Annabeth Chase and the Lightning Thief

Chapter 23 - We achieve take-off

And then the whole place exploded.

Well, not really, but it couldn't have got any worse if it had.

"Guys!" Grover yelled, panicking up top.

We looked to see all the Cupids in movement, their gears grinding as they dragged their bows to shoot. Percy yelped, thinking they were going to shoot at us, but I could see that their trajectory was all wrong. Instead, they shot at their companions across the pool.

The arrows trailed silky cables, the same that Percy had pulled out when reaching for Ares's shield. The arrows caught hold and I could see that the form of a net was appearing above us.

Oh, Styx.

"We have to get out!" Percy yelled.

"Duh!" I screamed back.

Percy grabbed the shield and we began laboring back up the pool, but the surface was so smooth that it was hard going.

"Come on!" Grover shouted, trying to hold a section of the net up so we could escape, but it was wrapping around his hands, threatening to trap him too.

To make things worse, the Cupid's heads popped open and video cameras were trained on us. We were blinded by spotlights as a male loudspeaker voice began booming out.

"Live to Olympus in one minute," it called. "Fifty-nine seconds . . . fifty-eight . . ."

"Hephaestus!" I screamed as it all clicked on my head. "I'm so stupid! Eta is "H". He made this trap to catch his wife with Ares. Now we're going to be broadcast live to Olympus and look like absolute fools!"

I ploughed ahead, desperate not to be embarrassed in front of my mom, when my worst nightmare happened. An army of spiders, the robotic type, came pouring out of the mirrors in a wave of metal. I felt my blood run cold and all reason flew out of my head as I began screaming.

"Spiders!" I shrieked. "Sp - sp - aaaah!"

I slipped over and began scrambling backwards, still screaming as the spiders seemed to come straight for me. They were about to swarm over me when Percy grabbed me, yanking me back to my feet. He started dragging me back to the boat as I was too beside myself with terror to do anything but scream.

Percy dragged me back to the boat and shoved me in. He was kicking aside the spiders but there were way too many of them, their horrible little bodies practically swarming the boat. Percy was yelling something at me, but I couldn't hear him over the sounds of the metallic spiders and my own screams.

"Thirty, twenty-nine," called the speaker. That I could hear.

The spiders were now spitting out strands of metal thread, shooting them at Percy and me. Percy was breaking them apart easily, but he was still getting swamped. A spider jumped onto my leg and I screamed louder than ever, but Percy kicked it away, the spider ripping a chunk out of his new surf shoe as a parting gift.

He was yelling at Grover now, although I couldn't make out what he was saying. Grover seemed to understand, flying away to the booth located above the net.

"Five, four -"

I was still screaming my head off as I realised that Percy had stopped fighting and was now just standing there, his eyes closed. I went to yell at him when the pipes suddenly exploded.

"Two, one, zero!"

Percy grabbed me and threw me into the seat, fastening my seat belt just as the waves hit us. The water slammed us, dousing us and knocking all the spiders away. It would have thrown me overboard hadn't Percy locked me in. The boat, despite being full of water, rose with the waves, spinning and rocking but staying afloat.