ANNABETH
When Piper recounted her dream for Percy, the ship's toilets exploded.
Annabeth couldn't not step back. She, deep down inside, still was afraid of what Percy could do. The incident with Akhlys was too fresh on her mind.
"No way are you two going down there alone." Percy said.
Leo ran down the hall waving a wrench. "Man, did you have to destroy the plumbing?"
Percy ignored him. Water ran down the gangway. The hull rumbled as more pipes burst and sinks overflowed. Annabeth knew that he didn't want to cause destruction, but it was almost like he was bound to it. Alright, his name did meant "Destroyer", but she hoped things would be different, but of course, Arachne had other plans.
"We'll be all right." Annabeth told him. "Piper foresaw the two of us going down there, so that's what needs to happen. Plus, we won't be going alone since she saw a dark figure with us, and who is darker than Night, right?" she tried a smile, attempting to calm him down.
Percy glared at Piper like it was all her fault. "And this Mimas dude? I'm guessing he's a giant?"
"Probably." she said. "Porphyrion called him our brother."
"And a bronze statue surrounded by fire." Percy said. "And those... other things you mentioned. Mackies?"
"Makhai." Piper said. "I think the word means battles in Greek, but I don't know how that applies, exactly."
"That's my point!" Percy said. "We don't know what's down there. I'm going with you."
"No." Annabeth put her hand on his arm. "If the giants want our blood, the last thing we need is aboy and a girl going down there together. Remember? They want one of each for their big sacrifice."
"Then I'll get Jason," Percy said. "and the two of us -'
"Percy!" at this moment Nyx appeared, out of nowhere. She did that a lot. "Don't worry, alright, I won't let anything happen to either of them. I promise." she said the last part in a serious tone, and Percy seemed to have calmed down, at least a little bit.
Annabeth kissed him. 'We'll be back before you know it.'
...
An hour later, the three of them stood on a hill overlooking the ruins of Ancient Sparta. They'd already scouted the modern city, but there was nothing meaningful. Annabeth was reluctant to check the ruins on the edge of town, but finally they ran out of otherplaces to look. Something felt off about it.
There wasn't much to see. The hill they stood on had once been Sparta's acropolis - its highest point and main fortress. The weathered slope was covered with dead grass, rocks and stunted olive trees. Below, ruinsstretched out for maybe a quarter of a mile: limestone blocks, a few broken walls and some tiledholes in the ground like wells.
Piper wiped the sweat from her forehead.
"You'd think if there was a thirty-foot-tall giant around we'd see him."
Annabeth stared at the distant shape of the Argo II floating above downtown Sparta, but didn't respond. She fingered the red coral pendant on her necklace - a gift from Percy when they started dating. For some reason the memories of Tartarus and the quest for the Athena Parthenos kept coming back to her head the closer they got to the ruins.
"You're thinking about Percy." Piper guessed.
Annabeth nodded.
Since she'd come back from Tartarus, Annabeth had told Piper a lot of scary things that had happened down there. Of course, Percy controlling a tide of poison and suffocating Akhlys was up there. She still remembered when Nyx, again, out of nowhere, brought Misery to them when they were at Ithaca. She never saw Percy so livid.
Speaking of Nyx, she was looking into the horizon, not saying much, oddly enough. But she did look like she was listening.
"He seems to be adjusting." Piper said. "He's smiling more often. You know he cares about you more than ever.'
Annabeth sat, her face suddenly pale.
"I don't know why it's hitting me so hard all of a sudden. I can't quite get that memory out of my head... how Percy looked when he was standing at the edge of Chaos."
Piper also seemed to get agitated and sat alongside Annabeth, with a thoughtful look on her face. Nyx followed suite.
"I saw what happen, it intrigued me a lot. Annabeth, I believe you know what his true nature is?"
Annabeth knew. Percy was the Destroyer. He caused a volcanic eruption at just fourteen years old. She truly thought he died, she mourned him, but he somehow survived that. He could probably kill Primordials, if he kept going Akhlys would be just history now. If he could control poison, maybe he couldn't even control blood...? And ichor. She shuddered.
"I know what are you thinking. And no, I did not read your mind. He is not gonna cross any limits as long as you are by his side. He trusts you more than nothing else, you did see that he stopped hurting Akhlys when he saw that you was scared. He wouldn't do anything to do hurt you, or anyone like he did with Misery." Night said, with a comforting smile. Piper nodded.
"Give him time. The guy is crazy about you. You've been through so much together."
"I know..." Annabeth's grey eyes reflected the green of the olive trees. "It's just... Bob, the Titan, he warned me there would be more sacrifices ahead. I want to believe we can have a normal life someday... But I allowed myself to hope for that last summer, after the Titan War. Then Percy disappeared for months. Then we fell into that pit..." A tear traced its way down her cheek. "Piper, if you'd seen the face of the god Tartarus, all swirling darkness, devouring monsters and vaporizing them - I've never felt so helpless. I try not to think about it...'
Piper took her hands. They were trembling badly. The thoughts of Tartarus were like a cycle of fear and despair. She felt vulnerable. Many campers knew her as "the scary one", but at that moment she couldn't scare a fly. She felt like she was once again seven years old, at that damned mansion...
"Hey," Piper said gently. "don't try to shut out the feelings. You won't be able to. Just let them wash over you and drain out again. You're scared."
"Gods, yes, I'm scared." Annabeth agreed.
"You're angry."
"At Percy for frightening me." she said. "At my mom for sending me on that horrible quest in Rome. At... well, pretty much everybody. Gaea. The giants. The gods for being jerks."
"At me?" Piper asked. Annabeth managed a shaky laugh.
"Yes, for being so annoyingly calm."
"And at me?" Nyx questioned, with a smirk on her face.
"A bit, but not that much compared to previously." Annabeth admited. "Gods, I'm stupid, sitting here talking about my feelings when we have a quest to finish."
"The chained god's heartbeat can wait." Piper smiled, but she seemed troubled as Annabeth was "Whatever happens, "she told the daughter of Athena. "I'm your friend. Just... remember that, okay?"
Annabeth started to say something but stopped. Suddenly a roaring sound came from the ruins. One of the stonelined pits, which Piper had mistaken for wells, spewed out a three-storey geyser of flames and shutoff just as quickly.
"What the heck?" Piper asked. Annabeth sighed.
"I don't know, but I have a feeling it's something we should check out."
Three pits lay side by side like finger holes on a recorder. Each one was perfectly round, two feet indiameter, tiled around the rim with limestone; each one plunged straight into darkness. Every few seconds, seemingly at random, one of the three pits shot a column of fire into the sky. Each time, thecolour and intensity of the flames were different.
"They weren't doing this before." Annabeth walked a wide arc around the pits. She was still shaky and pale, but her mind was now engaged in the problem at hand. "There, it doesn't seem to be any pattern. The timing, the colour, the height of the fire... I don't get it."
"Did we activate them somehow?" Piper wondered. "Maybe that surge of fear you felt on the hill... Uh, I mean we both felt."
Annabeth didn't really hear her. "There must be some kind of mechanism... a pressure plate, aproximity alarm."
Flames shot from the middle pit. Annabeth counted silently. The next time, a geyser erupted on the left. She frowned. How could this be?
"That's not right. It's inconsistent. It has to follow some kind of logic."
She tried to stay composed, but everytime a geyser errupted, it was like something had hit her. Fear, panic, but also a strong desire to get closer to the flames.'
"It isn't rational,' Piper said. "It's emotional."'
"How can fire pits be emotional?"Annabeth was absolutely confused. Piper held her hand over the pit on the right. Instantly, flames leaped up. She barely had time to withdraw her fingers. Her nails steamed.
"Piper!" Annabeth ran over, startled. "What were you thinking?"
"I wasn't. I was feeling. What we want is down there. These pits are the way in. I'll have to jump."
"Are you crazy? Even if you don't get stuck in the tube, you have no idea how deep it is."
"You're right."
"You'll be burned alive!"
"Possibly."Piper unbuckled her sword and tossed it into the pit on the right. "I'll let you know if it's safe. Wait for my word."
"Don't you dare." Annabeth warned, but it didn't matter.
Piper jumped.
"Piper!" Annabeth ran and tried to catch the daughter of Aphrodite. Nyx held her by the shoulders.
"Hold on. She's right."
Annabeth looked at Nyx with anger.
"How?!"
"I know it's impossible for you, but the point is that thinking won't bring you anywhere. She will be fine, I guarantee you."
Annabeth sat down near the pit, absolutely livid. She couldn't risk losing Piper under her watch.
"Hey, I..." Nyx started. "I never actually apologized, so... sorry for what happened down there. I can only imagine how bad everything was. After hearing what you had on your mind, I couldn't really remain silent."
Annabeth looked at Night, shocked. No way an actual deity was apologizing, right?
"Look, I know what you think of immortals, and you are totally right, but I ask you to give me... and Hem, a chance. We are not going to let horrible things happen to you all, like letting you fall into that pit or something."
The daughter of Athena thought for a moment, and nodded. That line about letting her fall... that bothered her, but she decided not to touch on that. Yet, that is.
"It was so weird when you appeared in front of the ship. I truly thought I was dead."
Nyx smiled, but looked a little bit embarassed.
"I must admit that I didn't really know how to interact with people for a while. So my first interaction with you all was appearing in a cloud of darkness and threatening Leo with a knife. I'm just so socially active."
Annabeth smirked. It was weird to think that this being that talked to her so casually was more powerful than every other one that she encountered before. More powerful than her mother, Zeus, Kronos, or any other titan or god.
"You know, my daughter is a therapist, if you ever want to talk about it with a professional, along with Percy."
"Really? Who?" Annabeth asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Nemesis. She even has a PHD." Nyx replied casually, like the goddess of vengeance being a therapist was the most normal thing ever.
"What?!" she couldn't believe it. How weird could the gods get?
"I'll make sure to pay your appointment, or even persuade her to do it for free. However... I think it's time we go down." Nyx got up, and Annabeth soon followed her. She looked down carefully at the pit, to make sure she wasn't burned to a crisp.
"Piper?" Annabeth called. She could only see darkness from here.
"Yeah!" Piper shouted.
"Thank the gods! You okay?" she felt waves of relief hitting her.
"Yeah. Hold on a sec." Piper was silent for a moment. "Annabeth!" she called. "It's a long drop, but it's safe to come down. Maybe... uh, you have a rope you could fasten so we can get back up?'
"Not necessary." Nyx said, and grabbed Annabeth's shoulder. In a second, they were right next to Piper, who jumped away from them.
"You could at least give me warn before doing that!" Piper complained.
"Piper McLean," Annabeth grumbled, "that was without a doubt the dumbest risk I've ever seen anyone take, and I date a dumb risk-taker."
"Thank you." Piper nudged a decapitated metal dragon-head with her foot. "I'm guessing these are the dragons of Ares. That's one of his sacred animals, right?"
"And there's the chained god himself. Where do you think those doorways-"
Piper held up her hand. "Do you hear that?"
The sound was like a drumbeat... with a metallic echo.
"It's coming from inside the statue." Piper decided. "The heartbeat of the chained god."
Annabeth unsheathed her drakon-bone sword. She felt panic. They were not meant to be there. Once again she was pale.
"I - I don't like this, Piper. We need to leave."
Piper seemed just as uncomfortable, but she shook her head negatively.
"The shrine is ramping up our emotions." she said. "It's like being around my mom, except thisplace radiates fear, not love. That's why you started feeling overwhelmed on the hill. Down here, it's a thousand times stronger."
"Clever girl." commented Nyx. She seemed calm, but she got closer to the other girls. Annabeth assumed it was to protect them. She felt a little bit calmer with that knowledge.
Annabeth scanned the walls. "Okay... we need a plan to get the statue out. Maybe haul it up with rope, but -"
''Wait." Piper glanced at the snarling stone faces above the doorways. "A shrine that radiates fear. Ares had two divine sons, didn't he?"
"Ph-phobos and Deimos." Annabeth shivered, and remembered something that happened a few years back. "Panic and Fear. Percy met them once in Staten Island."
"I think those are their faces above the doors." Piper guessed. "This place isn't just a shrine to Ares. It's a temple of fear."
Deep laughter echoed through the chamber. Nyx conjured her dagger.
On Piper's right, a giant appeared. He didn't come through either doorway. He simply emerged from the darkness as if he'd been camouflaged against the wall.
He was small for a giant - perhaps twenty-five feet tall, which would give him enough room toswing the massive sledgehammer in his hands. His armour, his skin and his dragon-scale legs wereall the colour of charcoal. Copper wires and smashed circuit boards glittered in the braids of his oilblack hair.
"Very good, child of Aphrodite." The giant smiled. "This is indeed the Temple of Fear. And I am here to make you believers."