Chapter 8: Curiosity is a strange thing

Percy

The revelation that we are to seek help – did I really say 'help'? – from Kronos, nearly made me slip into a depression. I can't actually believe that Annabeth managed to convince me that we have to try to find out where he's hanging out – if he's hanging out somewhere down here at all. 'Please let him be shattered, please let him be shattered' I chant in my head.

Sadly, the time-problem isn't the only thing that worries me. After 4 days, or what feels like 4 days, we're still alone. You don't hear me complain – I like 'alone'- but it's not normal. I even doubt if we really are as alone as we think. Sometimes, I can see flashes of things that aren't there, like this area is haunted by invisible ghosts. Images flicker for a couple of second, and poof – they're gone. It feels like we are taking part in a film which is being fast forwarded by the viewer. I did not share that thought with Annabeth, as she's already too busy with other things. She developed some Sherlock Holmes sense, investigating every inch of the area looking for clues that might help us find a way out. As the area is very large, you can figure we aren't moving very fast.

"Hey Annabeth," I yell at her back, "don't get too far away!" Annabeth turns around and nearly jumps of surprise – probably she hadn't even noticed she was wandering of. She returns to my side. She looks exhausted, every bit of color had drained from her face. I wonder if I look the same.

"I'm sorry," she says, "It's just – I hate it so much when-"

"- when there is something you cannot explain," I finish her sentence, "But it's impossible for one person to know everything - your head would explode if you did. Just enjoy the silence for a moment and let's move. I'm afraid this place won't remain abandoned forever."

Annabeth nods slowly: "Yeah, maybe you're right…"

Hold on a sec - Annabeth just told me I'm right about something. This probably means there is something terribly wrong with her, as she never does that without arguing with me for hours. In an attempt to make her feel better, I swing my arm around her shoulders and give her a heads up. "Don't ponder about everything, wise girl. We can't give up hope right now – the others need us. I need you too."

Annabeth gives me a mangled look and drops her eyes. "I know, I just want to find out what's going on. I …"

Argh – girls. Why can't she just let it rest? I shush her by kissing her on the mouth. "Shut up about it, will yah? For one moment – you're depressing me. Let's think about something positive."

"Such as?" Annabeth makes an impatient gesture.

"The things we will tell the others when we come home? About our crazy adventure in the scary abandoned Tartarus?" I manage a smile, for which I earn a push against my shoulder.

"You make it sound like we're on a boring field trip," Annabeth says accusatory, but she's smiling too. It probably the first time I've seen her smile since we set foot on hell's ground.

"I don't know what we'll tell them, but one thing I'm sure of: the first thing I'll do when we get out, is take a nice, cold shower. And afterwards I'll eat tons of food!" Annabeth's eyes get dreamy, and I can totally understand why. We didn't get our hands on any food yet, and I believe we won't find any in the distant future. All we have is a bit water, which I managed to summon without fainting last time. Probably, Gaea has no problem with drinking.

As we walk, we continue to chit chat about everything we will and will not do when we come home, and the ideas get crazier by the minute .After a while, I feel like we're home again, at Camp Halfblood, sitting by the campfire. But it doesn't take not much to make me return to reality, because we enter an area full of rocks and little rivers of lava.

"Looks like we discovered another part of Tartarus," Annabeth says, while gazing around. "Hey look!," she points at a nearby rock. I stare into the direction she is pointing at.

"That's just a rock, Annabeth. Like er … the other twenty rocks surrounding us?"

"No! Don't you see. It's not just a rock – it's a cave!" After she said that, I can see it too. That particular rock – it does look like a rock – has a small entrance, not much larger than a door.

Something about that cave makes me want to turn around. "Let's leave that rock alone, shall we?" I ask, but Annabeth does not hear me. "Maybe we can find something inside? Something that can tell us where we are and where we should go to?" she says, more to herself and me. The fact that she suggests to do something as reckless as inspecting a dark cave, suddenly makes me realize how desperate she must be.

I clear my voice: "I'm not sure that whatever's inside there wants to meet us Annabeth." I grab her hand and try to pull her away, but she shakes me of. I take a few steps backwards and trip.

"Auch!"

I land on my backside, which hurts a lot. Annabeth didn't notice I fell, as she's still walking towards the cave as if it's hypnotizing her.

"Annabeth, wait for me! Don't go inside, you hear me!" I struggle to my feet, curse the rock I tripped over, head towards the cave, stop and turn around again.

The thing that made me fall wasn't a rock. It's something else, something you would not expect to find in a place like this. It's an Ikea-bag, a big blue one. I want to shout at Annabeth that she has to come back, but she's already too far away. And all that shouting might not be a very good idea either, you never know what's hiding between those rocks.

So that means I'm torn between two choices: follow Annabeth or inspect the bag. I decide I can inspect the bag later, as it would not run away from me. But Annabeth would. I run after her and catch up with her at the entrance of the cave. I pant: "Couldn't you wait for me at least one second?"

Annabeth's face gets a little red: "Yes, but I got curious. Don't you feel it? This place seems to call us. It wants to be investigated."

To be honest – I don't feel a thing. But I don't want to argue about it right now. Maybe the best way to get Annabeth away from here, is to let her inspect this cave little so she will be satisfied. And then we should get out of here as fast as we can. That sounded like a good plan to me for a mere second, but then, someone taps my on the shoulder. In a reflex, I draw Riptide, and turn around – ready to attack. I expected to find some monster lurking behind me, but instead, I'm face to face with a beautiful young woman who appears to be in her early twenties. She's wearing a long greek bridal gown, her hair is chocolate brown and curly and her eyes are as green as mine. She's holding up the Ikea bag and pokes me in the chest.

"Could you pay some more attention to where you're walking, you idiot?" she shouts angrily. I share a confused look with Annabeth, who seems stunned by the appearance of the woman.

"I just tidied up all of my stuff, and now I have to start all over again! Do you have any idea about how much time it took me to do that?" She angrily drops the bag at my feet. "You should be a polite young man, and help me out a little. It's your fault after all." When I open my mouth to ask something, she adds, "And she can help!" pointing at Annabeth. "You two look like you don't have anything better to do anyway."

"That's one angry woman," I whisper into Annabeth's ear, "You think we can trust her?"

"I don't know, she doesn't look like a monster to me. Besides, we can't run away from her, can we? So we might as well help her, I don't want her to get angrier. And maybe she can give us some useful information."

Or maybe she will boil us in her magic cauldron and eat us? But Annabeth's right, we cannot run away from the woman.

"Alright – we'll help you out. Who are you, if I might ask?"

The woman gives me a reproving glance. "You two are curious ones, are you? First you're snooping in my stuff, afterwards you try to invade my gallery and now you want to know my name too?' She sighs: "I'll tell you, but only if you promise to tell me more about yourself as well."

"We promise!" Annabeth says quickly and the woman gives her a smile: "Splendid, that will give us a lot to talk about! I'm Pandora. So tell me – what's your name?"