A/N: I know I said 5 days, but as promised, here is chapter four. It's a little crappy, as I'm not quite back into the swing of things yet. Again, I'm REALLY SORRY for the lack of updates. Love you all so much :)
*CAMP HALF-BLOOD*
As the demigods peeled their eyes open one by one, the light faded, and a tall, muscular figure in Bermuda shorts and a flowery shirt stepped forwards. They hastily scrambled to their feet in respect, but Poseidon waved them off and looked round with dull eyes.
He nodded to each of the half-bloods sat in a circle, and the Hunters one by one. When at last he reached Annabeth, she whispered in a voice that sounded a thousand years old.
"Percy."
Poseidon took her hand and pulled her up, and wrapped his arms around her protectively, and Annabeth rested her head on his shoulder and began to sob relentlessly. He rocked her slowly.
"I'm so sorry, child. Please believe me when I say I know how this feels." He shook his head. "We'll find him. We'll find Percy."
"H-h-he's g-g-g-g-one and n-no-one knows where and I c-can't do it!"
Poseidon hesitated for a second too long before opening his mouth. Annabeth looked up at him, then pulled away in disbelief.
"You know," she said without shaking. Poseidon's face showed no sign of denial. Her tears turned to rage in an instant. "You KNOW! HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN?! You think you can just PULL UP HERE and tell me everything's going to be okay when YOU KNOW WHERE PERCY IS! WHY ISN'T HE HERE NOW?!" Her fury cut through the silence like a knife. Poseidon turned to the window and stared out at the lake.
"I can't find him." Annabeth opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her short. "And not that I don't know where he is, Annabeth, but that I can't get there. Have you ever heard of Anthesis? The Dark Room, perhaps? Or the House of the Lost? That place has many names." He turned back around, and Annabeth shook her head. "That's where Percy is. It's a place so veiled in Primordial curses that it can only be found when you know exactly where it is. That's why I can't find my son."
"And how," Annabeth said meticulously, "does that help me? Why is he even there in the first place? What aren't you telling us?"
"My dear brother thinks he took this." Poseidon pulled a long metal rod, sparking with raw power, from his pocket. It grew into a slender silver bolt with jagged edges that flickered like electricity.
"The master bolt", whispered Nico.
"Zeus has being going crazy recently," Poseidon continued. "It started when the headaches came back. About a month ago his form started shifting between his Greek and Roman forms, with no explanation. He just got angrier and more paranoid. Then two weeks ago he started taking his anger out on Camp Jupiter. The earthquakes, the storms, everything was caused by him. That's why your friends are having such a hard time keeping things in order. They're literally fighting the sky."
He cleared his throat, then started up again. "Three days ago, we took this." He turned the master bolt in his hands. "We thought it would stop, that all his power would be gone..."
Annabeth caught up. "But he thought it was Percy," she breathed.
"He's accused him before, why wouldn't it be him again? We thought that by taking the bolt we would regain power, or at least that his headaches would stop. We didn't count on his increasing paranoia. He took Artemis and Thalia, his own daughters." Phoebe drew breath through gritted teeth. "And he took Percy. He took my son down into the depths of Tartarus."
Annabeth let out a terrified squeak, and her eyes widened. Will picked up on her train of thought. "You didn't say it was in Tartarus..."
"Anthesis is the darkest place in Tartarus, bar the house of Night. As I said, you can only find it when you know where it is. I have no idea where it is. But you can trace it with the bolt. You know the deal - only demigods can enter other gods' realms, and Zeus has claimed Anthesis for himself. Thing is -" he turned to Annabeth, "are you sure you're ready to go back?"
Annabeth stood up, eyes burning. "Percy's in Tartarus without me. Thalia's gone there as well. No way is that OK by me. I'll find Anthesis or die trying."
Nico stood up as well. "I've been to Tartarus before. I can handle it." Poseidon nodded. Her then turned to Will.
Will, a little older than the others, sat staring at the floor. His blonde fringe fell loosely across his face. Slowly, he picked his eyes up.
"I'm going too," he said, almost defeated. "Rachel's not seeing prophecies any more. My healing skills are gone - I look at an injured kid and I see blood and bone and no way to fix it. I can't get prophecies either. And I feel like crap. Like the most pessimistic person you can imagine." Nico tensed, as if someone had just punched him in the stomach. "My dad's down there too, isn't he?"
Poseidon merely nodded. Will lifted his head in resolve.
Phoebe took up the string. "Three is the optimal number for a quest, I believe. We couldn't spare anyone anyway. Holding together is difficult enough when your leader and lieutenant are gone. Let's go see what we can do in New Rome." The hunters nodded in agreement.
Annabeth turned to her quest-partners, as Nico was pulling Will into a hug, cradling his head. "If we can't get a prophecy, we're going in blind."
"I'd rather be blind than dead," tossed back Nico.
Poseidon collapsed the bolt back into a metal rod, and handed it to Annabeth, who held it for a moment. All her earlier grief had turned to fiery grit and determination. Her stormy grey eyes burned with rage.
"Find my son. Please. You'll be able to trace Zeus' shadow-travelling signature to Anthesis with the bolt. Nico should understand how it works. Find your love. Find Will's father. Find Artemis and Thalia. Bring them back safe."
The three walked out of the Big House to a crack of light behind them. Once outside the camp's borders, they picked up the pace, broke into a run, and didn't look back once. They couldn't afford to waste a second.
A/N: Thankyou, beautiful people! I know this chapter was mostly exposition, but the next chapter I have planned is stormy and evil. Please have some marshmallows and leave a review!
~FlamesOfHestia