Regarding what happened in the previous chapter: I've received many reviews saying that Bellona is strictly Roman and that you're confused. Dearies, this is a FanFiction, so you'll just have to wait until the next chapter to find out what this means.

Sorry for typos and OOCness. Enjoy!

Happy Reading!

Chapter 37

Percy

Annabeth stopped and looked around, causing Percy to stop too, but only once he had realized she wasn't with him anymore.

In the middle of the forest, almost near the peak of the mountain, she looked odd in the strange green light that was given off from the moon. Clouds had been steadily rolling in for a long time now, making him wonder if it was going to rain. That was the last thing that they needed. But the wind was howling and yanking at his hair and clothes.

Percy couldn't possibly sleep at all. After the attack from Medusa, he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to sleep again. He wanted to, and his muscles ached from relief, but he knew it wasn't the right thing to do.

What if they were attacked again? Medusa definitely wasn't the only monster in the vast area of Tartarus. Sooner or later they'd come by an even worse monster that would really try to hurt them. Not all of them would try to kidnap them for Gaea or the giants. Some of them would be out to make sure that they died and stayed that way.

But if they were kidnapped, they would probably end up dying. Percy and Annabeth were needed as sacrifices to bring Gaea back to life. That wasn't good.

He couldn't help but stay protective over Annabeth. She was walking again and at great distances. He almost expected her to drop out, but she had that steely determination etched into her face, like no one was going to be able to tell her anything,

But she looked spooked now. The blood had drained from her face and her eyes were wide. The wind blew her hair around her head like a noose. She gulped nervously and seemed oblivious to everything, including Percy.

"Annabeth?" he asked worriedly. She had that glassy look on her eyes like she had when she had been possessed back at Hoarding Wonderland."Are you okay?"

When she didn't respond, Percy started to worry. He walked back over to her. When she didn't even seem to notice he was there. He shook her shoulders. She pushed him away and shot him a look that could kill. She waved him away and looked into the distance, concentrating hard.

"What is it?" he asked. She shushed him and stayed there, not moving, for almost an entire minute. When she moved, it actually, scared Percy enough that he jumped back.

She smirked at him. "Someone's a little jumpy," she said softly, but her eyes were squinted.

"You freaked me out," he admitted. "What was all that about? You're letting your ADHD take over your body, I think." She socked him in the arm, and he shrugged. "What? I'm telling the truth. It was pretty weird, even for you."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, but there was something about the way she stood that made her seem very uptight. She shook her head. "Thanks a lot, but it was nothing. I just thought…" she trailed off, glanced at him again, but then just shook her head once more. Why wasn't she telling him anything?

She tried to keep on walking, but Percy stopped her with an outstretched arm. "What happened?" he asked seriously, which he never did.

She sighed and looked him in the eye. "I just thought that I heard something, that's all."

"It was clearly more than something."

"I thought I heard a girl screaming," she clarified. She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure, and with the wind blowing it was hard to tell, but I'm pretty sure a girl was screaming. And it drew my attention."

"Um, that's an even better reason why we should keep on going. Screaming isn't good."

"No, that's not my point," she insisted. "There was someone screaming. Someone who is like us. It wasn't an evil scream at all. This person sounded terrified, like she was being hurt or even tortured." She bit her lip. "Now, I'm not usually like this, but I think we should go see who it was. Maybe if we save this person, they'll be able to help us."

"That's not a smart idea," Percy told her. "It could be a ploy, just to make us come over there and get us. say we keep on moving so that we can try to find the Doors of Death. Then we'll find our way out of this place and it'll all be over."

Annabeth wasn't buying it. She crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her hip to the side. "No, we need to see who this is. For all we know, one of our friends could've fallen down here too and need our help. We should go see who it is, and we can hold our own if it is someone bad."

Percy mimicked her pose and voice. "Well, if we we're going to be logical like you always are, then we should leave now and keep going over the mountains so we don't get any more lost than we already are. Considering we were just attacked by Medusa, I don't think your idea is smart."

Annabeth stared at him for a long second, and Percy suddenly thought about how funny the situation was. Usually, she was in his place and he was in hers. He would've laughed, but they weren't in a good situation.

To his amazement, she walked up next to him. "Fine, lead the way out of here."

He blinked at her. "Are you being serious?"

She shrugged. "Sure, just follow me for a second. We aren't going to go far, but I just want to walk around in that direction for a second and see if we can hear it again."

"Why are you so dead set on seeing who this person is?"

Annabeth sighed. "Some things I just can't explain. But I'm thinking about the worst. This person could be a demigod and be in the same situation as we are. They could be hurt and need help, but there's no one there to help them. If I were in their place, I would hope someone would come and try to help me."

She walked a few feet through the swaying trees. Another gust of wind blew, and then Percy heard it.

The terrible scream pierced the air. It was definitely a girl and she sounded terrified and in pain. And then he felt like Annabeth. He wanted to go after the girl and help the person get free, because he had been in the same place before and had needed help.

He wasn't sure how far away it was, but it wasn't in the direction that they were walking. It was off, deep in the forest's of the mountains. The girl screamed once more, and it made Percy's body shake, like he was going against some sort of instinct by not help the person. He felt like a terrible person.

The screaming stopped, and so did the wind. For a second, it was just too quiet.

Annabeth's skin whitened. "Did you hear it that time?"

Reluctant or not, he wasn't sure, but he nodded. "Yeah, I heard it, but I still think we should go, because if something is hurting that girl, then we don't want it hurting us."

"I agree." But she clearly didn't. Percy didn't like what he was saying either. He thought he was being cruel and somehow betraying the girl by not going after her. She sounded scared and in need of help, and she sounded way too human to be in such a horrific place like they were.

But he couldn't see Annabeth get more hurt than she already was. They needed to keep moving.

Percy grabbed her hand, and they walked away from the source of the screaming. The wind started up again as they walked, their feet sore. Many hours had passed since they had woken up and battled Medusa. Percy slid his hand into his pocket and touched his sword for reassurance.

It started to rain just as the moon and stars were covered up, and they were in pitch black.

The rain wasn't light; it hammered into them both relentlessly, like little mini hail stones. It made trying to see even harder than it was. Annabeth reached into her bag and took out her flashlight. When she switched it on, they still couldn't see that far ahead of them.

"This sucks," Annabeth said a few minutes later. Percy could just make out the outline of the other mountains. They were near the top of theirs, and the trees were starting to thin. They'd get a good view of the area once they reached the top.

She looked at Percy. "Can't you do anything about the rain?"

Percy shook his head. He wasn't getting wet like Annabeth, but it was still annoying. The rain felt slippery against his skin like he was getting wet, but it was like having a coat on. He knew the water was there but it just didn't affect him. "I'm not a son of Zeus or Jupiter. This kind of stuff is what Jason and Thalia do."

"But you can still control hurricanes and stuff."

"Honestly, I don't control them. They kind of just… happen."

Annabeth nodded. They continued on for a few minutes, and Percy could feel how soaked she was. He felt kind of bad that he couldn't get wet unless he wanted to. Annabeth was the first to speak again. "I had a few dreams right before we were attacked…"

She explained how she'd found out it was Medusa because of her dream about Nico, and how she was still trying to piece together the new prophecy. But when she began to explain the deal with the new giant Tityos, Percy's heart started to beat a mile a minute.

"This is the last thing that we need," Percy groaned. "Another giant is coming after us, and we still have to face Gaea, and all of these other monsters that hate our guts and we're stuck in Tartarus trying to find the Doors of Death and a way out."

"And it's raining," Annabeth added miserably.

"Yeah, that too."

For some reason, Percy thought of the screaming girl. This rain probably wasn't helping what was happening to her.

When he looked back up, his stomach fell. They were almost at the top. Percy felt like running up and jumping for joy, but Annabeth couldn't run, so they kept going at their same speed. By the tension in her arm, he could tell that she didn't like it either. If Annabeth had a gun, she'd be using her cast as target practice by now.

The moon peeked through the clouds slightly, when they did reached the top, like a silver lining.

When Percy saw everything in front of him, his mouth hit the ground.

It was like a highway system. There were roads connecting in all different directions, crisscrossing in the oddest of patterns like some crazy interstate from outside of New York. It was like Interstate 95 on some serious steroids. It was huge and carried on for miles and miles. The construction was still going on in some places.

The crazier part was that monster were down there. Thousand of them shuffled in lines down the highways, kept there by some unseen force. They had shackles around their wrists and feet and kept stared at the ground with their single or multiple eyes.

There were so many in one place that he wanted to be sick. Some of them he recognized. There were many Cyclops' and some rogue centaurs. He saw bad Furies that Hades had kicked out and he was pretty sure he saw Dr. Thorn, aka the Manticore, right at the bottom of the mountain. They were all heading in various directions on the Highway to Hell… or, the Highway through Hell.

Annabeth wordlessly switched the flashlight off. "I don't think we're going to find any help down there."

Percy scanned the area again. He felt deflated. But then he saw something that had to be good and possibly and ally. For the first time since they had been in Tartarus, they might be able to see a friendly face.

Percy pointed to one of the construction cranes. On the side of it, the label read:

Daedalus Construction Inc.

Please read my new one-shot, 13 Reasons Why. It'd mean a lot.

Reviews and ideas, as always, are loved.

-BBH