Surprisingly, nothing tried to attack me while I slept. I woke up somewhat well rested, unable to remember any actual dreams (just remembering I had some and they'd sucked because, Tartarus), and shocked that I'd been safe. I managed to get a good six or so hours of sleep, even (according to my watch, although I wasn't entirely sure how reliable that was as I'd seen the watch slow and even stop a couple of times, only to start up again later and figured that was a Tartarus thing). Unfortunately, I'd forgotten how vivid my demigod dreams could be here. Just another lovely attribute of this place that I utterly loathed. I must have been really tired when I went to sleep.

Once I woke up, though, I didn't really know what to do. The sleeping bag was warm and very soft (and much larger than it looked, ha!) and… I didn't really want to move. What really convinced me to get up was the itchiness on my skin again. I had to drink from the Phlegethon—which sucked, as always, but healed me—and due to my stomach feeling like it had begun to eat itself whole, I couldn't keep myself away from the Ambrosia. It tasted so good I wanted to cry and… may have let a few tears fall… maybe. I couldn't eat much of it, though, and it only took the edge off of the pain in my stomach that had seemingly become an empty void overnight. The Phlegethon helped (as disgusting as it was), but while I remembered being hungry when I'd been here before, I hadn't remembered it being this bad…

Annabeth had said something about repressing just how bad memories were and that it was a subconscious thing. I wondered if I'd done that myself because I felt so hungry I could eat… well… a gryphon.

The idea of actually eating a monster almost made me sick enough to switch off my appetite. Almost. But unfortunately, I had to eat something.

As I trudged around the bank of the river, I stumbled across some creepy scorpion/spider things I didn't know the name of (they weren't, thankfully, like the pit scorpion Luke had sicced on me, but I stayed away from them as I wasn't about to take any chances) pawing at the pile of rocks I'd managed to shove on top of the gryphons. Some summoned water and a bit of directed control later, I found myself digging the bodies up, scorpion free.

Dressing a kill—something I was only able to do thanks to the book—took far longer than I thought it would… or should. Two hours in and I gave in, cooked what I could in the Phlegethon and ate. It was, in a word, disgusting, although I did appreciate that it tasted better than the Phlegethon itself… Not exactly a high bar.

After that, I went back to my… gruesome task. (I seriously considered becoming a vegetarian once I got back to Earth, cheeseburgers or no.) It didn't help that I had to lay a lot of the meat out on rocks and was positive I'd be having to fight other monsters off pretty soon.

I was proven right when the empousa came by, and then hellhounds, and then more gryphons, and then more hellhounds, and then even more hellhounds… I was kind of thankful I'd forgotten to declare trophies for a while there.

About the time the third group of hellhounds struck, I wondered if I could just declare the bones remain as the trophy. Turns out that yes, I could. I spent several minutes after that fight just hitting my forehead with my fist. Why hadn't I thought of that earlier?

Because you're a Seaweed Brain, I imagined Annabeth saying with that fond tone while she rolled her eyes in exasperation.

Hades, it hurt not having her here. Or not being out there with her.

Screw the Olympians.

It took me too long to get back to work after that.

Fortunately, Nico's book did have a section about smoking and cooking meat. Unfortunately, to smoke meat, I would have to make a fire. I didn't exactly have wood to burn. Or anything else to build with, for that matter. The only thing I did have was the Phlegethon. I could potentially cook meat over that, but A. it would be like painting a target on myself, 'Oh, by the way, yeah, demigod here cooking food! Come fight me and try to kill me! Dinner and entertainment!' and B. it would mean that I had to find some way to hang the meat over the river and be able to turn it so it didn't burn on one side and under-cook on the other. I didn't have that kind of equipment at the moment.

Why couldn't the gods have given me something like a portable campfire? For the first time, I really envied Leo. He'd probably have an entire fort built in days that could keep him and anyone else completely safe. He also had a magical tool belt that would come in very handy right about then.

But I wasn't Leo, son of Hephaestus or even a son of Athena and her domain of crafts. I was more okay with that last one as I loved my girlfriend and wanted to date her and being her sibling would be weird, even if gods didn't have DNA. Sure, the domain would be helpful in my current situation… and I'd really like to have something a little more helpful. But no, I had to be the son of the Sea God.

Not that I was really upset with my father in particular—not any more than some of the 'better' gods. I knew my father had been decent with me, helping when he could, which was more than I could say about a lot of the other gods with their children. I also loved the sea and being able to breathe underwater. It just wasn't helpful right now.

I resigned myself to having to deal with Phlegethon-cooked, half-burnt monster meat if I wanted to eat anything…

I really needed to find some trees. I was positive the trees I remembered had berries too. Although, knowing my luck, they'd be poisonous. That was if I could find Damesen's swamp again.

For now, though, I sat looking at the river of fire. If I focused only on that, it was… beautiful, flowing along and glowing red-gold. The heat wasn't comfortable, but bearable at this distance, certainly not anything I couldn't handle. Closer to the river, it grew hotter, of course. I could handle it—probably for long periods of time even—right on the banks, but that didn't mean I wanted to be near it. I liked it better from a distance.

Then I noticed a couple of boulders in the river, surrounded by the fire-water. They were the typical black, looked sturdy and a little flat on top, if rounded and a little dull on the edges from time and wear…

Picking up some of the meat and ignoring how it made me want to cringe, I walked over and pushed the river back enough so I could get to the stones. The moment I stepped down where the river had been, the heat became almost unbearable… even for me. I took a heavy breath and then had to cough out the noxious fumes.

I really hated Tartarus.

I still managed to walk up to the stones (they rose to about chest height) and then I plopped the meat unceremoniously down on a ledge close to the 'water'. At first, nothing happened, but after a couple of seconds, I definitely smelled cooked meat.

(I hated that smell. It reminded me too much of after the war when we'd burned our fellow demigods' bodies… Yeah, best not to go there.)

"And this, kids, is why you don't let yourself get stuck on a rock in the middle of lava. You don't actually avoid burns." My skin told me that right then, actually. If it had been a true lava river… I'd probably still be okay, but people could still be okay with third degree burns, right? (I tried to push away memories of the telekhines trapping me in Mt. St. Helens, but didn't succeed very well.)

This river seemed to only burn and heat selectively. I really shouldn't be surprised, I supposed. The weird fact helped me at the moment, so I'd take it.

With that, I turned around and went back for more.

Soon I had the rock completely full of meat cooking slowly. I still had a very large chunk of raw meat from the different monsters left, but I wasn't sure how to store them without cooking them. Could they even store down here? Hmm…

While my future meals cooked, I created more 'noise' alarms with the bones and the rope I had. I needed more though for some of the things the book recommended, and I had no idea where to get any. I knew people used to get catgut from animals, but didn't even know what part of an animal they got it from. I hadn't exactly run across anything while dressing the carcasses. At least I didn't think so… I hadn't been paying the closest attention.

I'd have to try and figure something out later.

I didn't think Demeter would be too happy with how I was using her spade, but that was all I really had to flip and turn the crudely cut pieces of meat. Once one finished enough that I was sure it would be well done—on the verge of burning, I wasn't taking any more chances than I had to—I took a bite. It was… tough and bland, especially without the little spice the river gave it, but… it wasn't bad. Wasn't good, but still not bad.

I had three more pieces before I spent the last hour burying what was left of the raw meat. I just didn't have a way to keep it fresh enough to eat. And I was positive the atmosphere, that still liked to do a painful number on my lungs, would probably do its own job in disintegrating meat… or rotting it or whatever it did. I hoped I wouldn't get to see the kind of animals that broke meat down. I didn't want to see the kind of maggots this place gave birth to.

Just. No.

I spent even more time (and crushed fingers) trying to figure out how to hang up the noise traps. Eventually, I succeeded before finally heading to bed.

My first full day as a resident of Tartarus was officially over.

Yippee.

xXx

I stood inside my cabin in Camp Half-Blood. Well… my father's cabin, I supposed. Looking around, I could see my stuff—backpack, some empty soda cans, dirty clothes, etc.—littered around my preferred bed. The sheets and covers lay crumpled messily on top of it and I smiled, albeit a little wanly. Annabeth would have taken one look at it, rolled her eyes and then stared pointedly at me until I made it. She must not have come to get me yet.

I glanced outside. Daylight. Mid-morning… I frowned. Why hadn't she come?

Worriedly, I ran outside only to freeze as I looked around. I couldn't see anyone. There should be campers all over the place at this time of day, but I didn't see a single person. Trying to shove down my unease, I rushed towards the Athena cabin, hand already raised to knock on the door. No sooner had I gotten there than said door opened and Annabeth rushed out. We managed not to bump into each other (somehow), but I felt my worry immediately melt away at her presence. I threw my arms around her and she did the same to me.

"Percy! You're… you're okay, right?" she asked, stepping back and looking me over.

I grinned. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

She blinked at me and I wondered what I'd missed this time. "Percy… this is a dream. You're… well… you're not in Camp Half-Blood right now."

I frowned. "Then where…?" and then it clicked and I felt my face pale. "Oh. Right."

Annabeth nodded, angry tears in her eyes. "It's not fair! It's not right! This… this needs to change. They just don't care about us!"

I bit my lip and put my hand on her face. (Now that I realized it, I couldn't actually feel her… and I had to push aside how much that hurt.)

"Hey, Wise Girl," I said softly, "you're starting to sound like Luke."

I hated to say that, especially when she looked like I'd slapped her. Instead of getting angry at me, though, she deflated a little. "I know," she said softly. "But… just because he was an idiot doesn't mean he wasn't right or that he didn't have any good points." She took a deep breath. "I'd fight Olympus for what I think is right—for you—and you know it."

A pain far deeper than anything Tartarus could inflict on me bubbled in my chest. "That's dangerous," I whispered. "You don't want to end up down here, too."

She just looked at me, troubled, but didn't answer.

"Annabeth," I started, but she cut me off.

"No, let's not talk about it," she shook her head. "Tell me about you. How are you doing?"

I snorted. "Well, the air smells just as bad as always, and hurts to breathe—I'm sure you remember. I decided to just set up a base by the Phlegethon. Killed some monsters that tried to attack me, took their cave…

"The gods actually gave me some things to help this time, though." I snorted at the incredulous look she shot me. "No, really. Hades gave me a backpack."

Her expression flattened. "You remember what happened the first time a god gave you a backpack, right?"

I shrugged. "It doesn't have any Masterbolt in it, but it had Ambrosia, Nectar and a necklace that hides my demigod scent."

The incredulous expression was back.

"Hades said it was all he could do to attempt to even out the unjust punishment I was given. He constantly disagreed with Ares, who kidnapped me on behalf of Zeus, apparently."

Annabeth kept staring, so I just went on, vaguely noticing we were sitting in the empty pavilion—when had we gotten there? Dreams, right.

"It has a hammer made by Hephaestus, and another bronze ball thing he made. A spade that grows into a full-grown shovel from Demeter. Lots of both celestial bronze knives and regular steel knives—including a swiss army knife." I found it highly amusing that her eyebrows just kept climbing as I talked. "Seashells from my dad, so I can summon seawater!"

She frowned. "Can you drink that?"

I shrugged. "Haven't tried yet."

My girlfriend rolled her eyes. "Why not?!"

"It takes a lot to summon and, I mean, I'm still part human. I can breathe seawater, but does that mean I should drink it?"

"You should still try," she said firmly. "Take notes if you can."

"They didn't give me a pen or pencil."

"Don't you have Riptide?"

"Yeah. Although I like having it to fight with more than write with."

She just shot me a look, so I sighed and nodded in agreement. "Fine, I will."

She smiled so brightly it made my heart ache.

Then she looked thoughtful. "Can't you summon salt-free water?"

I shook my head. "Not from the seashells."

She slapped me up the side of my head (I didn't feel it, but I knew it wouldn't have hurt me… much). "Seaweed Brain! Did you forget that you can summon water on your own?!"

Oh… right. Why hadn't I remembered that before? Then I thought about it and shook my head. "It leaves me too weak—too vulnerable to monsters." Then I shot her a weak smile. "Isn't that why you didn't bring it up when we were both… down here."

She sighed and slumped back against the dock we were now sitting on. "Yeah."

We sat in silence for several seconds before she took a deep breath, picking up the sand of the beach we were resting on now, looking out at the waves. I wished I could just see the actual sea now and watch the water crash against the rocks in the distance. A part of me ached for it almost as much as I ached for the people I could no longer see outside of dreams.

"What else did they give you?"

"Huh?" I asked.

"The gods."

I blinked. "Oh, right. A little bit of rope. Some that hold a god or a Titan even."

Annabeth's eyebrows had risen again. "That's…"

"I was pretty impressed too. It looks like it's made of stars or something."

"Sounds like they didn't give you much, though."

I sighed. "No. They said it was all they could get on such short notice. Guess even gods have limits. I have some normal rope too, but…"

"Not enough of that either, I guess."

I shook my head. "I've used what I have as noise traps."

"Alarms?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah." I shrugged.

She actually looked impressed. "Not bad, Seaweed Brain."

I smiled softly at her. "I just did what I thought you would do. Not as well, but…"

"No," she shook her head firmly, "you're doing fine. You're alive, and you've set yourself up where you can continue to survive. I'm proud of you, Percy."

That… meant more to me than I could ever tell her.

"Thank you, Annabeth," I whispered, clutching her hand… that I still couldn't feel, but I tried anyway.

"I love you," she whispered.

I nodded. "I love you, too."

We sat there for several more seconds, both regretting the distance between us more than ever.

"So…" Annabeth finally ventured, painfully, "anything else they got you?"

"Nico wrote a book," I said, trying to force a smile. My diversion worked as Annabeth just stared blankly at me.

"What."

I chuckled. "Yeah. And the gods decided to put their two cents in. A comprehensive guide on how to survive in Tartarus. Includes everything from the different monsters and their weaknesses, giants, titans, gods, a history of Tartarus, known escapes (not many) and how to do different things, like traps, basic metalwork, fire building, finding a water source, landmarks and what to watch out for, even how to dress a kill."

Annabeth blinked. "A kill…?" she asked slowly.

I winced. "Yeah. I… um… had to eat monsters." I looked away, unable to meet her eyes again.

My girlfriend didn't answer for several seconds, each one growing heavier. Eventually, I worked up the courage to look back only to see her frowning thoughtfully. "How did you get any meat from them?"

Oh. Right. "You have to declare a trophy before they die."

More blinking. "Huh."

"Apparently it got to be too much for the camps and demigods to explain why they're dragging around a body or a head or whatnot, so they don't teach that to demigods anymore."

Annabeth's mouth tightened, but she didn't say anything else. Instead she nodded. "Good, then."

It was my turn to blink. "What?"

"I told you," she said with her hands on her hips, "you did what you had to to stay alive. Although… living off of meat alone isn't a good idea…"

"I was thinking of going to look for Damesen's swamp."

We both fell quiet at the mention of our friend.

"He's not there, then?" she asked quietly.

I shook my head. "I called for him… and Bob."

She sighed, but didn't say anything until, "Going after the trees would be a good idea… I think they were hawthorn. Thorns, obviously, but decent wood, although I think the berries are poisonous."

I snorted. "Figures."

"I'll look it up for you."

I smiled. "Thanks, Wise Girl."

"Always, Percy."

"Oh, Apollo gave me a scroll that can read any book and translate it. That was cool of him."

Annabeth was staring again, although this time I saw more than a little jealousy and frustration in that expression.

"What?" I asked as she got up off the rock we'd been sitting on, the one near one of the brooks in the Camp's forest.

"You can summon any written word and you didn't think to maybe look up some encyclopedias to figure out how to get cordage? Or what stones to find that can burn? Or… or… so many things, Seaweed Brain! This is why you just… AARG!" she threw her hands into the air, skin pale against the cloudy sky.

Oh. I ducked my head a little, rubbing the back of it sheepishly.

My girlfriend just rolled her eyes and continued to stalk around in agitation. Then, she slowed and finally paused.

"Any book at all?" she asked slowly.

"Any mortal book," I replied tiredly.

She thought on that some more (why did I find that so hot?) before nodding firmly. "Do you think you could get words from my notebook if I named it specifically?"

I blinked. "Um… I don't know. I… don't see why not. I…" I paused, knowing she wouldn't react well to this. "I haven't really tried it yet."

For the next several seconds, my girlfriend took long, calming breaths as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. Then she shook her head and locked gazes with me. "I'm going to buy a notebook and name it 'Annabeth and Percy's Notebook'. Got it?"

I smiled. It was small, but real. "Yes."

"Good. Now I want you to walk me through everything you've done since you got down there."

My smile widened fondly. I really should have expected this when I'd initially seen her. So I began and described everything that had happened. I'd just gotten to the gryphons when something rang through the dream—the sound of my morbid bone wind-chimes. I stopped and looked around and then… then I was back in the cave, pushing myself up onto my hands inside the thankfully roomy and comfortable sleeping bag.

I heard one last call from Annabeth. "Stay alive, Seaweed Brain!"

I nodded, despite knowing she couldn't see me, and then my eyes fixed on movement. I saw a large head peeking around as if looking, having knocked all of my alarms to the ground. It was lizard-like and scaly and it looked like it could only squeeze its head and neck in the cave as I could barely see some claws and shoulders in the dim light that had been blocked by its body and…

Hades.

That was a drakon.

A small drakon, but still one nonetheless. I cursed silently. Drakons were not easy to kill at the best of times. My burning lungs and itching skin very nicely reminded me that this was most definitely not the best of times. Thankfully the monster had begun its search for prey (at least that's what I assumed) on the other side of the cave.

Maybe if I would have been awake already, I would have been able to think through my initial instincts which said to attack in favor of keeping a low profile… or at least coming up with a plan of attack. However, years of cultivated instincts don't just go away, especially in Tartarus. It came with the territory of being a particularly reckless Greek, I supposed, simply grabbed my pen and shot forward, out of the sleeping bag. I didn't let out a battle cry, but it was a near thing. The Drakon heard my rustling and turned its head to look at me, but between the small space and the fact that it had a rather massive head, it couldn't maneuver to see me before I slid underneath it, disturbing the bone alarms that had been knocked down. Eyes fixed on the joint of the jaw and the head, I paused and thrust upwards with all my might, hoping it was a weak spot under that armor.

It wasn't.

My strike scraped the scales, but did not penetrate. I did freak the drakon out enough that it withdrew its head very quickly. I heard it shriek but decided not to follow it. If it didn't just go away and look for easier prey, it would probably be back. I jumped up and hid on the other side of the opening, waiting for the drakon to come back in. Fortunately, as I predicted, it did. Unfortunately, it started spraying acid all over the cave. Fortunately, it missed me and my stuff. Unfortunately, I'd have to deal with that later.

Man, that sucked.

I hated Tartarus.

Still, I saw the yellow eyes (that I really shouldn't look into, they could paralyze with a gaze) zoom past. It stayed low to the ground as the cave wasn't exactly tall until the back. At least I wasn't looking up at the monster. Too many bad memories of New York and Selina and Clarisse…

Yeah.

No.

Focus.

Stupid ADHD. Wasn't that supposed to help me in battle? (To be fair, it had, but still…)

I rushed up behind it and, with the yell I'd been trying to keep back the entire time, I plunged my sword down into the yellow eye as it turned towards me. The Drakon shrieked and yanked away from me, banging its head against the ceiling, which brought down a rain of black rocks and caused me to stumble and fall.

Right onto the nearest pool of acid.

For just a moment, I didn't think it had done anything, but then painpainpain, burning and stabbing and hot in a way that wasn't actual heat. It burned. Worse than the Phlegethon. Or… well, differently. It was a sharp, piercing pain prickling over my skin again and again and again.

I screamed as the drakon withdrew again. Only my arms had fallen into the substance, although some had splashed up onto my chin and neck. I shoved myself away and brought my hands and arms up. The blisters I usually got from just breathing the air had begun to pop out on my skin, and on top of that I had the acid eating away at what I could see… and feel.

Just like Selina…

Focus, Seaweed Brain! Get it off your skin! But for that I'd need water and my stuff was on the other side of the cave. I reached for it anyways, willing the sea water from my shells in the open backpack to burst to life. It took several seconds that felt more like hours or days, but water squirted up and rushed towards me.

Before I could touch it, though, the drakon was back, shrieking and snapping at me, blocking the water as it splashed against its scales, and then down on the rocky, cave floor.

I cried out in frustration and pain. The Drakon was coming towards me, maw open and I could hear the gurgling of acid beginning to burst forward…

I was about to die, I realized. Just like Selina.

And I had to live.

Stay alive, Seaweed Brain, Annabeth had said.

Only one thing came to my mind right then. I grit my teeth, because as much as I didn't want to do it, I couldn't let Annabeth down. So I pushed my hands out and reached for the acid internally letting go of anything that would block me from doing so. Anger filled me suddenly, curling inside me and growing at the knowledge that this… this creature had come in and tried to kill me while I slept and had interrupted what little time I had with my girlfriend and I'd almost been happy again.

The anger grew even more and I unleashed the power it brought.

So I pushed.

The acid stopped as if it had run into an invisible wall, quickly filling the drakon's mouth. It made a gurgling sound of surprise. But not pain, unfortunately. Its mouth would be resistant, of course.

I pushed harder. The acid crawled up the side of the drakon's face. It backed off a little, confused but not hurt… not yet. The scales also resisted the acid.

For how long, I wonder? I thought to myself, looking for—almost anticipating—the look on its face when it realized it was dead. Because it was. I would make sure of it.

"Get," I growled as the acid reached the drakon's bloody eyeball—the one I'd just stabbed. Riptide was no longer there, so it had likely returned to me.

Good.

If I'd thought it had shrieked before, that was nothing compared to now. Shrieks of pain so loud they almost deafened me rang out… and still I pushed.

"OUT!" I yelled, reaching down inside me as far as I could and pushing.

The drakon flew out of the cave door. Backwards.

"I declare," I hissed as I stumbled out after it, "a trophy of… anything that can be used as rope or to bind."

I reached into my pocket, wincing at the pain as the cloth brushed my chemically burned skin, but ultimately ignoring it as I slowly made my way down the hill, thankful my feet and shoes hadn't been touched. The drakon thrashed and thrashed on the banks of the river, then finally managed to get to its feet and began to crawl away.

"No, you don't!" I shrieked and jumped on it, bringing the sword once again in my hands, half-covered in blood and acid, down on the undamaged eye. I thrust it as hard as I could. The drakon gave one final dying shriek and then went limp, laying still for a second.

Then most of it burst into gold dust leaving only its skin and… strings and long chords left.

I realized I really didn't want to know. Not right now.

I sat there for several seconds, breathing hard, until I realized I wasn't getting any better. I still burned with acid pinpricks and it was getting harder to breathe again, so I staggered to my feet and stumbled towards the Phlegethon.

Once at the edge, I collapsed, hands going into the molten liquid. It hurt worse. I screamed in sheer agony and withdrew my hands almost immediately, bringing them to my chest and hating how they shook. Then, ignoring the tears of pain in my eyes, I cupped the glowing 'water' in my hands and gulped it down.

It was disgusting, as always, and burned, of course, until it eventually settled in my stomach. I let out a heavy breath and began to splash the liquid on my arms and face, unable to hold in my whimpers of pain as my skin began to mend.

Right about then, I heard thunder crash. I froze. That… had been loud. Really loud. Could… there be rainstorms down here? (Did I want to know what kind of rainstorm Tartarus would have…?)

Then it happened again and I brought my newly mended hands up over my ears. It sounded like two avalanches crashing into each other. Then I heard it a third time. My heart began to hammer in my chest. That was… too consistent and way too near for comfort. Slowly, I looked up, saw feet the size of cars in black boots on the other side of the river. Then I saw Stygian Armor covering muscled legs and purple flesh. Morbidly, my eyes climbed higher still and saw the breastplate with the faces of gorgons moving around in it and farther still until my eyes rested on the swirling, black abysses that were the eyes over an enormous, gaping mouth in the mocking shape of a smile.

I almost shut down right then and there. I knew that form—that face. I… knew there was no running from one such as this—from a Primordial.

And that gaze fixed on me.

Unbidden, my mouth opened, uttering one word: "Tartarus."

That gaping void that was a smile widened, and I could finally understand the crashing elements of his voice. "Hello, Grandson."

xXx

AN:Hahahahah! Yes! I will leave it there! (Also, it will be explained next chapter. Promise.)

I'd like to thank Undead Prince, D Samson, TimeLordTim, Found and Quathis for their help on this. :D Thank you guys!

Question: Would you guys be interested in a Luke time travel? Where he wakes up the day Thalia got turned into a tree?

Discord: discord. gg/xDDz3gqWfy (no spaces)