XLVIII

Percy

(A/N: Bad chapter. Sorry. Read. You don't need to enjoy this one. Although thinking about it, I think you should enjoy this one, because I doubt that you're going to enjoy the next Percy chapter.)

Percy managed to twist himself around, landing on a tiny ledge. He held on to it, managing to fling Annabeth back up to the surface. Below them, the ground kept spreading out, making Percy nearly fall. Meanwhile, Annabeth was hopefully keeping low, trying not to make any sudden movements.

He felt around in his pocket for Riptide. Luckily, it was there, but he knew that even if he managed to get back up to the surface, he would get destroyed in seconds by the herd.

His fingers burned from holding on to the ledge for so long. It was so small that he had to switch hands every three minutes or so. Slowly, the herd started to thump away, grunting.

Percy looked for ways out, but to no avail. The wall was basically smooth except for a few ledges ten meters away.

Then the chasm started to close.

The two walls shuddered and started to move towards each other. Really? Percy thought. Then he realized that this could be his only way to escape. He waited for the wall to come towards him, then took a deep breath. He positioned his foot on the wall behind him, and took a leap, landing on the opposite wall. Immediately he jumped back to the first wall, gaining two feet or so of height. The two sides threatened to crush him at times, but he kept going up. Finally, he reached the top, where he sat down on the grass, panting.

So that was why the grassland looked so pristine.

Annabeth was crouching right beside him, her face pale. "Are you alright?" she whispered to him. He nodded as the gap finally slid shut behind him.

"How are we going to possibly kill all of them?" Annabeth asked. "We've shown easily that there is no way we can kill just one of them without them screeching at us and bursting our eardrums.

"Wait." Percy's mind was suddenly racing, which seemed to be one of the by-products of having been through Tartarus. Everything seemed so menacing. Not much now, but he still had his moments. "My sword returns to my pocket no matter what happens, right?"

"Yeah," Annabeth replied. "What are you getting at?"

"Well, are you good at sword-throwing?"

She looked at him incredulously. "Do you know how heavy that sword is? How are you going to hit it at all? Besides, those Neades have good eyesight. They'll easily spot the gleam of the sword."

Percy knew she was right. But then he hit another brainwave. "Pens aren't heavy. They don't reflect light."

He took the pen out of his pocket and loosened the cap.

"If the cap comes loose mid-flight, will the sword still come out of it?"

"Only one way to find out," Annabeth replied.

They had managed to crawl to a tree a few feet away from the Neades, which also blocked them from being seen. Annabeth had decided to go first, because she was pretty decent at archery. Percy knew that he could throw that pen a thousand times and never hit it.

Annabeth took aim, and threw. Percy prayed for the cap to stay on. It did- at least, until it had made about half the journey.

The sword appeared in mid-air, hurtling towards the monster. The Neades saw it, but it was too late. It caught it clean in the shoulder, spraying monster dust everywhere. The herd immediately scattered, not knowing where the source was. Once they had regathered, the sword had once again appeared in Percy's pocket in pen form. He immediately handed it to Annabeth, who went for another shot. This carried on for an hour or so, with the herd splitting up every time they threw Riptide. But Percy did notice that the herd was slowly charging more towards their direction.

Finally, there was just one left in the herd. At least, that was what they thought. Because as they were about to throw, Percy felt a chill ride down his spine. "Annabeth, cover your ears!" he yelled. Suddenly, a ear-splitting screech completely enveloped them, splitting the ground into two, with fractures leading outwards from it. A Neades had managed to sneak up towards them from the back, and had managed to nearly get them. As soon as the screech finished, Percy uncapped the sword, and sliced straight down on the creature's hide. It turned to dust.

It seemed like the creatures had a cooldown time after making a screech. Anyhow, Percy had just one more of them to kill. The final one in the herd was, luckily, very young. Or at least, Percy thought that they were lucky. Because it turned out that the young ones had the sharpest screeches.

As Percy recapped his sword, the young one made a screech so loud it must have carried at least a mile. He only had just enough time to drop the sword and cover his eardrums before they burst. As soon as it stopped, Percy picked up the pen, loosened the cap, handed it to Annabeth, and she let it loose. It went straight through the monster, scattering it into dust.

Percy crouched down, a loud ringing in his ears. While that ending may have been anti-dramatic, at least it was over. Finally they could get the information that they needed.

Chronus appeared in front of them. He was frowning, but had a grudging look on his face.

"Well, I must say I would have liked it a bit more interesting. But before I give you the information that you so seek, you need to rest."

He waved his hand, and Percy found himself in a hotel room.

"Sleep well, and tomorrow be at the reception at exactly 11 in the morning." Chronus said from the door. "Good night. And I hope that tomorrow will be a joyous day of celebration for you." He shut it.

Percy knew that he was talking about the war, but something told him that there was something else that he was hinting at.

Percy immediately fell down on the only bed in the room. It might have been Chronus' idea, but he and Annabeth were on the same bed. While he liked that, there were some things that he did not want. The first was McDonalds running out of Cheeseburgers, the second was losing the Olympian war, and the third was Annabeth sharing a bed with him. All his years of experience told him that something weird was going to happen tonight. Because whenever you sleep with Annabeth, you're asking for it. The last time he had done that, he had woken up with a pile of seaweed stuck to his head.

He fell asleep, wondering what Chronos could have possibly meant.