***This is the FINAL chapter***. I'm sorry, but I'm ending the story short. So much stuff has happened in my life, and I don't think that I can go through with this anymore. A lot has happened to me in the last week, and I'll have to be ending it... Thanks for always being here for me though. I love you all.

But, I do have good news about the real House of Hades. The Son of Sobek will be released as an ebook in June, and the ebook will include the first chapter of the House of Hades. The cover of HoH will be released on… I think May 31st. And the book comes out on October… 12th? Sometime around then.

Sorry for Typos/OOCness.

Happy Reading, and I'll miss you guys…

Chapter 33

Percy

When he awoke, Annabeth was screaming bloody murder.

Immediately, he tried to jump to his feet, but he felt something coarse around his neck, legs, and wrists. When he tried to move, he found that there was no way for him to do so. He was even standing upright, but his back was against a tree.

He blinked and looked around, trying to make his eyes adjust to the darkness. Was it still nighttime?

Then he remember that there was no daylight in Tartarus, and when he looked up through the trees and past the clouds, he could still see the same, old green sky, and the creepy green moon glowering down at them.

"Annabeth!" he yelled, turning his head this way and that to try and find her, but the rope around his neck restricted him a lot. He choked and gagged, then put his head back in its original place. "Where are you!?"

He heard her ragged breathing, and then she screamed again. Annabeth rarely screamed in battle, and when she did, it was because something really bad was happening. He had to get out of his binds and help her. Even if her wounds and broken bones were almost healed, they weren't entirely, and she had yet to be in a big battle since the injuries had happened.

Cold fear dripped down Percy's back as he remembered what Annabeth had said before they had gone to sleep. I'm just taking the cast off. It's annoying me and super heavy. I'll sleep without it. And after that she had even turned her phone on. Even if she hadn't made a call… had it been a signal?

How was she supposed to defend the both of them if she didn't even have her cast on to support her?

The monster, or whatever had attacked them, screeched and cursed in a language he didn't know. Leaves rustled above him, like the monster was getting ready to jump out at them, and in the last moments, Annabeth shrieked, "DON'T LOOK!"

Percy closed his eyes.

In the next second, a hand wrapped around his throat and squeezed. A wet, putrid stench rolled off of the creature and toward him, and he wanted to throw up. The thing laughed at him, and it was a woman.

"Son of Poseidon," she hissed menacingly. The voice was all too familiar, but Percy's head was still swimming with nausea and sleep. "I told her one sound and she would die, but apparently she doesn't like to listen."

Annabeth never liked to listen, and she did not follow orders. She mostly screwed them off and went with her own plan, which usually worked.

He heard Annabeth make a battle cry and then the monster wasn't even on him. She made an 'oof' sound as Annabeth landed on top of her and tried to kill her. How would that work out? They were in Tartarus already.

Her knife made a slashing sound as it hit the monsters flesh, and the monster yelled in protest. Annabeth grunted and Percy heard her back hit the ground somewhere, the hard dirt crunching underneath her.

"Whatever you do, Percy, do not look!" she told him again. She was struggling to catch her breath, and he listened as she scrambled to her feet. She didn't sound hurt, but he could just imagine what her ankle must've felt like. "Use Riptide!" she instructed him, and then he could hear her fighting.

Sometimes he was an idiot. Of course he could have just gotten his trusty pen out of his pocket and cut himself out of his binds. But he, of course, hadn't thought of that, and she had.

Percy struggled to wiggle his body and his tied arms together, like they did in James Bond movies or whatever. It hurt more than they let on, because he definitely wasn't that flexible. He screamed at himself inside, and his breath soon came out in terrible gasps like he was the one fighting off the monster.

Annabeth screamed again, but it seemed to him like the sound lodged in her throat. He could hear the attempts of struggle against the monster. Why couldn't they look at the monster? It wasn't like the monster was…

It was Medusa.

Godly freaking crap. Medusa. One of the worst monsters he had ever battled. Medusa went right up there with the Minotaur and Kronos. Whenever he heard the name Medusa, it always meant bad news no matter what the situation was. Like, if there had been a code Medusa in the military, he was pretty sure it didn't mean that it was time to go get ice cream.

And he had already battled off Medusa crazy, flying sisters Stheno and Euryale, just a few weeks ago in California. They had been taken back to Tartarus finally, after he had killed them over and over again. So if they were in Tartarus, were they with Medusa?

"Medusa, leave us alone!" Percy ordered her, but his voice was shaking. Yeah, pretty scary. He was sure all of the little insects in the forest were terrified of him now.

Medusa laughed. "So you recognize me now, Son of Poseidon? I was wondering how long it would take someone as dimwitted as you to figure it out." Ouch, that hurt, but he had been told worse things.

His main goal now was to distract her long enough for Annabeth to regroup. "Sorry that I'm stupid. I'm told so a lot. Now, why do you want us? We've killed you before and we'll do it again!"

She laughed and Percy could hear the snakes on her head hissing with mirth. "By the looks of, I say that you won't. After all, you're momentarily tied up." Percy could just see the imaginary drum set and cymbal going off with the sad attempt at a joke. He rolled his eyes under his lids.

"Are you done with your failed attempts at humor, because I really need to use the bathroom?" he said with a whining voice that used to annoy his mom so much when he had been a kid. He heard Medusa grimace and he did a small inward victory dance.

"You fool." He heard rushing footsteps up to him, and his cheek was slashed open. He gasped in pain as he felt the blood drip out and run down his neck. It stung like crazy, and he hoped that she wasn't poisonous. He cursed a little bit but kept his eyes shut.

"It's all about revenge," she spat at him. "You sent me down here, when I was living a happy, peaceful life in America. I had friends and beautiful statues that I had collected for years, but you ended all of that. You sent me back down here for all eternity, and for that, you must be punished alongside me!"

"Um, you killed Grover's uncle," Percy protested. "Doesn't that count as killing his family?"

Medusa screeched in anger again, and Percy ducked down just in time to avoid getting hit by what sounded like a tree branch. Bark broke off and showered his head, and he needed Riptide pronto.

"How're you even talking?" Percy inquired, completely out of breath. "Last I checked, you head is up in the Big House at our camp."

"Yes, it is, as a spoil of war. But fortunately, heads can grow back sometimes, especially when you have the help of certain powerful allies."

"You're working with Gaea?"

"I am. And she asked me to bring you back to her alive. Beautiful sacrifices to wake the goddess… But I'm afraid that won't do. You see, my number one priority since I've been here is to kill you and your girlfriend. When Nico appeared, I thought I'd just kill him. But alas, he got away and cut off my arm in the process. But now that you're here, I'm afraid death will have to be the answer. And it will not be quick."

Great. Medusa wanted to torture him to death. What was new?

"Stay AWAY from my boyfriend," a voice threatened. And then, Medusa yelled out in pain, and Percy knew that Annabeth had recovered enough to go after her.

Once again, he struggled to reach his pockets, and after a few moments of pain, he slid his hand into his jeans and grabbed Riptide. He was so happy that the pain went away for a second, and then it started to sear again.

He moved back to his original position and uncapped his pen. He grabbed the hilt as it elongated into his trusty sword. Percy suddenly wished that he had Annabeth's knife, because it would've made the job easier, but his sword would have to do.

He grabbed his sword near the end and felt the blade slice his palm, but it didn't matter. He began to saw at rope binds, which was harder than it had seemed in his head. But they did fall apart after about a minute or two, and joy overcame him.

There wasn't enough time for him to treat the cuts that were on his hands and wrists. He used the tip of the blade to cut open the bind around his neck, and thankfully didn't slice that open too. After that was done, he bent down and hacked at the binds around his legs.

Then he was free, but free to do what? It was like being a picture book when you're blind. It didn't really mean anything.

The problem struck him. He couldn't look at Medusa without turning to stone, so how was he supposed to find her. Why couldn't he be a bat? That would've solved his problem. He sighed. Nothing was ever easy.

He glanced at his blade, giving off a soft glow. He could just see his reflection in it. He took a deep breath and turn his body a full 360 degrees, the sword still out in front of him as he tried to look for the snake-haired lady.

Finally, after spinning around a few times and getting dizzy, he spotted her. She was in the trees, the snakes on her hair spitting and biting at the air. Her face looked contorted and gross, like it had been smashed in repeatedly. She wore an old, crumbling dress made from rags, and her body was thinned. She looked malnourished and frail, and very, very mad.

This was what had become of the infamous Medusa. An old, sad hag.

He gulped and saw Annabeth staring at her feet, right below Medusa. She was swinging her knife up, trying to cut at her, but it wasn't working. Annabeth's aim wasn't exactly right and Medusa was too high up.

Percy started to take slow steps backwards, towards them. Neither noticed. Percy glanced at his girlfriend again and saw how she was walking and moving. It almost looked normal, but she was favoring her broken ankle slightly so that she didn't reinjure it.

And then, Medusa turned on him and jumped to the ground. She didn't run at him, but she knocked Annabeth to the ground. She approached slowly and thoughtfully, her eyes boring into his sword. They glinted with power, trying to turn him into a statue. And it seemed to work.

Annabeth was trying to get back up. She had a hand over her eyes and her head tilted in the opposite direction, but she was slowly stumbling toward them while swinging her knife. Percy adverted his attention back to the threat.

"Beautiful sacrifices to wake the goddess," Medusa mumbled, her finger nails like claws, sharpened at the end. Percy blinked and tensed up, waiting for her onslaught. It never came. She just kept walking towards him. Her snakes lunged at his neck, and soon she was so close that Percy could feel her cold breath on his neck, and yet she did not attack. He wasn't stone, but he felt frozen.

"Look what you've done to me," she said miserably. "It's your fault I am this beast. You must understand that what I'm about to do is only fair. It's justice and what you deserve." Somehow, her voice was soothing, and Percy couldn't bring his muscles to move. There was a power in her voice that matched that in her eyes, and it was stopping him from finishing her.

Her hand came up to his neck and brushed away some of his hair. "I've been damned to this part of Tartarus. The forests. It's as if I'm too ugly to be seen anywhere else. If I try to leave, I experience pain. But Gaea has promised me a new life and vengeance."

Percy's hands itched to fight. He shivered and sweated. His sword faltered in his hand.

Medusa shook her head back and forth. "I wish I could say I was sorry for what I am about to do, but I'm not."

The snakes on her head lunged for the pulse on his neck, and time slowed down for him. The power holding him broke. He dodged out of the way in slow motion, and closed his eyes as he brought his sword around to meet Medusa's neck. But his sword never met it. It just swung through the cool air and heaved his body along with it. Against his own will and on instinct, he opened his eyes.

Medusa was no longer in front of him, but Annabeth was. Her knife was slimy, and she looked shocked and in pain. Her eyes were stormy and twitching. He hadn't been able to stop her, but she had.

At the same time, they both glanced down at the ground to where the snake-haired lady was. Medusa lay on the ground, her torso cut clean off from her legs. Her eyes were closed, a few of the snakes still snapped, but they too soon died. They watched the two body parts just laid there. Annabeth backed up a little bit, and somehow, her hand found Percy's, and he gripped it tightly. She was shaking, and the body parts twitched a little.

But then they dissolved into dust and the wind blew them away, carrying the essence of Medusa to a new part of the forest.

***And about what I said before, about ending the story… APRIL FREAKING FOOLS! TROLLOLOLOL!*** There's no way I'm ending this story until I absolutely have to, and that'll be months from now. Oh, and I have a new story that I try to update every day or every other, and it is Dear FanFiction!

Reviews/ideas are loved! Challenge: I wanna write another songfic (like Tell Me and Mine) but you guys get to decide the song: Anna Sun by Walk The Moon, or Kill Your Heroes by AWOLNATION. If you haven't heard the songs, go to YouTube and listen to them both a little bit before casting your vote!

-BBH