Tartarus Rises (Percy Jackson Chaos Theory Fanfiction- Book 2)

Here We Go Again

Before you begin reading, if you have not read my story entitled Second Chance, then you might want to read that one first. This is actually the sequel, as is implied in the title. If you have read Second Chance, then YAYYYY!! Good for you!! *claps wildly* Come to me and have a burrito and some popcorn! Now, sit back and enjoy the fun as the story unfolds!!

Percy POV

"What is your problem, man?"

The voices reached me before Annabeth did, and I reluctantly rolled out of bed, ready to stop the fight.

Being the heir of Chaos and Order can have its pros and cons. This was one of the frustrating cons. It seemed that anytime anyone was in trouble, they no longer went to Chiron or anyone like that: they went to me. It meant I didn't get a lot of rest, but hey, I wouldn't get rest anyway if I didn't do anything about it.

New campers had quite a story coming their way if they asked about me. First they would hear about Kronos, then Gaea, and more recently, Void and Kronos again, along with Triton. A lot of destruction and stuff, but look, I survived!

That was the good part. And because of what I'd been through, Annabeth and I were closer, Nico and Jason were happier and did nothing but argue with each other, and everything at Camp had finally settled down into a somewhat normal routine- if you could call Camp Half-Blood "normal".

" Who's fighting, what are they fighting about, and where are they?" I demanded the minute Annabeth's slender figure appeared in my sight.

She stuck her tongue out at me. "Seaweed Brain. It's Jason and Nico again, so I'm not too worried, but Nico's shadow traveling everywhere and creeping everyone out of their minds."

I returned her friendly gesture and grinned. "Typical Death Breath. I'll go find him."

Before Annabeth could launch another word of wisdom from her mouth, I was gone. As the heir of Chaos, I could transport anywhere I wanted to with a single thought. With Nico's face in my mind, I was instantly warped to where he and Jason were shouting very quietly in the middle of the dining pavilion, where most of the campers were. (Did I mention that rules had changed a bit? Dionysus was gone, replaced by Chiron as director of Camp, something I was just positive all the campers hated. Chiron had allowed campers to eat anytime as long as it was a convenient time, and campers could mix. Basically meaning that I could sit at the Athena table, and Nico could sit at the Aphrodite table, not that he would, but anyway. Getting off track. As usual.)

"Just stop it! If you didn't go around hogging all the shade in the area, then we wouldn't be having this dumb fight!" That was Jason, obviously, since he couldn't hog shade. Only Nico could do that.

"If it's so dumb, then why are you fighting?!" That was Nico. I knew from experience that the two boys were just having a bit of fun, but seriously, they could be annoying.

One little thought from me shut Jason and Nico up, and the campers eating lunch smiled and casually waved to me in greeting. Anytime anyone annoying shut up, especially Jason and Nico, the campers knew I was around. "All right, Blonde Superman, Death Breath, chill with the act." I received some rather threatening glares from two certain sons of two certain Big Three. Probably the nicknames? Yeah. But I used them anyway. "I don't care who's stealing shade, who's stealing thunder (most definitely not like in the Lightning Thief), who's stealing water, who's stealing magic, or who's stealing chocolate (I gave a very pointed glare at two sons of Hermes when I said this), that doesn't mean you can go around blabbering mean things about each other just for fun and ruining everybody's perfectly good day. Mmkay? Mmkay."

Jason and Nico rolled their eyes, giving each other one last "I'm-so-going-to-kill-you" glare, then mutually nodded at me. I released them from their mute state.

"You come at the most inopportune moments, Perce," Nico muttered, but I caught the teasing tone of his voice. Ever since I'd returned from death, and then Chaos's lovely palace, he'd become a much happier person. Especially since Bianca was here as well.

I gazed flatly at the son of Hades. "That's exactly why I come when I do."

"Psh," Jason laughed, giving me a none-to-gentle slap on the shoulder. "You're just jealous."

"Of what?" I exclaimed. "Fighting? Bruh, I have had enough fighting to last me ten million lifetimes!"

"That's a lot of lifetimes."

"You deserve more fights than he does, though, Jay," Nico snapped playfully at Jason. (Jason's new nickname was Jay, since one day he'd been flying and he'd been wearing a blue outfit, and someone had shouted, "Hey look, it's a blue Jay!" And the nickname stuck.) "Probably about... hmm, and infinity of lifetimes, perhaps?"

"Oh yeah!" Jay shouted back. "You deserve ten million infinities of lifetimes of fights!"

A smile forced its way onto my lips. There was no way whatsoever to keep those two from constantly fighting. Apart from shutting them up forever, that is, but I wasn't about to do that.

I tuned them out when I saw a familiar figure seated at the Athena table with Annabeth. Someone I'd almost counted more than a friend, the one and only red-headed Oracle.

"Rachel Elizabeth Dare!" I made my way over to her, pausing briefly to give Annabeth a kiss, to which Rachel sniffed in disgust. "How's life?"

"It'd be better if I didn't have to deal with mushy lovers." Her comment elicited a lot of "Buurn!"s, mainly from the Hermes cabin. "But other than that, fine. It's great knowing you're back and safe and not out gallivanting on some beheading journey to Tartarus and the Underworld or something more dangerous."

Boy. She'd gotten good at this. I expertly raised one eyebrow at her. "Harsh. At least I don't fall over spewing green slime all over the place that doom others to prophecies that will most likely get them killed, which, for your information, are the quests that are most commonly handed to me, so... I blame you for the dangerous journeys."

Now it was Rachel's turn to stare at me. "Sassy as usual, I see."

I snapped my fingers together. "Nobody beats Persassy, thank you very much."

"We could argue that," Rachel announced calmly. Wait, was she teasing? That was a first. Or a second. Or maybe a-

My thoughts stopped abruptly as Rachel leaped to her feet, eyes wide. At first, I thought she was seeing something shocking in the distance. But then her eyes began to glow. Green mist swirled around her body and thickened into a tight cloud. Oh no.

No.

Not again.

"Seven there were,
Yet Eight there shall be
When Death is defeated
And Life is set free.

A journey into
The darkening deep
Where Three will fall
And one will sleep.

A silent key
Will show you the way
After sunlight has dimmed
By moon's weak'ning ray."

Rachel promptly collapsed.