"Kronos!?" I cried.
"No!" Annabeth said. "Menoetius, Titan of Anger and Rashness."
"How? Kronos is the Lord of Time, and we defeated him."
Nico nodded. "Yes, Percy, but remember, he's never truly gone. He still sends nightmares every once in a while, right?"
I shivered. Just last week, he'd sent me one about Charon crossing the River Styx... and my dead self was in his boat. Then another night, I dreamed that Annabeth was running from Medusa, but turned around and was turned to stone. You know, the nice pleasant things you want to think about.
"We think that's how he's been communicating with Menoetius," Nico continued. "Menoetius is somehow able from Kronos to bring Ariadne as a child to this time."
"But why?" I asked.
"He's angry," Annabeth said.
"Really," I muttered sarcastically, "the Titan of Anger is angry? Thanks for the update."
She punched me in the arm. "He's angry because of you, Seaweed Brain."
"What did I do?" Sure, I'd done a lot of things, like cheating on tests, accidentally running into Aphrodite's daughters while they're doing their makeup, swinging Riptide in the apartment and knocking over my mom's vases, etc., but I didn't see why Menoetius would be angry about any of those, let alone anything else I've done.
"You stopped Kronos," Nico said.
I shifted a bit. "Actually, it was technically-"
"And if you hadn't," Annabeth interrupted, "Menoetius would've risen with the rest of the Titans."
"But why make you sick?" I asked.
She shrugged and coughed. "I don't know. But I know Hades has him contained in the Underworld. For every sickness, there is a cure."
I looked at the wall that Ariadne had come from. "Is that the entrance?"
Nico nodded. "But we still don't have the keys."
Annabeth paced impatiently, stumbling a few times. She coughed, and it was worse than before. I swore to myself that I was going to kill Menoetius for what he had done. She was getting worse and we hadn't even found the keys yet. If they were in this house, where could they be? Then it hit me: why we couldn't see them...
"Ariadne!" I called upstairs. She bounded done. I got questioning looks from Annabeth and Nico, but I ignored him.
She came up to me and waited for an answer.
"Did you find any keys?" I asked.
She gave me a look, then pointed to the corner. "You mean those?"
"There's nothing there," Nico said, but I could see Annabeth catching on.
"Can you get them?" she asked sweetly. Why couldn't she talk to me like that?
Ariadne nodded and walked toward the corner. She reached down and it looked like she was picking up nothing. But when she turned around, she had the key in her hands.
"Hermes is smart," Nico noted, finally catching on. "He veiled the key in heavy Mist."
I nodded and took the key from Ariadne. She walked over to Annabeth, who was kneeling to be at her height. They started talking. Best of friends, I guessed.
I handed Nico the keys and he walked toward the wall. He felt it all around, knocked on it, even kicked it. It sounded hollow. He looked toward Ariadne, who had temporarily stopped talking to nod to him and confirm that it was the opening. Then she talked it up with Annabeth again, about anything and everything. Annabeth listened and commented happily every once in a while, but it was mostly Ariadne who talked. How Annabeth could stand just listening with her ADD and ADHD, I'd never know. Little kids always drove me crazy when they tried to talk to me, if they tried to talk to me.
Nico finally managed to get the door opened. All I could see through it was darkness, but Nico stepped in like he knew where he was.
"I-I-I," Ariadne stuttered.
"What?" Annabeth asked as the young girl hid behind her.
"I don't wanna go. Monsters! Right there!"
It struck me too late that she was seeing through the Mist again. A hellhound jumped on top of Nico. At first, Annabeth grabbed her dagger and I uncapped Riptide, but Nico was laughing a bit, then pushed it off.
"This is my pet," he said. "Don't vaporize him."
Annabeth and I exchanged looks, but put our weapons away.
"Grab a flashlight," he said, "and then we'll go. Menoetius should be in his cage."
Ariadne ran upstairs and grabbed us a small flashlight, but still pleaded not to go.
"Annebeth," she said, though Annabeth showed no annoyance that she said her name wrong, "can I stay?"
She thought for a minute, then nodded. "Okay. But lock the doors and don't answer to anyone. Someone will come to get you in a van with strawberries on the side."
The camp van. Annabeth ran upstairs to phone Chiron, then returned after a moment, ready to go.
Nico led us into the black tunnel. I felt weak, dead, I guessed, and it took all my will not to turn back. We would be okay. We were going to make it back. Annabeth would be okay.
No, we wouldn't. No, we won't. No, she won't, a voice said. I told it to shut up.
Somehow, we made it to a dim-lighted area where three lines were formed. Cerberus stood guard, sniffing around, and then noticed us.
"He sees us," Annabeth warned.
"He knows me," Nico said, "it's okay."
Cerberus barked and bounded over, but he didn't look happy. He studied us for a minute, then snapped at Nico, who rolled away just in time.
Annabeth coughed for thirty seconds straight, blood flying, then finally regained herself to say, "Run."