νεκρός || Annabeth Chase x Fem!OC

Vol. 3-28: Oh, that's-

PERCY

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It was pretty much my worst nightmare. And believe me, I've had plenty of nightmares. We were marched down the tunnel, flanked by dracaenae, with Kelli and the giant in back, just in case we tried to run for it. Nobody seemed to worry about us running forward. That was the direction they wanted us to go.

Up ahead I could see bronze doors. They were about ten feet tall, emblazoned with a pair of crossed swords. From behind them came a muffled roar, like from a crowd.

"Oh, yessssss," said the snake woman on my left. "You'll be very popular with our hossssst."

I'd never gotten to look at a dracaena up close before, and I wasn't real thrilled to have the opportunity. She would've had a beautiful face, except her tongue was forked and her eyes were yellow with black slits for pupils.She wore bronze armor that stopped at her waist. Below that, where her legs should've been, were two massive snake trunks, mottled bronze and green. She moved by a combination of slithering and walking, as if she were on living skis.

"Who's your host?" Tempest asked.

She hissed, which might have been a laugh. "Oh, you'll sssssee. You'll get along furiousssly. He'ssss your brother, after all." She gave me a very pointed look.

"My what?" Immediately I thought of Tyson, but that was impossible. What was she talking about?

The giant pushed past us and opened the doors. He picked up Annabeth by her shirt and said, "You stay here."

"Hey!" she protested, but the guy was twice her size and he'd already confiscated all of our weapons.

"Put her down!" Tempest yelled. She lunged for the giant, but he picked her up with his other hand and threw her forward. Rachel yelped with fear as Tempest's back slammed into the bronze doors. I was horrified for a moment- I thought her spine had snapped- but she just got up and glared.

"Hey! This is a collector's edition jersey!" She yelled, waving around her Bruins jersey.

Annabeth blinked. "You can't be serious."

I rolled my eyes. "You know how Tempest likes her jerseys..."

Kelli laughed. She still had her claws at Rachel's neck. "Go on, children. Entertain us. We'll wait here with your friends to make sure you behave."

"Children?" Then I locked eyes with Tempest. "Oh, no..."

She ruffled my hair. "We got this, pookie."

"I'm not your pookie!" I turned to Rachel. "I'm sorry. I'll get you out of this."

She nodded as much as she could with a demon at her throat. "That would be nice."

The dracaenae prodded Tempest and I toward the doorway at javelin-point, and we walked out onto the floor of an arena.

I guess it wasn't the largest arena I'd ever been in, but it seemed pretty spacious considering the whole place was underground. The dirt floor was circular, just big enough that you could drive a car around the rim if you pulled it really tight. In the center of the arena, a fight was going on between a giant and a centaur. The centaur looked panicked. He was galloping around his enemy, using sword and shield, while the giant swing a javelin the size of a telephone pole and the crowd cheered.