The House Of Hades

Feathers Can Kill......

Percy's POV

So here we are again. We have rested for about one day. I don't know the exact same time since I don't have a watch. Even if I did, I doubted it would be working down here. In Tartarus.

I looked over at Annabeth. She looked a lot better, with her ankle almost healed. She seemed happier too, which was a good thing. She didn't sem to blame herself as much, and besides, at least the statue was saved.

"Should we go on?" Annabeth asked me, and I turned to her.

"I guess....can you walk properly yet?" I replied, my gaze drifting to her ankle.

She stood up, and winced slightly as she put weight on her ankle.

"I could sort of." She reported, walking around the perimeter of the small room, stopping at the doorway.

"But Annabeth....are you sure you're ready?" I asked, walking over to where she was standing.

Annabeth looked at me, and nodded. "I'm sure."

"We need to be prepared to fight a lot of monsters right now."I started, looking at Annabeth worridly.

"But this is all we will have. Let's go!" Annabeth snapped, and I continued to look at her worridly. She wasn't usually this impatient, and she didn't get mad that easily either.

Something was bothering her, but I decided not to push it. I just nodded. But I made a mental note to myself to be aware of where Annabeth was at all times.

Annabeth looked at the doorway, and took a deep breath. I stepped forward, and took her hand. She slightly smiled at me, before we stepped through the doorway together. The next room was rather huge, but it was empty.

"Where-" I started, but Annabeth pushed me against the wall, and clamped a hand to my mouth.

I looked into her eyes, and they met mine steadily, and then drifted to the center of the room.

I followed her gaze, but saw nothing. I met her eyes again, slightly confused.

" Look over there." Annabeth murmured in a voice I could barely hear, nodding towards the center of the room once again.

I looked there, but saw nothing. "There's nothing there." I hissed back.

She shook her head. "Look harder."

I looked harder, squinting my eyes. Slowly, I could see a faint outline of a thing that was, sure enough, standing in the center of the room.

"What is that?" I tried to mouth the words to her as best as I could.

She mouthed something back that looked like "happy"

I frowned and shook my head, not understanding what she said. She let out a small sigh of frustration, before hissing, "Harpies!" to me.

Harpies? Why would harpies be in Tartarus? Unless they were evil harpies or something. Weren't they known for stealing all of Phineus's food?

"What defeats harpies?" I whispered, and Annabeth frowned.

She shrugged, which was always a bad sign. If Annabeth didn't know, then the chances were that nothing defeats harpies.

My eyes drifted back to the center of the room. The harpy or harpies seemed to be drifting around the room. It was coming towards us, though.

"What do we do?" I mouthed frantically to Annabeth, and she looked at the doorway where we came from.

"Back in there?" She suggested, and I nodded relectantly. There really was not another choice. It wasn't like we could defeat the harpy or harpies, since we didn't exactly have any kinds of weapons.