.

"Come on," I said, "we need to hurry." and I hopped through the gate and onto the castle grounds.

There are many ways you immediately know something is wrong. One way is when your shirt sizzles from scorching hot green goop that has just splattered your shoulder. Yep, something was wrong.

I screamed in surprise and rolled to the ground scraping off the burning liquid off as fast as I could. I hissed in pain. My shoulder was mildly burnt.

In the dark it was difficult to identify the creature but the outline was distinct. It was a nine headed hydra… for now. I summersaulted to my feet and pulled out my dagger.

I slashed at one of the attacking heads trying to ward it away. It recoiled in pain when I cut deep into it's gigantic serpent nose.

Last time we fought one of these things Clarrise had blown it up. But no steam boat was coming to the rescue this time. We needed fire; really badly.

My istincts told me to cut the heads off but I knew that it wouldn't end well if I did that.

Had it not been for Phoebe's warning I would probably be disintegrated into demigod sludge right now. I dove to the side; green acid missing my face by inches and eating the grass behind me into nothingness.

Phoebe shot arrows at its chest but the armored scales covering his body repelled the sharp metal. The only unprotected areas were the necks and heads which were not an option. All nine heads turned towards the new target.

Phoebe cursed but aimed two more at other parts of its torso. She would have hit its shoulder had Grover not bumped into her when he jumped through the gate. The arrows shot through two of the monsters necks and they fell dead.

"You idiot!" She yelled at him as she ducked the incoming acid.

The dead heads didn't stay that way for long. Sprouting from the small wounds grew four heads and the old ones fell into golden dust when they hit the ground. Eleven heads now. Just grand.

I hit the dirt to avoid another volley of acid. Something from my pocket ground into my hip. The Catoblespas' eye! I pulled out the red ball that was wrapped in cloth and waited.

The hydra heads noticed my stillness. As soon as one was close enough with its mouth open to spray acid at my face I chucked the eye down its throat. It choked for three seconds. Five sets of eyes widened and then all of them dropped. They were unconscious. Six left. A much easier number to take care of.

With half of the hydra paralized and the other half carrying the other five's dead weight it would move much slower.

I looked around for wood. There were few trees near and those that were had grown high enough that the branches were out of reach. We had little to no hope without fire so hopefully Grover could grow a tree for wood. It was our best shot.

"Grover! We'll defend it; you make a fire!"

"I'll try!" the goat bleated and dodged an arc of goo.

"No!" Phoebe screamed. I looked at her annoyed. We had the best chance to defeat this thing if Grover could get a fire hot enough to destroy the monster.

Her bow disappeared and she held out her hands.

"What are you doing?!" Grover yelled trying to talk some sense into her.

Again one head came swooping in trying to bite me in half. I stabbed the eye. It screeched in agony it's acid spraying everywhere. A few drops hit my arm. I winced quickly rubbing it off.

Then out of nowhere a fireball hit hit one of the heads. The whole thing burnt to a black crisp and turned to ash. I stared around for the source. Phoebe's hand were glowing. Flames licked her fingers and lit up her angry face.

She hurled another flame ball at the hydra; another head burning off.

I realized she needed help. I ran forward jumping away from any slime shooting towards me and sliced through the neck of a head. And then another. Each time Phoebe would burn the stumps before they could grow back. Two heads left.

I skipped away from the head on the lefts snapping jaws and raised my arms to cut its head off. In a flash of green I was thrown away from it. I landed sprawled on the ground. My stomach exploded in pain. The hydra head on the right had hit my exposed gut with its acid. I screamed in agony.

"ANNABETH!" it was Grover. Colors burst in front of my closed eyelids. I felt him lift my shirt up over my head, not that there was much of it left. Thankfully my sports braw hadn't disentigrated. That would be ten times worse than the burn.

I gasped when Grover gently touched my stomach.

"I've got- Eh!- necter i-in my paAck!" I whimpered. Gods, I hate how weak I sounded but it hurt so freakin bad.

He ran off to find it. Hopefully it wasn't ashes or melted into goo.

My vision blurred when I searched for Phoebe. But she appeared in front of me. "-hydra?" I hissed.

"I took care of it." her blue eyes full of concern and worry. Was it that bad?

Grover returned and opened the flask full of necter with a loud 'POP'! He gingerly knelt down and eyed me warily.

I nodded slightly and grit my teeth for the incoming pain.

He turned the flask over and the golden liquid flowed over my wounds. I gasped at the extreme stinging that hit me. Black spots flickered in my eyesight and I nearly passed out. Then the pain faded. I took a deep breath wincing as the scabs forming on my stomach stretched.

I groaned slightly as I sat up slowly. Grover immediately helping me. "How bad is it?" I asked through closed eyes afraid to look.

"I'de say your extremely lucky it didn't burn straight through you." Phoebe said.

At that I peaked through my closed eyelids an saw how horrible it really was. Everything under my ribcage was exposed. My skin was blistering that was still there. And in places it wasn't I was bleading. The necter helping it clot into a scab.

"You need to rest." Phoebe told me.

"No. We-" I grunted and winced, "we need to find Asclepius. We don't have time to fret over me."

Grover sighed, "We have four days. You need to rest."

"We have four days at best, Grover! Will said that- Eh- that Percy wasn't doing well. We don't have time. I'll be fine."

To prove my point I was determined to stand. Oh, I got to my feet but nearly did a face plant getting there. Phoebe and Grover grabbed me under the arms. I leaned heavily on them.

Phoebe pulled off her T-shirt that had a couple of acid holes in it and gave it to me. She had on a white tank-top under it. I winced as they helped put it over my head.

This was so frustrating. I could barely stand. What kind of hero am I if I can't even stand? Stupid hydras. I would be better off if I had died. Then Grover and Phoebe wouldn't be wasting time on me. But if- no when we get the antidote to save Percy, Nico, and Thalia from the sickness Percy would be devistated. Nope. It's good I wasn't dead but our friends dying were the priority here!

Red bricks towered all the way up the approaching castle walls. They were amazing. I absolutely adored architecture. Yeah, there were things I would have tweaked. Like a couple arches here and there or columns in certain spots but it was a beautiful building. Not to brag but I was rebuilding the mount Olympus above the Empire state building. Nothing there inspired me too much though. I still prefered Greek building over those medieval castles.

Asclepius was in there somewhere. He would save Percy, Thalia, and Nico. I was so sure of it. But nothing comes for free even if they say it does. A price would need to be paid.

Some how when we got into the castle I talked the two of them into leaving me in one of the old bedrooms in the castle. You would think the bed would be comfortable because they were in a castle, right? Wrong. Straw kept poking me in the back and the feather pillows smelled like old rotten eggs. I tried to eat a square or two of ambrosia but when I felt like I was burning in places other than my stomach I didn't take another bite. It was risky but I felt like the weight of the sky had been lifted off me. And I know how that feels.

Still, I ached all over. I sat up, leaning against the backboard of the bed and eyed my surroundings. Not much was interesting. A side table. Fake flowers in a vase. A mirror on the wall hanging above a dresser. A window next to me. Everything looked old. Not as old as Greek sculptures but still old.

A set of knights armor was by the door. It held a javelin in its right hand held upright towards the ceiling. It looked sharp. Sharper than a javelin should in an exhibit full of tourists.

Then it's helmet turned and looked at me. Oh gods, I was in deep trouble.

I know you hate me. Its a cliffy. :D you'll have to wait a couple days to find out what happens to Annabeth. Sorry for the wait this time. I was so busy this week. And I couldn't find the time to write this. So I'm taking a vote. And you seriously need to vote because I don't know what to do.

Who should the next chapter's narrater be? Annabeth POV or Percy POV?

VOTE! Annabeth or Percy!