You show me the real me.
It's you that I searched for,
And it's you that I can't live without!
Your hope is what I long for
When nothing's left in me.-"It's you."
"Amazing the elevators work." Annabeth remarked idly, staring down at the burning city as we rose higher along the outside of the skyscraper. I was a little frightened. Not of the city.
Of Annabeth. Her eyes, usually so stormy and full of life, seemed vacant. Empty.
"This isn't where we're spending eternity." I said, half to convince myself.
"That's probably what everyone down there thought." Annabeth said flatly. "She's waiting for me. And she'll be so much stronger, here."
"Remember what Morpheus told us." I reminded her, checking my weapons again. "There's still hope." She was silent for a few moments.
"I can't see it." Annabeth said. She sounded on the verge of a sob. "Percy, heroes don't get a 'happy ever after.' " I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and tried to keep my calm.
"If you're really Annabeth, I know you can get through this." I said firmly. "We both can." I heard her turn around.
"Of course I'm Annabeth." She said, sounding a little baffled.
"I know." I shrugged. "I just figured you needed the reminder." I saw the corner of her lips tug upwards, just a tiny bit.
"You're still the same as—"
A thump made us both turn. A huge spider was on the outside glass of the elevator. Maybe it had jumped, or swung on a web string…
And it was big. Big, as in, it probably ate whole chickens for lunch. As we watched, three more thumped onto the glass, looking like they had jumped from much higher up and somehow glided.
"We've got to get out of here." Annabeth said, fear in her voice. She punched a button, and the elevator came to a stop. The doors creaked open.
Down the hall, several big dogs turned towards us. I don't know what breed they were, except they were black and had splashes of blood on them.
Annabeth clicked the "close door" button, as they began running. Thank God, the elevators weren't the slow type you find at storage facilities and such. The doors shut, and we started rising again. Outside, the spiders started hitting the glass. There were dull thunks, like someone punching a wall.
"Think they can get in?" Annabeth asked. I extended Riptide.
"Let's go to one level above the skybridge." I said, punching another floor. "Inside, we're easier to trap, she can come at us from above, and it's probably tighter quarters, easier for her to put webbing out. On top of it, she can't."
"Then she can come at us from the sides." Annabeth pointed out. "She might have a web above the skybridge."
"Do you really want to be in a tight hallway with a giant spider?" I asked. She fell silent for a moment, glancing at the enormous spiders knocking on the glass.
"On top." Annabeth agreed. The elevator hummed on, the spiders knocking on the glass. It dawned on me, they couldn't get in—distractions? Or just to demoralize us? The elevator slowed, and opened, our floor.
"Stay right behind me." I told Annabeth. We moved cautiously into the hallway. The walls… they were cracking, breaking down into nothing. Far down the hallway, something flickered, and I raised Riptide.
"Right side." Annabeth whispered. There were some offices, a cubicle farm—and huge set of windows overlooking the city, along with the skybridge. We moved through it, slowly. The cubicles had little mementos in them—things that office workers put, like pictures or tiny figures. Something bumped my foot—I looked down to see the floor littered with shell casings, different sizes. Like a firefight had happened here. Annabeth, impatience fueled by terror, strode over to the window overlooking the skybridge, and drew her knife. The celestial bronze cut through the thick glass with ease. She paused for a moment, mostly finished, and gave one last slice. The chunk fell away, crashing down to the skybridge.
"Annabeth!" I snapped, appalled at the noise. She gave me a look.
"No other way." She said rapidly, crouching in the hole she had made, and jumping down. I gave one last glance back at the dark, rotting office. Near the back, a shadow moved, and I had the fleeting impression of something shaped like a man.
I jumped.
"Across, then up?" Annabeth remarked, glancing down into the hellish city.
"That's the plan." I said, walking forward as rapidly as I dared, hoping not to step in some weak space that would send me crashing through the floor.
Half-way across, it happened. Up walls of the skybridge, crawled the spiders. They just stared as us, gleaming black eyes watching for a moment.
Then I shot one. The handgun recoiled, and the spider collapsed, a bullet in its bank of eyes. My ears were ringing from the explosion, but I turned quickly and lined up the sights, squeezing the trigger. Another muzzle flash, and the bug jerked backwards, twitching and spasming.
The other turned and ran.
"Wow." I said, weighing the handgun with new appreciation, though I still held Riptide in the other hand. "That was easy."
A few feet away, the ceiling/roof of the skybridge exploded upwards, spraying debris, and I glimpsed some hideous shape rising up, moving so fast. I reacted almost as quickly, raising my sword and slashing. Annabeth fell, either hit by a chunk of debris or by the arm of that thing. I slashed again, the bronze sword leaving a faint light trail, driving it back.
She was huge, the size of a big woman, with a human torso that went down and became spider around the waist, like a spider-centaur. Idiotically, the image of the bad guy from those Mummy movies sprang to life, the scorpion thing Rick O'Connell killed in Egypt. I slashed again, Arachne recoiled, and I brought the pistol up, squeezing the trigger as rapidly as I could. The gun bucked, and bullets splattered into her torso, rising upwards with the recoil. She backed off, perhaps a little surprised at my response. I looked down at Annabeth, who thank the gods, had not gotten knocked off the skybridge. Arachne stepped away a few more paces, purple blood leaking from the gunshot wounds. Even as I watched, they started closing, healing. My calm evaporated, and I realized what Annabeth meant when she said Arachne would be stronger here. No joke.
"Can you hear me?" I shook Annabeth. "Wake up!" Farther down on the skybridge, Arachne meandered a little, healing before my eyes. I raised the Beretta, aimed. The gun boomed, and I saw a spurt of blood on her torso. I fired again, aiming for her hideous face. The bullet smacked home, but she didn't seem to care too much.
"Get away from her, son of Poseidon." Arachne shouted over the wind. "Because of her mother, I was cursed—cursed for my skill! Her children will pay until Athena does justice, and restores my beauty!" Around her, huge spiders were crawling up the sides again, as if sensing a meal actually was within grasp.
"Not this one." I said, aiming with both hands. Ten more bullets ripped into her face and chest, but she didn't stop, or even advance faster. This wasn't working. Terror rose up in my throat, choking me. I had seen people die. This wouldn't be some battlefield death by arrow or sword. This would be horrific.
"Come on!" I pleaded with Annabeth, shaking her. "Don't let it end like this!"
"Your father isn't here, Percy." Arachne taunted. "This isn't the ocean. This is my domain. There are no gods to help you here." Her words echoed in my mind.
She was wrong.
I closed my eyes, forcing myself to picture us, back at my mom's apartment. The fire crackling, Annabeth sleeping peacefully on the couch, looking as beautiful as ever. Morpheus. I will get home. I will get home. I WILL GET HOME!
Around us, the air shimmered, and became…
"Zoe Nightshade?" I gasped. More shapes became clear. "Ethan?"
Hunters and demigods I had seen die in battle appeared around me.
"Run!" Beckendorf bellowed. To my amazement, and growing hope, they were becoming something solid, though definitely still ghost-like. Beckendorf swung a hammer at a large spider. It writhed, and collapsed. I looked around quickly. I couldn't go back into the building. Not with whatever was there. I raised Riptide and slashed a triangle into the 'roof' at my feet.
The metal fell down into the semi-darkness.
It looked clear enough. I slipped the pistol into my pocket, collasped Riptide, and heaved Annabeth up.
Whenever you read about situations like, people always comment on how light the unconscious person is. Annabeth? She weighed a ton.
I jumped down through the triangle, my knees almost buckling as I hit the floor. In front of me, the glowing ghost of Zoe Nightshade appeared, urging me on. She had a faint gold aurora around her.
"How are you here?" I asked, a horrible possibility dawning on me. Had she been sent to—
"Morpheus offered us a chance to fight to help thee, one last time." She said, a proud look on her face. "But hurry! He hath only the strength for us to be here for a short time. Then, we must return to Elysium, and you to the world of the living." She ran ahead, scouting. I thought I saw another one of those things, whatever had been in the shadow, but it vanished in the light coming from Zoe. I caught up with her, still holding Annabeth. Ahead of us were another bank of elevators.
"At the top, you will see thy escape." She said, her words faint and almost musical. "You must have faith." She was fading.
"Wait!" I said. She looked at me. I realized, there wasn't nearly enough time for what I should say. What do you say to someone who died rescuing your girlfriend? "Zoe, thank you. Again."
She just smiled faintly, and then she was gone.
The elevator clicked open. By some miracle, or design of whatever building was being mimicked, the elevator had taken us to the very top of the building.
The horrible thing was, I could see two of those winged demons flying towards us. We had been noticed.
I looked around the rooftop. It was a helipad, or had been in the real world. The design was still faintly painted on the ground. I had expected the exit to be some blinding light, some rip in space, or something amazing.
Instead, I saw two simple stone pillars, standing about ten feet apart. Spanning the top was a slab of stone, carved with letters I couldn't read. Scattered around it were chunks of flat rock, like giant bricks.
The winged demons were getting closer, maybe a hundred yards. Zoe's caution, that I would need faith, came back to mind. There was nothing else noticeable on the roof. Nothing to suggest an escape.
I ran at the doorway, closing my eyes as it got nearer. My right foot didn't meet anything solid, and we fell...
"GET UP!" A voice bellowed at me. I felt a slap across the face, hard enough that it hurt. A lot. "We are leaving!" I heard loud explosions, felt a wave of heat.
I opened my eyes blearily, reached out and grabbed the foggy shape in front of me. It tightened around my hand, hauled me to my feet. My legs almost buckled, and something caught me under my arm. There were orange flashes of light, and I could make out the face of the person holding me.
Vincent, son of Ares, from Camp Half-Blood.
"Annabeth!" I managed to say. It had been meant as a shout, but probably was just above a whisper.
"She's right there!" Vincent shouted, jerking his head. He had an M4 combat rifle in one hand, the stock wedged under one arm. He fired a burst. It sounded like the air itself was being torn apart, and in the beam of the flashlight mounted on the rifle, I saw the shape of something falling back, blood splattering around us. The air was filled with gunfire, explosions, and shouts, only some of them human. I saw Annabeth to my right, slung over the shoulder of a big demigod, running towards what seemed a faint light, with a group of demigods protecting him. Strength returned to me, and I let go of the demigod holding me. He immediately swung the rifle around, squeezing off three more rounds. Another demigod with a sword grabbed my arm, pulling me towards what I now realized was the mouth of the cave.
"JASON!" I heard Vincent bellow, speaking into a radio. "WE HAVE THEM! EVAC IN 90 SECONDS!" I made it to the mouth of the cave, being protected by two demigods on each side of me.
It was night, but it was most undeniably the land of the living. I could see a full moon above us, could make out hills and trees and grass. Life.
"Keep going!" One of my protectors shouted, wielding sword that somehow shown black in the moonlight. Nico. Behind us, the cave mouth threatened to spawn more monstrosities.
"Grenade out!" Vincent yelled. Behind us in the cave, a explosion almost knocked me down.
Ahead of us, I could see more gunfire, bright flashes lighting up the night. Cyclops and Eartborn and hellhounds were charging and attacking. The demigods were arranged around a helicopter that looked bizarrely out of place, but were holding it, albeit only with a lot of gunfire. Abruptly, lighting flashed from one of them, striking down dark shapes rushing the chopper.
Jason Grace. As we neared, he ran over towards us, holding a spear and flanked by several demigods in combat uniforms and wielding assault rifles.
"Glad you could make it!" He shouted.
"Let's go!" I yelled. He nodded and turned to the fighters arranged around the chopper. I saw Annabeth being helped into the chopper.
"FALL BACK!" Jason roared, summoning more lighting against monsters. "WE'RE LEAVING!" The fighters neatly broke positions and ran into the Chinook, throwing hand grenades as they did so, buying a few more seconds. Jason and his men retreated, and I realized dimly I needed to board to when Vincent grabbed my arm and almost pulled me off my feet. We were the lasts on.
"GO!" Someone bellowed. "LIFTOFF!" Multiple demigods were firing through the windows, and Vincent was crouched a few inches from me, firing through the door at approaching attackers. The rotors picked up speed, and the ground melted away, and the rear door moved upwards, locking into place. The only light came from the flashlights mounted on various weapons, and weak red overheads.
"Where's Annabeth?" I yelled. My ears were still ringing from the gunfire.
"Here." She shoved between two fighters and grabbed me in a tight hug, then kissed me. "We made it. My gods, we made it, Percy." I saw tears on her face.
There were some on mine, too. Around us, people started laughing, relieved talk starting even as the air still reeked of gunpowder.
"Pilot!" Vincent shouted. "Let's go home!"
While perhaps not as complete an ending as deserved, this is where this story ends. Thanks for reading, and I hope you all enjoyed!
