House of Hades

Chapter 3

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Annabeth

The last thing Annabeth remembered was getting hit in the back of the head with a rock and then blackness. When she woke, she was chained up in a dark room. The only light was a dim bronze light coming off of Percy's sword; Riptide. Oh my gods, Percy. Where is Percy? Annabeth started to panic, then she looked at something laying next to Percy's sword.

It was Percy's unconscious body. She choked back a sob. She thought it couldn't be him, he had to have beaten some monster and...did what, leave her. That's not something Percy would do. Even though she didn't want to, she looked closer at Percy's body. What she saw made her hopes plunge lower than what they already were.

Where Percy's head was, there was a pool of blood. Annabeth wanted to cry. She wants this whole war to be over. More than anything, she wanted to be with Percy, back on the beaches of Camp Half-Blood, staring at the moonlight, cuddling , and making out. You know, a typical highschooler's date. She did not want to be in a dark room, with Percy lying unconscious next to her.

Just as she was about to give up all hope that they would ever she daylight again, a large stone was rolled away. The room was so dark that even the dim red light from outside was blinding. Standing in the doorway was one of the ugliest group of beings she ever had the displeasure of seeing. Flanking the beast in the middle on either side were some horrible looking gorgons. With their reptilian skin, long, sharp talons for fingernails, and horrible boars tusks coming out of the corners of their mouth. They were wearing some grocery store's aprons, though it was still too dark to see which grocery store they came from. She wanted to make sure that she never shopped at one those again.

They were disgusting, but the creature in the middle made the gorgons look like supermodels. Annabeth couldn't quite see the beast, but she could tell who it was because of that sickly sweet smell. The mother of all spiders, Arachne. The thing in the middle was a very large version of a black widow.

It had a woman's face besides the fact that she had mandibles coming out of the corners of her mouth.. She also had an extra two pair of eyes at the side of her head. She had eight spindly legs, each with barbs the size of Annabeth's dagger.

The thought simply made her helpless all over again. It just reminded her of the fact that she was weaponless. She scolded herself for thinking like that. She is a daughter of Athena, she could make weapons out of anything, find her way out of anywhere. Just as she said it she knew it wasn't true. They weren't in just in any random place. They were in Tartarus, the monster's home court. This is where monsters go after they get destroyed.

A sudden movement from the corner of Annabeth's eyes that shook her out of her stupor. Percy was definitely starting to stir. Then he made a mistake. He started groaning Annabeth's name. He was groaning very loudly. Arachne was about to turn toward him. If she saw him up she would most definitely torture him in front of her until near death and then make him watch as they torture her. Then when they had their fun they would just kill them.

No, Annabeth will not let that happen. She had to distract Arachne and the two gorgons, but she had no weapon. So she had to use her only other weapon. She had to talk to get their attention.

"Hey," Annabeth yelled as loud as she dared. She didn't want a whole army of monsters coming to the aid of these three. "How long have you uglies known each other." Annabeth didn't think they could look any worse but the snarls they were wearing now made them look down right disgusting.

Her comment had its intended effect. The monsters started to move in so close that she could make out every cut, bruise, and wrinkle on each monsters face. Actually, they got so close that there was no way they could see Percy get up behind them. Why they didn't chain Percy up too, Annabeth would never know. But she was grateful for their ignorance.

Percy got up quietly and walked behind them. Annabeth wanted to close her eyes so monster dust doesn't get into them but she couldn't close them. She wanted to see how he would defeat all of them by himself.

He went to the gorgon that seemed to have something slung over her shoulder. Wow, Annabeth you are so stupid she thought to herself. How did she not noticed that one of the gorgons had her backpack on the whole time. That would mean that the other gorgon has... Annabeth felt so stupid. How could she not tell that one of the gorgons had her knife and the other her bag. Wow.

He thrust his bronze sword straight through the gorgons chest. she exploded into yellow powder. The other gorgon yelled in defiance and charged. But she didn't charge Percy she charged towards Annabeth. Annabeth figured she had less than two seconds before she was sliced to ribbons.

Annabeth started praying to her mother. "well Athena I hope you are happy. You got your statue back. Hopefully that will stop both camps from fighting."

Annabeth saw Percy out of the corner of her eye trying to get to her, but Arachne was blocking his way. Annabeth figured this was the end, for her at least. She knew that if this gorgon killed her now then Percy will go into a rage and kill both of them. That thought made her happy. If she was going to die, they were going to die with her.

Suddenly there was a extremely bright light and a huge surge of pure energy. Next thing you know, there were two ten foot figures. One had a sea green trident sticking through the gorgons face. This one looked kind of masculine. He smelled of sea, just like Percy. He also had a deep tan like he lived every waking moment in the sun. He was literally glowing. You can tell that he was typically an easy going person because of his smile crinkles.

The other figure was about the same size. Annabeth could tell that she was a woman immediately. The first thing that caught Annabeth's attention was the woman's eyes. They were startling gray like a storm cloud. She also had dazzling blond hair with curls at the end. She had a shield in her left hand and a five foot sword in her right. She was wearing some normal clothes. Just a white blouse and some jeans. But the most beautiful part of this woman to Annabeth was her combat boots that squished Arachne like the bug she is.

"Mother" Annabeth yelled. She was filled with hope so fast that she thought she was going to burst. She ran towards her. Luckily for Annabeth, Athena shrunk down to normal size. She hugged her. "Well I'm happy to see you too." Athena said. The hug she gave was so warm it felt like a real mother gave it instead of a goddess who has been alive for three millennium.

"Dad," Percy said to the other figure, which must have must have been Poseidon. That's why he smelled of the sea. "What are you doing in Tartarus?", He asked, Annabeth thought she heard a hint of hope in Percy's voice. "Well Zeus was kind of mad when we tried to help our children...". "So he banished you to Tartarus!" Annabeth blurted out. She couldn't help herself. She didn't believe how arrogant Zeus is by banishing his two strongest gods to Tartarus.

"No Annabeth he didn't banish us here, we came on our own free will. We had to help our most progressive children" Poseidon explained. "It is about time a child of Poseidon is recognized as a hero. All my children are evil in the stories. It kind of sucks to have no true heroes that are my children.

"OH hush Poseidon. You're just mad because Percy has already had to fight two of your fellow children all in one quest." Athena teased. Annabeth thought that Poseidon would get angry but instead he let loose a hearty laugh. "Good one Athena. Just because all of your children are heroes don't mean anything." Poseidon joked. "But there different things to worry about. We need to find out how to get you two out of here." He looked at Annabeth like he was expecting her to know the way out. "Why you looking at me like that." Annabeth exclaimed. "How am I suppose to know."

"Well, why were you on the quest in the first place. We need to get to the doors of death, and you and Percy will lead the way." Poseidon explained. The statement kind of caught Annabeth by surprise. How were two demigods suppose to lead the gods to safety. But Percy was grinning so much that Annabeth caught herself smiling too. "Well" Percy said. "we might as well get started. So can one of you guys give us directions?" Percy asked.

Just then there was a blood curdling scream coming out of the darkness. "Well" Poseidon said in a sarcastic voice"I believe that's our way out.