Percy Jackson - The House of Hades

Chapter 4 - Percy

Who knew you got radio reception in Tartarus?

Percy had been experimenting with the buttons on the control pad of the car and accidently pressed the power button on the radio. Immediately, the car started blasting some song called rolling in the deep. It was so loud that Annabeth started screaming at Percy to shut it down, which he obviously did since she needed to sleep.

Once Annabeth was asleep again, Percy reached over and open up the glove box. Thankfully, the car actually did have a First Aid kit, so Percy snatched that out of there and closed it. He didn't even need to watch where he was driving, because there was nothing in his way.

Tartarus was an empty land with black soil and many hills. There were no monsters roaming the land, and the light was disappearing rapidly. It was only a glow in the distance now, like a setting sun. For miles and miles, Percy could only see the same thing, which was nothing. There was no wall blocking them, no giant boulders, and no creepy gods glaring down at them.

Percy turned on the headlights so he could see the nothing in front of him. After a few more minutes of rock music and driving, he stopped the car. They were far away from where they had landed, so everything should've been safe… or safer than it had been.

He didn't like giving himself unnecessary headaches, but Percy wondered what happened when you killed a monster in Tartarus. Was Arachne really gone, or was she just hidden in some other part of the Underworld?

And where were all of the other monsters and people and Titans? What if Kronos, his old enemy was down here?

Percy stepped out of the car and went to Annabeth's side. The blood had slowed down a lot from what he could tell, and it was starting to clump up and scab. There was a cut on her cheek that ran from her hairline to her jaw. Her clothes were torn and her splint was gone.

Percy never took a First Aid class at camp; he'd only learned the basics (As in, put on a band-aid). He didn't think it was necessary. Just a little bit of nectar and ka-boom, he'd be good to go. Okay, maybe not like that, but something along those lines. And with the curse of Achilles, nothing could've really hurt him. Perhaps emotionally, but not physically.

Percy pushed the thought from his mind. Once Annabeth was well again, they could throw darts at the goddess.

Annabeth's face was a deep red color, like she was struggling to keep breathing. Sweat was beaded across her forehead.

Percy opened up the kit and studied the contents. There was white gauze, rubbing alcohol, medical tape, antibiotic cream, Spiderman band-aids, one of those fake-ice packs, and a bottle of Germ-X.

Percy took out the white gauze and unwrapped the seat cover from Annabeth's torso. She was still out cold. He could barely stand to look at the wound. He wrapped the gauze around her ankle as tight as he could. Annabeth hissed in her sleep.

He tied it off and rubbed some cream on the gash on her face. Her eyes fluttered open. "Percy?" she asked quietly, her voice hoarse.

"I'm here," he told her as he broke the ice pack. It turned cold in his hands. He set it on top of her forehead.

She began to protest, but then she relaxed back into her seat. "Okay, that feels nice," she admitted.

Percy chuckled inside, because he knew Annabeth would pop him in the mouth if he showed her the laughter.

"So," Percy started after a long moment of silence. "What's our plan?"

Annabeth gave him an incredulous look. "Our plan? You're asking me?"

"Well, you are the daughter of Athena, the cleverest demigod in camp," he pointed out.

"Oh yeah, such an honor!" She rolled her eyes. "The plan is to stay alive down in this hellhole. And apparently, we have to go meet Nico at the opposite side of the Doors of Death, if I heard correctly."