I look around in vain. Tartarus is completely and utterly black. There is no light whatsoever. I know why little kids are afraid of the dark. It's so suffocatingly awful not being able to see your hands in front of your face. I'm just glad Juliette isn't here. Despite being the daughter of the lord of darkness she hates the dark. Not that that's important right now. Right now, I need to find where the gods are being kept. A light appears in front of me. Naturally, I walk into it. Because, you know, light. I can picture this happening with Mom and Dad. Dad would go to the light, and Mom would call him an idiot as she followed two steps behind. I smile, despite being in the pit of despair. The light vanishes. And I walk smack into someone. I uncap Riptide. I make out the figure of my Dad in the faint glow from the celestial bronze.

"Gods I hate this place," he mutters.

"Sup," I say, scaring him out of his pants (figuratively, of course).

"Maya? You scared the hades out of me!"

"I know. That was kinda the point."

"You would so be grounded, but Tartarus is punishment enough."

"So how are you here?"

"I don't think I am."

"Saw what now?"

"I was on Olympus. Daphne. Now I'm here. I mean, I know that can happen, but I never expected it to."

"Dad, let me take a guess. My guess is that Tartarus, the god, not the pit, zapped you here to help me stop Kronos, as Kronos waking Chaos will kill him."

"Why do you say that?"

"Uh, he's standing right behind you."

Dad whips around and screams like a little girl.

"Calm yourself, son of Poseidon. I do not mean you harm. My niece, Hemera, told me of your quest. I feel it to be noble. I do not like the thought that the stepson who killed my love' husband could soon kill me, leaving my wife heartbroken yet again. I will help you."

"Thank you, lord Tartarus," I kneel. I hear a squawking and, on instinct, slash. I feel something dig into my chest, but there's nothing there. "Please tell me you have some ambrosia," I groan.

"What?"

"Aura. Minotaur. Bleeding out."

Tartarus blows on the wound. "Until you exit my depths, your skin will be like that of Achilles."

"Does that help with curses?"

"It seals the wound. You will still feel pain, but you will not be killed unless by poison."

"Yeah. I can feel pain alright. Gods I wish I'd packed Tylenol."

"Packed?" Dad asks.

"Three water bottles, five granola bars. Wasn't expecting company. Son of a biscuit, if this is how the Minotaur felt, I can see why he cursed me," I slash at the sound of a hiss and feel something stab my gut from behind. "Gah! Should not have done that," I groan.

"Maya, give me the sword," Dad says.

"Nope," I inhale, "some of your curses were poison. All of mine would include a stab of some kind," something jumps at me and my leg snaps underneath me. "I now know why you hate Luke and I regret breaking his leg."

I tear the hem of my shirt off and grab what feels like a bone from the ground beside me to splint my leg.

"Let's hope nothing else like this happens."

"It will happen until you die," an evil voice hisses as something claws my throat. I jab with Riptide and a splitting pain pierces my temple. That would be from when I shot a cyclops in the head. I slash at another aura. My whole body burns.

"Okay i'm not the one who set that hellhound on fire. That was Luke. All I did was tell him how to kill the thing."

"You will doom yourself."

"And your voice is annoying," I kill another aura. This time, nothing happens. Then I look at the end of my sword and see Dad.

"No!" I scream, trying to stem the blood flow. "Fix him!" I shout at Tartarus.

"I cannot."

"Why?!"

"He's not here. He's on Olympus."

Percy starts bleeding. "Will!" Annabeth shrieks. "Will, he's bleeding!"

"How?" Will runs in.

"I don't know. It just happened."

Will curses. "It's a sword wound. How in hades did he get stabbed?"

"He didn't."

"Maya," Percy gasps.

"Percy, hey. It's me. Its Annabeth."

"She's there. I was too. Tartarus, helping."

"Take a breath. Annabeth, go get some nectar. Now," Will says. Annabeth nods and runs out.

"Will, she's there," Percy grabs his friend's arm.

"Yes I know. Nico told us that an hour ago."

"He is too."

"Percy, take a breath. You need to calm down. You were unconscious."

"No. I, I need to tell you. Maya is in the pit. Tartarus is helping her find the gods. He gave her the mark of Achilles for while she's in the pit but she can still feel pain. The curses, they almost killed me. She can't be killed by them unless they use poison. But she can still feel the pain. But she's safe. She has Riptide and fights better than I ever did. Tell her it's not her fault," with that, Percy closes his eyes.

"No! Percy please! No! I can't lose someone else! Please! No!" Will screams. He checks Percy's pulse, but knows there's no point. "No," he sobs, looking at his friend. Will sucks in a breath and pulls the sheet over Percy's head. "I'm sorry," he whispers. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more."

sorry if this makes you mad. I promise everything gets explained. Just remember that keep died too, and he's still alive