I woke up with a groan, my head throbbing painfully as I forced my eyes open. My wrists were pinned to the wall, and my ankles were bound with Celestial bronze shackles. As far as I knew, I hadn't received any new injuries, and judging from the fact that my weapons weren't on me anymore, I figured that they'd reverted back to their charms before Poine could take them away.

I blinked a few more times, adjusting to the sudden light in the room as I tried to take in my surroundings.

It was like I'd seen in my dreams for the past few months, except Nico was here now, and Luke and Will were way worse off. Nico sported double black eyes, probably the result of a broken nose, judging from the dried blood from his nose to his chin. The sleeves of his aviator jacket were slightly torn up, and a good portion of his pants' legs had been cut off, turning what were once pants into shorts. Bruises and cuts littered his fair skin everywhere you looked. His hair was considerably shorter as well, like someone had forcibly given him a haircut.

Neither Luke nor Will had any part of them unscathed anymore, the majority of their flesh turned into a mangled mess that could only be akin to a soldier who'd gotten a limb blown off by a hand grenade.

I cringed at the sight of arms and feet and hands bending the wrong way, enough dried blood and dirt caked over their bodies to scare any grown man out of his wits. The rest of their hair remained in patches, the exposed skin rubbed raw and red, their golden locks in clumps all over the ground.

"Oh, God," I exhaled softly, tugging at the chains holding me captive to see if there was any leeway. If I could reach the bobby pin in my hair...

"Good, you're up," a gruff voice said, one that rocked me to my very core.

Honestly, describing Tartarus's voice was a challenge in its own right. Imagine every rusty, blunted weapon getting dragged against volcanic rock with an amplifier picking up every sound, broadcasting it into speakers loud enough to cause entire buildings to rumble, on the verge of collapse even if it was the most structurally sound building in existence. That still didn't do it justice.

"I've waited a long time to finally make your acquaintance, Andromeda," Tartarus crooned, pausing to kick an unconscious Luke so hard that he flew into the wall, his head whipping behind him and taking the brunt of the impact.

I gave a strangled cry before gritting my teeth and glaring at the primordial. "You're nothing but a coward," I growled, wishing that these damn shackles would fall off so that I could put this bastard down long enough to get my friends out of here. "Kicking a boy when he's out – what are you, afraid? Fight me with honor! Leave them alone!"

Faster than I could blink, Tartarus pressed himself close enough to me that I could feel the fire of all the world's furnaces radiating off of his skin, and I immediately broke out into a cold sweat. He straddled my waist, a blood-curling smirk resting on his face as he dragged a finger against my cheekbone.

Like I'd done to Atlas all those years ago, I tried to bite his hand, only to have my head snap to the side. It took me a few moments to register that Tartarus had slapped me, but that only made me glare at him harder, though I seriously doubted it did me any good.

"Poine was right – you are a feisty one," Tartarus commented. "But let me tell you something right now, I have no tolerance for feistiness in this place. From now on, you are mine."

"Like hell I am," I said, spitting right in his face.

He merely laughed, wiping his face dry with the back of his hand. "You are in Hell, my dear, and I promise to make your stay most enjoyable. Good night."

Tartarus snapped his fingers, and my head lolled to the side, my mind immediately seized by nightmares.

I don't know how long I was out, but when I woke up this time, it was to the sound of Will screaming Nico's name. The son of Hades was being held inside a raised swimming pool made of clear acrylic, a sea nymph of some sort clamping her blue hand over his nose and mouth as he thrashed to get to the surface. She'd then let go of Nico for a few seconds, letting him take in a few precious breaths, before dragging him back down by his ankles, yanking him underneath the water in every which way.

Luke wasn't in his chains, either, currently strapped to a metal table as electric wires sprouted from his body like vines threatening to strangle him to death. The wires were hooked up to a transformer that had been brought in from gods know where, and another malicious spirit (and judging from the way he flickered, it could very well be a ventus) smiled sadistically as he threw the switch every few seconds, taking great pleasure in watching Luke thrash against the table.

"Let them go, please!" Will begged, straining against his own restraints, blissfully unaware of the fact that he was rubbing his wrists raw. "Take me instead! Torture me!"

"No, I'll do it," I said, shooting Will a look that asked him to dare to argue with me. "I'm willing to take their punishments as well as my own. Leave them alone, Tartarus! I'm the one you want."

Tartarus appeared in a puff of black smoke. He wore his armor over regular workout clothes, a silver sword about four and a half feet long in his left hand. He carried a shield depicting the end of terrible events and natural disasters (like the explosion of Mt. Vesuvius in Pompeii, the Chicago Fire, the sinking of the Titanic, the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War Two, and a million other things), the images shimmering like an endless mirage, growing increasingly more macabre.

He turned to his servants and said, "Release them. They no longer amuse me."

Instantly, the ventus and sea nymph returned Nico and Luke to their shackles. Nico gasped for breath, a hand pressed tightly against his chest as if checking that his heart continued to beat, and that his lungs filled with oxygen instead of water. Luke twitched every few seconds, his body still coming down from the overload of electricity, his hands shaking so badly that we could hear his chains rattling.

"And what of him?" the ventus asked, pointing to Will, who looked like he was about to dislocate his shoulders so he could get closer to Nico. "Shall we move onto him?"

"No, leave the boy alone." Tartarus then paused for a moment, tilting his head to the side, as if someone whispered directions in his ear. Then he pointed at Nico. "Take the son of Hades to my twins. Apparently, he is needed elsewhere."

"No!" Will and I shouted.

But our protests went unheeded as the ventus bowed deeply, scooped up Nico from underneath his arms, and disappeared in a vortex of swirling wind.

Will went limp, all of the light fading from his sky blue eyes as he stared at the puddle where Nico had been moments ago. His body shook with silent sobs, his head pressed firmly into his chest, away from prying eyes.

"You...sick...son...of...a...bit-" Luke said, cutting himself off by a horrible coughing fit. He spat out blood and phlegm when he was done, his lips and teeth stained bright red afterward.

I snapped my gaze back to Tartarus, scowling. "My friends have been here for six months with no medical care," I said, anger burning in my chest. "Send them back to Camp Half-Blood. I will be your prisoner if you swear on Chaos that you will let them go."

"Andy, no," Luke pleaded, shaking his head weakly. "I-I can't lose y-you. Don't d-do this."

I gave Luke the most loving smile I could muster, praying that it didn't look like a grimace. "You'll never lose me, Luke. I just won't be around for a while."

"No, Andy, there has to be another way," Will said, his voice breaking on the last word. "I just lost Nico. Don't make me lose my sister, too."

"Oh, Will." I sighed deeply, choking down the lump that had formed in my throat. "I'll come back to both of you if it's the last thing I do."

"Bold words for my prisoner," Tartarus said, clearly amused. "All right, Andromeda, I accept your conditions. I swear on Chaos that I will release your friends, and in turn, you remain my prisoner. If you want to regain your freedom, you'll have to escape this place on your own."

"So be it, you giant piece of sh-"

"Woah there, let's keep it PG, yes?" Tartarus clapped his hands together. "Well, it's been a pleasure playing with you, fellas, but your time here has come to a close. Truth be told, I think you'll regret Andromeda's decisions, seeing that your world will cease to exist by the time my wife is done with her grand plan. Now, ta-ta."

"Andy, wait-"

"Andy, no!"

I blinked, and when I opened my eyes, Luke and Will were gone as well, leaving me totally and utterly alone with the most psychotic, evil being in all of existence – and now I was at his mercy until I could find some way out of this literal hellhole.

"Great, now where were we?" Tartarus laughed before driving his sword right through my stomach.

You know, as much as I still hated the fact that Zeus turned me into a goddess against my will, now I was thankful that he did, or I would've been dead at least twenty times over within my first three days of being Tartarus's prisoner.

I mean, I literally became his sword's pincushion, his favorite throw pillow (by that I mean he'd throw me as hard as he could at the wall and then proceed to sit on my back, punching me until he deemed me as a "comfortable pillow"), his pet fish, forced to swim in oil and poison and acid instead of water, and his overall punching bag.

But due to the ichor that ran through my veins, I couldn't die. He'd push me to the point of having to reform before forcing so much ambrosia down my throat that I thought I'd spontaneously combust before starting the cycle all over again.

When Tartarus first began, my wounds healed themselves relatively quickly, but after so much abuse and torture (both mental and physical), my remaining power reserves were dangerously low. I swore to myself that I wouldn't so much as nudge a shadow out of place or light an ember, knowing that I'd need all my strength when I got out of here.

Call me hopelessly hopeful, but I had a feeling that I'd get out of here some way or another. I still had work to do, so I couldn't fathom the Fates leaving me at Tartarus's mercy for the rest of my life. But honestly, who knows with those ladies. They very well could leave me as Tartarus's plaything if it kept him distracted from the others launching a full on attack on Gaea.

Right now, I curled myself into a tight ball, my hands pressed flat against my abdomen, which Tartarus had just mercilessly sliced open, hoping to keep my organs in long enough for my skin to knit over them. I refused to move, pushing aside all thoughts of pain as I stared at one of the flickering torches that illuminated this torture chamber, moving my lips in silent prayers to anyone who could hear me.

"Pathetic," Tartarus spat, kicking me in the small of my back. "This is the best Olympus has to offer? Ha! I should join my wife in taking down those pathetic gods if it is truly this easy."

A million thoughts raced through the forefront of my mind, none of which I will repeat as they are not flattering towards a certain king of Hell. Seriously, I'm very glad Apollo taught me Minoan – it really is such a colorful language.

"So you defeated a girl when she's already weakened, yes, that truly is a worthy opponent," I said, rolling my eyes. "Clearly you have seen everything that I'm capable of."

"Keep. Your. Mouth. SHUT!" Tartarus roared, throwing a dagger into my already bad shoulder. I grunted at the force of the impact, feeling the familiar dizzy warm sensation begin to spread as ichor streamed from the wound. "I will not have any more of your backhanded comments, you foolish girl!"

"Can't handle the truth, huh?"

Honestly, I should've kept my mouth shut, but someone needed to put this asshole in his place. And I was more than willing to fill that role, even if it meant being in situations like this, keeping my guts from spilling out onto the ground underneath me.

Instead of throwing another dagger like I thought he'd do, Tartarus stalked over, yanked the dagger out of my shoulder, and dragged it against the length of my cheekbone, carefully cutting against the length of my jugular (he didn't push that deeply here, just enough for blood to well up under the cut), stopping only after he got to the midpoint of my collarbone.

"I'm going to make you suffer, you intolerable child," Tartarus growled, pressing his hand against my chest, his fingers splayed flat on top of my ribcage.

I gasped as something purple spread from his hands and into my flesh, the purple spreading into my skin, down into my veins. It only took a few seconds for a fresh wave of hurt to tear through my body, my back arching upward as I screamed my throat raw. The rational part of my brain tried to figure out if this was some neurotoxin imbued with powerful magic or something else entirely, but my fight-or-flight reflex kicked into high gear, wanting nothing more than to strangle Tartarus with my bare hands.

All I could do was clutch the ground, thrashing about as my muscles contracted for all they were worth. I felt blood fill my mouth as I bit on the same piece of flesh that I'd torn open many times before, the familiar taste of iron landing on my tongue.

Tartarus laughed like a psychopath as he continued pouring his essence into me. Then he reached up with his other hand, placing two fingers in the center of my forehead, my vision fading away as different scenes came into existence in front of my very eyes, though I could still feel every agonizing spasm of my body.

I saw Salina step out of the shadows, a fierce snarl on her face as she adjusted the grip on her sword. Behind her was an army of people, all of whom I considered friends, including mortals, demigods, and gods alike.

"Mom?" I asked tentatively. "What's going on?"

"I could never be the mother of such a horrible child," Salina seethed, her knuckles white against the hilt of the sword. "You ungrateful, worthless orphan! You were so hated by your mother and father that they gave you up, left you to be brought up by another woman! You were so desperate for friends that you were willing to give up your entire life for a world that you thought was fantasy! What kind of faithless, treacherous girl are you?"

I stumbled back, Salina's words cutting deeper than any knife ever could.

I'd been trained to handle physical and mental torture before, but this was worse than anything I'd ever experienced. I'd never had Salina used against me, and suddenly I was aware of how much I relied on her faith in me in order to do what I had to do. I couldn't do this alone, and up to this point, Salina had always been on my side, even if others weren't.

"Snap out of it," I said silently, readying myself for battle. "This isn't real."

"What, are we now figments of your imagination?" Percy snarled, his sea green eyes clouded over with unbridled rage. "You let Hera wipe my memories, let her kidnap me, let my mother, girlfriend, and friends think that I was dead! I thought we were friends! I thought you cared about me!"

"What about me?" Annabeth said, coming into view, brandishing her knife. "You turned my best friends into trees for years when you could've saved Thalia from the beginning! You severed my connection with my mother, something I've wanted forever! You kidnapped my boyfriend and lied about it to my face!"

"You turned the love of my life into a tree!" Luke yelled, his face bright red, a vein bulging on his forehead. "You are nothing compared to Thalia. I'm only with you out of pity! It's only a matter of time before I tear your heart into pieces, laughing all the way."

And so on and so forth the yelling commenced with every single person that I'd encountered ever since I came to this planet reminding me of all my mistakes, bringing up all my worst moments that I'd rather forget. Worse yet, I saw ghosts of my past, namely Cleo and James and Lucy and Michael and Lee and every other camper whose death certificate I signed, blaming their deaths on me.

I didn't fight back when Salina issued the order to charge. Instead, I fell to my knees, waiting to take the full brunt of everyone's attacks, repeating to myself over and over again in my mind, "This isn't real. This isn't real," until the words lost their meaning.

But at the thought of Salina hacking me into a million parts, just as the gods did to my own father, an inkling of an idea started forming in the back of my mind. I'd been planning to escape Tartarus through mortal means, knowing that the Doors of Death had to be open for just a little bit longer, but now I had a new plan, one that would surely leave Tartarus baffled if I managed to pull this off.

All I needed was a little help.

I closed my eyes and clamped a hand around my bracelet, projecting my thoughts as loudly and as clearly as I could manage under the given circumstances.

Mom? Mom! MOM! I cried over and over again until the senseless bloodshed going around me faded away, revealing Salina pushing the darkness aside like the world's heaviest set of curtains. Behind her was her husband, Taurus, and Rick Riordan, the trio looking better off now than they had been in quite some time.

Light streamed in all around them, like an angel's halo. All that was missing was for each of them to sprout a set of wings, because all things considered, they were acting as my guardian angels at the moment.

"My daughter!" Salina cried, running out of the light and into the shadows, pulling me into the tightest embrace, rivaling Tyson's bear hugs. "You strong, beautiful girl. I've missed you so much, Andy. I'm so, so sorry that I haven't been able to stop by earlier, but you know-"

"You're rambling again," Taurus said, placing a gentle hand on Salina's shoulder, putting an end to her rant. He turned to me and gave me a grudging nod. "You have my respect for still being around this long."

"Uh, thanks, I guess?"

"Take it," Rick Riordan said, a wry smile on his face. "That's about as nice as his complements get. I've gotten a 'Good job, you're not dead' before. Ah, good times, good times."

Salina rolled her eyes at her companions. "Anyhow, what can I do for you?"

I told Salina, Taurus, and Rick my plan, watching as Salina's face fell, Rick beamed, and Taurus maintained his mask of indifference. Seriously, it was like staring at a marble statue with that guy, except he could move and was one of the best warriors I'd ever met.

"This is a dangerous gamble," Salina said, keeping her hands on both of my shoulders. She didn't seem aware of my injuries, thank God, but that was only because in this mind maze I was trapped in, my body was whole. I knew the second I left this place, I'd go back to being a broken mess once again. "But I am afraid it is necessary. The Fates will just have to take it up with me."

"They let you get away with most things anyway," Taurus said, waving away Salina's concern. "I'm sure that this won't get their knickers in a tighter twist."

Rick coughed into his hand, hiding his amused smile and his need to laugh, while Salina just shot her husband a dirty look. She then sighed and returned her attention to me, pressing a kiss on my forehead.

"I love you more than words can say," Salina said, giving me her always perfectly radiant smile. "We'll see each other again, I promise. But before I go, how is my book doing?"

"Still in mint condition, as always," I said, smiling softly back at my mother. "Do you need it back? Because I can always-"

Salina held up a hand, cutting me off. "No, it would not be wise of me to bring my book back, not when...Don't worry about it, Andy, we're doing fine on our own. After all, it's only a few more years, and then we'll be home free."

"I can't wait."

"Alright. When you awake, your wish will be fulfilled, daughter of mine." Salina's blue eyes twinkled mischievously. "I wish you the best of luck in all your endeavors."

"Thanks, I'm going to need it."

When I woke up, I was still curled up in a ball on the floor, trembling like a twig in a hurricane. Thankfully, my organs were back inside my body, and my shackles had been cleaved in half, allowing me to slowly push myself off the ground.

I craned my neck in all directions, waiting for Tartarus to jump out of some hidey-hole and yell, "Boo!" before sheathing another blade in my body. I wouldn't have been all that surprised if he did that.

Instead, after a little searching (holding Epithymia, of course), I found Tartarus face first in one of his gigantic swimming pools, his head under the water while the rest of his body hung limply from the ladder. Little bubbles escaped out of the side of his mouth, letting me know that he was still alive.

I'm cashing in favors with Morpheus, Hypnos, Persephone, and gods know how many other people, Salina told me as I tore out of the torture chamber, my footfalls muffled by the sheer amount of carpeting everywhere. He'll be out for two days at most. That's all the time I can buy you. Good luck.

Thank you, Mom, I said, severing the head of one of the guards before plunging into pure darkness. The little light Epithymia gave off did nothing to help me see, and honestly, it would probably only going to attract trouble.

I sheathed my sword in favor of my Stygian iron hunting knives, blades as pitch black as Nyx herself, so even if I couldn't see, nothing would be able to see me. I fought my way out of what was most likely the Mansion of Night, mercilessly stabbing anything that moved. Around me, the building pulsed and throbbed, unintelligible screams tearing their way through corridors alongside bone-chilling winds. Despite being a goddess, I kept my eyes tightly shut, valuing my sanity over my safety at the moment.

It took about two and half hours to get out of the Mansion of Night, and to do so, I had to jump across the River Acheron, pushing aside all the damned souls yelling, Murderer and Serial Killer among many other unpleasant things. After making the twenty-foot tall drop, brushing off some of the glassy gravel from my knees, I finally opened my eyes, blinking a few times (You can guess how much my bum knee enjoyed all this adventuring; thankfully the splint I wore took some of the blows). Even though the sky was still a very dim, dark red, it was blinding compared to the darkness I'd just come out of.

My heart hammered in my ribcage as I continued walking forward, two massive steel Doors held down by the largest chains I'd ever seen before rising in the distance. Purple lightning flashed around the Doors, and the chains rattled something awful, like a train getting blown off its tracks by an atom bomb. The mass of blackness in front of the Doors shifted every twelve minutes – monsters surging forward to be reborn and wreak havoc on the rest of the world.

I had to get out of here without getting caught, again. It was too late to try using the Death Mist, and as much as I really didn't want to use the Doors of Death, they were beginning to look like my only viable option.

I took another step forward before all of my nerves yelled that I was being watched. I spun around, my knives traveling in downward arches before I forced my hands to freeze, causing my knees to buckle underneath me from the sudden blinding pain that exploded in my head.

"Holy Hera," I swore, tightening my grip on my knives as I staggered onto my feet. "I thought he sent you guys back!"

"Well, you did say 'release,'" Will said, using air quotes. "You didn't exactly say where."

"Damn him." I pulled Will and Luke into a fierce hug, careful not to accidentally stab them. "Are you alright? Have you been hurt since he let you go?" I gave both boys a once over, glad that they didn't look any worse for wear than what was to be expected.

Luke shook his head. "We've been attacked a couple of times, but other than a few scratches, we're fine."

"Speak for yourself," Will scoffed. "He nearly got his throat torn out by an empousa, but I killed her."

I stifled a laugh. "Oh, how I've missed you guys. But we're not out of the woods just yet."

"I trust that you have a plan?" Luke asked, his grip white around the hilt of a jagged piece of bone.

I turned to face the Doors of Death again, all the blood fleeing from my face, my palms starting to sweat with fear and anticipation. I took in a deep breath, held it for a second, and exhaled through my nose, pushing all feeling of fear to the back of my mind. It would do us no good if we lost our cool right now.

"How do you feel about breaking into an elevator?"

Hey, all, thanks for reading!

Just one quick thing that I wanted to address before signing off. I want you all to know that I love writing this story very much and that I plan on seeing this through. However, I am a sophomore in college working on fulfilling my pre-med requisites, which encompasses a lot of extracurriculars and time spent studying.

That means that as much as I'd like to, I don't have as much time to dedicate to writing as I did in high school. So please, please, please don't ask me when the next update will be, because I post as I finish chapters. I hope you all understand where I'm coming from.

Okay, no more serious stuff. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

I love y'all very much and hope you have a good day/night!