-Addie-

I slept soundlessly for a while, and it was mostly dreamless. I felt something brush my mind, but since I received no command, I did not respond to it. I woke up, very groggy and sore. I sat up, leaning against the rock. I felt worse than that one time I got swallowed by the dragon.

Trust me that is a story you do not want to hear about.

Annabeth was sitting just a few feet away from me, Percy by her side. She handed me a bottle of water and a bowl of something that smelled delicious.

"That bag of yours is pretty handy," Annabeth commented. I nodded my head and dug into my food.

"I won it from Hephaestus. It went with another bag, but he lost it ages ago. He told me that I couldn't capture one of his automatons," I said before I took a swig of water. "I proved that he was wrong."

"Our friend Leo has one like it," Percy added. I noticed he was munching on a slice of pizza. "But the food is more awesome. He just gets peppermints." I could not help but laugh, but it sounded weak to me.

"I added the food aspect to it. Hestia helped me with it, actually. It comes in handy with situations like this. Some of the gods tend to forget that we puny mortals have to eat to stay alive," I added. There had been more than one time that I went days without food because of my orders. Hestia, the kind goddess that she was, decided to help me out. Being the goddess of hearth and home, she could at least make sure that I got a good meal in. This was my favorite soup, one my mom use to make. It was the perfect thing to boost my spirits.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Not too long actually. If I had to guess, maybe a couple of hours," Percy reasoned. "How are you feeling?"

"Not exactly well. But I do feel better with the rest." In truth, I also felt….more fragile maybe? I felt like it will take less to break me this time.

"Can you drink any more nectar? Maybe if we keep a little in you at all times, it will help hold it off. Did they say anything about a cure?" Annabeth asked.

I shook my head and took another spoonful of the soup. "Only that the only way I could be cured was to join Gaia," I said to them. "I'll try the nectar thing." It was silent for a few beats, none of us saying anything.

"We will find a way, Addie," Annabeth said confidently.

Guilt racked up in my head, and I put the bowl down beside me.

"I want to talk to you both about something."

Percy and Annabeth both looked at me, concern in their eyes.

"Thank you for being my friends and being so kind. You have no idea how much it means. That being said, your only focus should be on you two getting out of Tartarus alive. I have my orders, and they are to shut the doors. Someone has to stay behind to do it," I explained softly.

"But—Addie-I…. You will die," Annabeth stuttered. Percy just shook his head and began to protest. I held up my hand, and he paused.

"I will most likely, and I am okay with that. I'll die anyway from the poison. I'm not going to work for Gaia, and by closing the doors, I can give you two a chance. I've lived a long time, and I will go down fighting." Even if I did not want to, I did not have a choice. Ares had ordered me never to commit suicide a long time ago.

"That does not make it okay, Addie! They told you to, didn't they? They told you to close the doors and stay down here-"

"Actually," I started, interrupting him midsentence. "Athena asked me. She had to give me orders so I could come down here, but she asked if I was okay with it. They told me they would summon me back, but I told them not to."

"Why?" Annabeth asked.

I did not answer her. How could I tell a seventeen-year-old how I felt? I may have looked their age, but I was not even close. I was tired. I was angry. And I was done being told what to do.

"I'm tired of being cursed," I uttered. "I am tired enough that I wanted out. However, plans never go my way. Apollo ordered that I come back," I added with a small smile. A blush exploded on my cheeks, and I looked down, unsure of why it did.

"Are you friends with him?" Annabeth asked. I nodded my head but refused to look up.

"We've been friends for a very long time. He is the one that gave me the nectar. He looks out for me," I explained. I was playing with the small rocks at my feet, making them swirl around a central point. The act was not exactly tiring, but it was more draining than usual. "He will order me to get some sleep or give me an easy task when the others push me too hard."

"That sounds very nice of him," Percy stated a little oddly. I looked back up, to see them both staring at me.

"It's not like that," I said, blushing again. "Other gods do that, too."

"Look, why don't you get some more sleep, Addie?" Annabeth suggested, diffusing the situation. "You look like you could use another hour or so."

I nodded my head and leaned back against the rock. She was right. I was still exhausted, and I could use as much sleep as possible. I was going to need it.

I closed my eyes, and my consciousness drifted. Blackness engulfed my mind and flashes of images started across my eyes. I saw Tiberius, Orion, and others. I saw where I was in the throne room, watching as Percy fought Ares. I saw the glare Aphrodite gave me when I laughed at his loss. Then I was with Dionysus, watching over him as the other gods battled Typhon. He had ordered me to go help the Romans. 'I'm a big god, I can take care of myself,' he had said. Other memories came floating from my dreams, and I felt a small comfort in them.

"EUADNE AURELIUS MAXIMUS!"

The voice snapped me awake, but I was no longer in the cave. I was back in a certain penthouse overlooking Atlanta. But that is not what startled me the most.

There was a very angry god looking down on me.

Apollo was infuriated, in fact, more so that I had seen him in recent memory (at least in the past hundred years). He was slightly glowing, his godly aura leaking out from around him. This look on his face made me want to melt into a puddle into the Lethe. Other gods had looked at me that way before, but Apollo never had.

"Y-Yes, Lord Apollo?" I whispered meekly.

"You are in Tartarus."

It was not a question. He said it matter of factly, but eminent rage echoed in his tone. I felt my insides squirm in discomfort. All of my instincts were to get out of that room, that any minute he could go full immortal form on me. But I took a deep breath and locked eyes with him. Gods respected stuff like that. His expression softened just a tiny bit.

"Are you going to deny it?"

"No, I-"

"Good, because I know you would be lying. And before you say anything, Athena said it was fine. She gave you permission to speak about your mission to me. I wondered why you felt so far away. I cannot believe that she would order you into Tartarus!" he spat as he threw up his hands. He began pacing angrily in front of me.

"She asked me first. I told her I would," I told him. My voice sounded so petulant. I felt like a five-year-old getting scolded by a parent. This would not be the first time a god had done this to me. Often it was to get on to me about an order I had carried out on another's behalf. Like I had a choice anyway.

"That's the other thing!" he shouted, rounding on me. "Do you have no sense of self-preservation? You just voluntarily go down to Tartarus, volunteer to get yourself killed? AND THEN YOU ASK HER NOT TO BRING YOU BACK!? I talked to her Addie! Why do you want your life to end?"

"I don't-"

"Do not make excuses! Tell me the truth!"

"Because I am done! I'm tired of doing awful things, of living a life I have no choice over! My life has zero purpose anymore! I had one tiny moment of weakness, one moment where I wanted all of the pain and suffering to end. It's been two thousand years, Apollo!" At some point, I had started yelling, and I was standing toe to toe with Apollo. His glare met mine, but his expression was changing from rage to something else, a look I could not pin down. "Most of the gods could not care less if I died-"

"I WOULD CARE, ADDIE! I care if you die!"

I flinched back, shock going through my system. I stumbled a step back into the couch, and he caught and steadied me. He grabbed my face, forcing me to look at him. He was a lot gentler than his expression, which I think I had figured out.

His expression was full of despair.

His thumbs softly traced my cheeks, his hands soft and comforting on my skin.

"I care about you, Addie. I'm not the only one."

I pulled back and sat back down on the couch. I put my head in my hands.

"I don't know how to come back, Apollo. There is no way I can do it. I would kill myself trying to do it. I have to shut the doors. No god can summon someone from Tartarus alone. It takes at least a third of the council, correct? Even if I send word with Percy or Annabeth, that is only two gods, you and Athena. My father will not be allowed to help, you know that."

"Leave the other two to me. I'm not ordering you on this Addie. I get it, I truly do. I want you to come back. But you have to want it as well."

I thought back to my conversation with Tiberius. I had to stay strong. I thought about all the good I had done in this position. Lately, yes, it had been awful. But wasn't a few years of drama worth saving and helping the ones I love? Wasn't protecting demigods from situations like mine more important than how I felt?

"Yes, I want to come back. But I do not know if I will even have the choice."

"Why not?" he asked worriedly. "Did you get hurt?"

I nodded but did not elaborate further. I held out my arm, and Apollo took it in his hands. He carefully rolled up my sleeve and undid the dressing. It looked worse than it had before. The black had crept up even further on my arm. At least here, in the dream realm, it did not hurt.

"What happened?"

"Arachne bit me," I told him. I explained to him what Hyperion had said about it, and I told him of what Gaia had requested of me. I left out what she told me to ask him. Right now was not the right time or place to bring that back up again. I told him everything that had happened since I had last seen him as well. He looked at it for a few minutes and then shook his head.

"I don't know how to cure this," he muttered, frustration coloring his tone. He glanced at me, and I saw that look. I knew that look.

"What did you see?" I asked him.

He looked away, still prodding at my arm. I pulled it from him, and he looked back up to me.

"Spill, please. I know that 'I heard a prophecy' face when I see it."

"Excuse me?"

"You are all incredibly predictable sometimes, you know that right?" I countered. He huffed, but then his eyes got a little apprehensive.

"It was very short, only six lines: 'The mortal chained by the god's will, Will have an encounter with death fulfilled, To seek the titan with Danaus's offspring, With the knowledge of Mystery hope will cling, The storm of fire will bring the world to death, And become immortal with a final breath."

He finished, staring at me intently.

"Oh, well that sounds incredibly pleasant," I said. My voice was shaking, but I tried to sound brave.

"I do not want you to die, Addie."

"I don't particularly want that either."

"Well then," He said with a knowing look. "I do not know exactly what it means, but I have my suspicions, which you will have to guess."

I groaned, leaning against the back of the couch. Gods were not allowed to help demigods, which I technically still was. I got a little more help than most, but the fact that I was now sitting on the couch with the god of prophecy, archery, and music definitely counted as direct interference.

"The knowledge of Mystery….Phoebe. She's the titan of mystery, so she might know of a cure. Maybe she will know of the original words as well." He nodded, with a small smile, to let me know it was on track. "I know Danaus's story, so I need to find the Danaids, which I could only guess would be at either the Cocytus or the Acheron…I'm going to guess the Cocytus, but I have no idea how to get there."

Apollo reached into his jacket pocket, and that's when I first paid attention to what he was wearing. He had on dark stained blue jeans and a soft grey v-neck t-shirt. He wore a black leather jacket over it. He pulled out a small necklace and slipped in around my neck. It was beautiful. It was an oval pendant, silver, with a large ruby set in the middle.

"This belonged to my mother. Phoebe is my grandmother, so my mother's necklace will lead you to her blood. I want that back," he added firmly. I looked back up at him, his gaze soft and warm into my own, a hint of a smile on his face.

"I will do my best."

His hand reached for my face, and without thinking, I leaned into it, closing my eyes. My heart was beating erratically, and I tried to calm myself. His thumb gently stroked my cheek, and I felt it flutter again.

"You've got to wake up," he whispered softly.

"I know," I replied back. I opened my eyes, his face just a few inches away from mine.

"I believe in you, Addie. Don't set store by that prophecy," he pleaded with me. He leaned forward and placed his lips on my left cheek.

"Please, come back to me," he whispered in my ear.