HEY! So I'm finally back! Now I understand why it takes people so long to update. Exspecially on reading the book stories. It's so time consuming to right out the entire chapter.
Ok, so I just watched The sea of monsters movie, and all I can say I "Um..." It was by far, better than the first one but I still can't get over the age change. It ruins everything for me. And why the heck did Kronos rise and eat Luke? AND WHY is Mr D drinking water? I have t give props to the actors though, they did great. And I really liked the girl who played Clarrise. And I thought Jake Able was pretty darn good, and his evilness was sexy;) Well I think that if you're going to do a movie off of a book, you might want to make the characters age, the same as the book.. Not that I don't like Logan Lerman (I LOVE him) but come on? Seriously? It throws off everything. -End rant.
Well I hope you guys like it!:) I think its a bit better than the last chapter, so enjoy!
CHAPTER 3.
Hazel began to read ..."ANNABETH...
The impact didn't kill her but the cold nearly did.
Freezing water hocked the air out of her lungs. Her limbs turned rigid, and she lost her grip on Percy. She began to sink. Strange wailing sounds filled her ears- millions of heart broken voices, as if the river was made of distilled sadness. The voices were worse than the cold. They weighed her down and made her feel numb.
What's the point of struggling?they told her.You're dead anyway You'll never leave this place.
She could sink to the bottom and drown, let the river carry her body away. That would be easier. She could just close her eyes...
"NO!" They all yelled.
"You can't give up!" Hazel said They all know that Percy and Annabeth make it out alive, but that doesn't stop the concern.
Percy gripped her hand and jolted her back to reality. She couldn't see him in the murky water, but suddenly she didn't want to die. Together, they kicked upward and broke the surface.
They all sighed in relief.
Annabeth gasped, greatful fr air, no matter how sulfurous. The water swirled around them and she realised Percy was creating a whirlpool to buoy them up.
"Go Percy and his water powers! I give him a solid 10." Leo said in a announcer type voice.
"Leo, shut up were trying to read." An annoyed Piper, said.
"Fine, fine," he said, with his hands in surrendor. " I guess no one appreciates the Leo humor."
"Shut up Leo." They all said, and he did.
Though she couldn't make out their surroundings, she knew this was a river. Rivers had shores.
"Land," she croaked. "Go sideways."
Percy looked near dead with exaustion. Usually water reinvigorated him, but not this water. Controlling it must have taken every bit of his strength. The whirlpool began to dissapate. Annabeth hooked one arm around his waste and struggled across the current. The river worked against her: thousands of weeping voices whispering in her ears, getting inside her brain.
"This seems familiar.. I think i've read about a river like this." Hazel said, with a frown on her fac, trying to remember. "Me too," Jason agreed. "I think we might have learned about it at Camp Jupiter."
"And you all said I was a disruption."
"Shut up Leo."
Life is despair,
they said. Everything is pointless, and then you die.
"Pointless," Percy murmured. His teeth chattered from the cold. He stopped swimming and began to sink.
"No Percy, fight it!" Frank said, and they all agreed. "You can do it!"
"Percy!" She shrieked. "The river is messing with your mind. It's the Cocytus- the River of Lamentaion. It's made of pure misery!"
"Oh, we did learn about it at Camp Jupiter. I remember now." Hazel said.
"Yeah," Jason agreed."I can't believe that they fell into pure misery. they are alive today so obviously they make it out, but how? "
"well lets read and find out please!" Leo said impatiently." I don't like cliffhangers."
So Hazel continued to read..
"Misery," he agreed.
"Fight it!"
She kicked and struggled, trying to keep both of them afloat. Another cosmic joke for Gaea to laugh at: Annabeth dies trying to keep her boyfriend, the son of Posiedon from drowning.
Leo laughed and they all looked at him like he was crazy.
"What? You gotta admit that is kinda funny..."
Not going to happen you hag, Annabeth thought.
She hugged Percy tighter and kissed him. "Tell me about New Rome," she demanded. "What were your plans for us?"
"They really , really like kissing." Frank said. "Remember when they ,fell asleep, in the cargo hold? Man was coach hedge mad." They all laughed , remembering.
"They still need to control the PDA. Those poor little 12 year olds who caught them making out on the dock, back at camp.. I bet their scarred for life." Laughed Leo.
"New Rome... For us..."
"Yeah seaweed brain. You said we could have a future there! Tell me!"
Annabeth had never wanted to leave Camp Halfblood. It was the only real home she had ever known. But days ago, on the Argo II, Percy had told her that he imagined a future for the two of them among th roman demigods. In their city of New Rome, veterans of the legion could settle down safely, go to college, get married, even have kids.
I've never really thought about me and Jasons future together.. Whenever were done here, reading this book, im gonna sit down with him and talk about our future.
Piper thought to herself.
"Architecture," Percy murmured. The fog started to clear from his eyes. "Thought you'd like the houses, the parks. There's this one street with all these cool fountains."
"I love that street." Hazel smiled warmly thinking about it.
"I Can't wait to go back there. I miss my home." said Jason.
"Me too, but I wasn't there all that long and I feel more like the ARGO II is my home, and im gonna be sad to leave it behind." Frank said. They all silently agreed that. They may have their camps, but the flying ship is their true home. They laughed, played, fought, joked, worked, and planned the defeat of Gaea on it. That's where they bonded and became a team.
Annabeth started making progess against the current. Her limbs felt like bags of wet sand, but Percy was helping her now. She could see the dark line of the shore about a stones throw away.
"College," she gasped. "Could we go there together?"
"Y-yeah," he agreed, a little more confidently.
"What would you study Percy?"
"Dunno." He admitted.
"Marine science," she suggested. "Oceanography."
"Surfing?" He asked.
"Of course he would say that." Laughed Hazel. The other four laughed with her.
She laughed, and the sound sent a shockwave through the water. The wailing faded to bakground noise. Annabeth wondered if anyone had ever laughed in Tartarus before- just a pure, simple, laugh of plasure. She doubted it.
"They are probably the only living beings there," Frank said. "Tartarus may have changed them, but i think they might have changed Tartarus too."
She used the last of her strength to reach the riverbank. Her feet dug into the sandy bottom. She and Percy hauled themselves ashore, shivering and gasping, and collapsed on the dark sand.
The five cheered.
Annabeth wanted to curl up next to Percy and go to sleep. She wanted to shut her eyes, hope all of this was a bad dream, and wake to find herself back on the Argo II, safe with her friends (Well... As safe as a demigod could ever be.)
"We don't live very safe lives." Piper said half joking, half serious.
"What does safe mean?" Leo asked, and they all laughed.
But, no. They were in Tartarus. At their feet, the River Cocytus roared past, a flood of liquid wretchedness. The sulfurous air stung Annabeths lungs and prickled her skin. When she looked at her arms, she saw they were already covered with an angry rash. She tried to sit up, then gasped in pain.
The beach wasn't sand. They were sitting on a field of jagged black-glass chips. Some of which were now embedded in Annabeths palms.
"Ouch!" They said in horror.
So the air was acid. The water was misery. The ground was broken glass. Everything here was designed to hurt and kill. Annabeth took a rattleing breat and wondered if the voices in the Cocytus were right. Maybe fighting for survival was pointless. They would be dead within the hour.
They all yelled in defiance, telling her that, her and Percy make it out, and are alive and kicking ass, to this day.
"Ya know, she can't hear us.. Were talking to a book.." Leo said."I don't care, but i think its a sign of insanity.."
"Well, it makes me feel better, so im ok with being pronounced insane." Hazel said, with a cute little smile on her face. Frank wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer. I can't believe a beautiful girl like Hazel, picked me. I' so lucky.
Then Hazel got back to reading.
Next to her, Percy coughed. "This place smells like my ex-stepfather."
Annabeth managed a weak smile. She'd never met Smelly Gabe, but she'd heard enough stories. She loved Percy for trying to lift her spirits.
If she had fallen into Tartarus alone, Annabeth thought, she would have been doomed. After all she'd been through beneath Rome, finding the Athena Parthenos, this was simply too much. She would have curled up and cried until she became another ghost, melting into the Cocytus.
"Me too." The five halfbloods said at the same time, and they all laughed.
"That's like the hundreth time we've done that," Laughed Leo." Do we all have mental links with eachother, or something?"
But she wasn't alone. She has Percy. And that meant she couldn't give up.
"Amen." said Leo.
She forced herself to take stock. Her Her foot was still wrapped in its makeshift cast of Bubbles Wrap, still tangled in cobwebs. But when she moved it, it didn't hurt. The Ambrosia she had eaten in the tunnels under Rome must have finally mended her bones.
Her backpack was gone-lost during the fall, or maybe washed away in the river. She hated losing Daedalus's laptop, with all its fantastic programs and data, but she had worse problems. Her Celestial bronze dagger was missing-the weapon she'd carried since she was seven years old.
"Oh, losing your weapon is the worst," said Jason."You become so attached to it." They all agreed.
The realization almost broke her, but she couldn't let herself dwell on it. Time to grieve later. What else did they have? No food, no water... Basically no supplies at all.
Yep, off to a promising start.
"Way to be optimistic, Annabeth." Commented Leo.
"I wouldn't be the most optimistic person if i were in her position." Said Piper
Annabeth glanced at Percy. He looked pretty bad. His dark hair was plastered across his forehead, his T-shirt ripped to shreds. His fingers were scraped raw from holding on that ledge before they fell. Most worriesome of all, he was shivering and his lips were blue.
"They better move, or they'll catch hypothermia." Leo said in a sing song voice.
The other 4 looked at him weirdly.
"We should keep moving or we'll get hypothermia," Annabeth said. "Can you stand?"
"See, I am as smart as her!"
"Shut up Leo."
He nodded. They both struggled to their feet. Annabeth put her arm around his waist, though she wasn't sure who was supporting whom. She scanned the surroundings. Above, she saw no signs of the tunnel they'd fallen down. She couldn't even see the cavern roof- just blood covered clouds, floating in the hazy grey air. It was like staring through a thin mix of tomatoe soup and cement.
Frank whistled. "Sounds like a large place."
"Yeah it does,"Agreed Jason."I wonder how they find the doors."
"Well, lets keep reading, so we can find out!" Piper said, kinda annoyed. She was worried, and she wants to know what happens to Annabeth and Percy.
The black-glass beach stretched inland about fifty yards. then dropped off the edge of a cliff. From where he stood, Annabeth couldn't see what was below, but the edge flickered with red light as if illuminated by huge fires.
A distant memry tuged at her- Something about Tartarus and fire.
Hazel paused from reading, then exclaimed "I know what it is!"
"What? And how do you know, the only hint was Tartraus and fire." questioned her boyfriend.
"You guys will have to wait and find out. And I ust remember reading about it recently. I could be wrong" "
Before she could think to much about it, Percy inhaled sharply.
"Look." he pointed downstream.
A hundred feet away, a familiar-looking baby-blue Italian car had crashed headfirst into the sand. It looked just like the Fiat that had smased Arachne and sent her plummeting into the pit.
Annabeth hoped she was wrong, but how many Italian sports cars could there be in Tartarus? Part of her didn't want to go anywher near it, but she had to find out. She gripped Percy's hand, and they stumbled toward the wreckage. One of the cars tires had come off and was now floating in a back water eddy of the Cocytus. The Fiat's windows had shattered, sending brighter glass like frosting across the dark beach. Under the crushed hood layed the tattered, glistening remains of a giant silk cacoon- the trap that Annabeth had tricked Arachne into weaving. It was unmistakably empty. Slash marks in the sand made a trail downriver... as if something heavy, with multiple legs, had scuttled into the darkness.
"No! Arachne needs to die." Piper shouted, and she accidently spoke with some charm speak, so everyone wanted to stand up and go hunt that nasty spider down.
"She's alive." Annabetth was so horrified, so outraged by the unfairness of it all, she had to supress the urge to throw up.
"It's Tartarus," Percy said. "Monster home court. Down her, maybe they can't be killed."
"Way to be a debbie downer, man." said Leo.
He gave Annabeth an embarresed look, as if realizing he wasn't helping team morale. "Or maybe she's badly wounded, and she crawled away to die."
"Let's go with that." Annabeth agreed.
Percy was still sivering, Annabeth wasn't feeling any warmer either, despite the hot, sticky glass cuts on her hands were still bleeding, which was unsual for her. Normally, she healed fast. Her breathing got more and more labored.
"This place is killing us," she said. "I mean, it's literally going to kill us, unless..."
Tartarus. Fire. That distant memory came into focus. She gazed inland toward the cliff, illuminated by flames from below.
It was an absolutely crazy idea. But it might be their only chance.
Hazel gasped, and whispered "No..."
"Unless what?" Percy promted. "You've got a bbrilliant plan, haven't you?"
"It's a plan," Annabet murmured. "I don't know about brilliant. We need to find the River of Fire."
"What are they gonna do at the River of Fire?" Jason asked," Unless i was Leo, i would steer clear. "
"Well, I was right. The name of the river is called the Phlegathon. And I have an idea of what Annabeth wants to do, but im not gonna spoil it." Hazel said, with a worried look on her face.
"Oh come on, who cares about spoilers! Tell us." Leo begged, with his mischevious smile.
"No, you will probably find out next chapter anyways."
"Since Hazel doesn't want to tell us whats gonna happen," Jason started to say," Lets take a break. I want a snack, so I am gonna go see whats in the fridge."
They all agreed, and made they're way into the kitchen. And when they opened up the fridge , their eyes were met with, junk food, and soda. Lots and lots of soda.
Leo pretended to faint, then said "Were in Heaven!" Then proceeded to grab a box of donuts and a can of Pepsi.
After they all picked out what their teenage hearts desired, they came back to the couches and got comfortable, with their food in hand.
"Wow, look at the time," Frank said, looking at the clock on the wall. " It's almost 1 am."
"I thought time was suspended?" Hazel questioned.
"Well, they Hermes and Apollo said that time was suspended in camp halfblood. Not here." Piper guessed
"Well then, how about one more chapter then we go to bed?" Jason all nodded." Who wants to read next?"
"I will!" Shouted Leo. Hazel handed him the book, and he began to read, "ANNABETH..."
I apologize for any errors or mistakes on my part, I hope you enjoyed! Editing was a pain today. All the bold sections turned to regular textts, and then my keybord was being stupid and it took me FOREVER to turn it back to bold.
Have a great weekend! Thanks to everyone that has read this, and to all the people who have reviewed, followed and favorite this story! Love you guys:)