Three Worlds Clash

Chapter Twenty-Six

Annabeth Chase's POV

The Things charged, each one taking on a unique personality. 

The one that charged me turned into a giant, hairy spider.

The one that took on Percy looked like a huge, dark cliff. Sophie was a headless figure in a black cloak.

Nico's looked like Hazel's dead body.

Will's looked like a hospital full of dead patients.

Only the wizards seemed to know what to do. They all took out their wands and shouted, 'Ridiculous!"

I thought I'd heard it wrong. A spell called ridiculous? That was... you know, ridiculous. The Thing in front of me pounced in spider form. I fended it off with my sword. Across from me, Ginny's gravestone-shaped Thing had turned into a chocolate bar. With a poof, it disappeared.

I blocked another attack from my Thing. It morphed into Arachnea's prominent figure, making me back away into the wall. Ginny jumped in front of me out of nowhere.

"Riddikulus!"

Arachne turned into a ball of yarn and rolled away, unraveling until it too exploded.

"Thanks! What the heck are they?"

"Some kind of boggart, a magical creature that takes the form of your worst fear."

"That's reassuring."

"Don't worry, we've got a nice spell to make 'em blow up."

Ginny twirled around and shot spells at the Things attacking Linh and Sophie. Linh's Thing looked like a deep pool of water for some reason.

I turned around to try and spot Percy, who was blocking a Thing that was trying to sneak up on Harry, who in turn was trying to blow up the Thing fighting Leo. It was shaped like Calypso but still stuck on her island.

In other words, everything was complete chaos.

The wizards did their best, killing the Things and running around trying to make sure more weren't coming. George jumped in front of Tam, who was defending Biana from a Thing shaped like an exploding Earth.

Chaos.

Hermione exploding a Thing about to slice Dex in half.

Chaos.

Percy, still trying to keep the Things away from the wizards.

Chaos.

When all the Things were at last slaughtered, the demigods and wizards stopped to catch their breath.

"Bloody hell," Ron muttered under his breath.

"True that," Percy responded. He touched Riptide's point to make it shrink back into a pen.

Before we could even begin walking again, the voice reached out.

"You have done well. Perhaps not all of you will die."

"NOBODY'S DYING!" Percy snapped, throwing his hands up in rage and screaming at the ceiling. "IM SICK OF EVERYBODY DYING!!"

He kicked the wall so hard that he might have broken a few toes. Immediately, I rushed over and scooped him up in a hug.

"It's okay, Percy. Deep breaths, relax."

Percy mumbled something I couldn't hear into my hair and did as I said.

"If you still want The Source, come and get it."

In the middle of the hallway, a simple wooden door appeared out of a puff of purple mist. I realized that even if we'd kept walking down the hallway, it would have gone on forever in a circle.

Percy unlatched the hug and cautiously waved his hand in front of the door. Nothing exploded, always a good sign. He went a step further and opened it. Darkness was all we could see.

"Okay, not creepy at all," Dex muttered. Leo agreed. He pulled a small weapon out of his tool belt and handed it to Dex, who took it wordlessly, never taking his eyes off the door.

Percy uncapped Riptide and poked it through the door. Nothing happened, so he shrugged and jumped through.

Half the group gasped.

"Relax. You guys can come through too."

He stepped aside and let me through. everything behind the door was darkness, except for the rectangle of light that showed the real world. Nico and Sophie stepped through. George and Ginny followed suit. Hazel walked through the door like she was visiting an old family friend. Then, just after Dex stepped through, the small weapon tucked safely in his hand, the rectangle started to close.

"Skata!" Percy cursed in ancient Greek. Hermione shot a spell at the door, and Will made a run to leap through, but it closed too soon, leaving us alone in the darkness.

"Nico?" Hazel whimpered in the darkness.

"I'm right here, it's okay." Scuffling sounds in the dark told me that Nico had moved to the sound of Hazel's voice.

"Nobody moves until we find a light. There could be holes in the floor, or something else."

More shuffling. Dex was checking his pockets.

"Let me see if I can build one."

"In the dark?"

Dex probably shrugged. "Yeah. I've got pretty good night vision." Clicking and snapping sounds followed. Dex was already at work.

"Percy, how far away are you?"

"A few feet. It's going to be okay, Annabeth."

I tried not to freak out and think logically. "Sophie, you there?"

"Yes," A tiny voice squeaked. She was closer than Percy.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't like the dark."

"Why?"

"I'm afraid of what uses the dark to hide."

Dex coughed and I could hear Sophie shudder. I felt some sympathy for Sophie and Dex.

"It's going to be fine." I reached out in the darkness and relaxed when I found Sophie. She yelped when I touched her.

"Annabeth, please tell me that was you?"

I was tempted to make a joke about it not being me, but the time wasn't right.

"Yes, sorry."

"It's okay."

"Got it!" Dex shouted. A tiny flickering light filled the room. It was almost too bright, and my eyes had to adjust for a minute before I saw the rest of the room.

It was a huge maze.

Dex's light flickered out. 

A/N: Sorry for the delay in posting, I had finals this week and I had a lot of studying and stressing to do! Thanks for reading!