The Journey Through Tartarus

Seeking Comfort

Annabeth's Pov:

The moment I had arrived back in my room I had heard a knock on the door, "Who is it" I said.

"It's me Jason," "Come in" I said. He entered and looked at me sadly.

"Annabeth I'm here If you need someone to talk to someone" then he gave me a quick hug and left, and as he did my heart seemed to warm slightly, He then got up and left.

Each day I woke up miserably only to lay back down in my pillow all day, only for the cycle to repeat itself the next day. Percy was gone. I know I hadn't been the best girlfriend or the most faithful but I still loved him. I knew without a fraction of a doubt, how could he have survived that fall, I knew there were rivers in the underworld, but they didn't all flow into Tartarus, and even if they did he might have had his memory erased only to be killed, or his body and soul could have been burned to ash. He wasn't a son of Zeus or rather Jupiter like Jason, so he couldn't have flown. As torn up as I was I had never really felt fully committed to Percy. I knew I would be able to find solace in the arms of another and after all that's what Percy would have wanted, my happiness.

I had started to find comfort in Jason. He was so kind and so comforting; he would come check on me every night before he went to bed. For the first few days I didn't do much but sleep, Jason had changed that on the fifth day convincing me to come up to eat with the crew, it had been a while though, actually before I had set off to face the trials of the mark of Athena to be precise. Even after all I had suffered, through my recent trials thing had started to look up.

Then on the sixth day Jason did something that shocked me to my core, he kissed me. As it happened, I was shocked by a couple of things, one: he was dating piper so why was he kissing me, the second: I didn't pull away, and instead I leaned in and continued to kiss him passionately. Before long my shirt was on the ground and he was on top of me...

A few hours later Jason started to put his clothes back on before sneaking back to his cabin around 4 am to go to sleep. I couldn't believe what I had done, but it had felt so right. I was still conflicted, after last time when Percy had disappeared I had slept with a multitude of campers, i needed to stop when I found out he was still alive. Things though had continued on for another week before Jason broke up with Piper. At this I knew I had to be with him, maybe it was the fact that he reminded me of Percy or the fact that Id always wanted what I could not have I didn't know.

After Jason had ended it with Piper, she had run below deck sobbing, I had almost felt bad but this was nothing new I had interfered in relationships before and this was nothing different. Call it Aphrodite's charm or maybe just that Percy had probably dead. We still had a mission do, how would we close the other side of the doors of death, we had all been counting on Percy but that was no longer a strategical option. We needed a new plan, one we could all count on to bring us victory, a plan worthy of Athena.

Percy's Pov:

I didn't know how long I'd been following the Empusai, but they had continued on at the same slow pace as before which was a blessing for me, I was tired, soar, and extremely hungry, I was just lucky I had water. The Empusai had only sped up once, to devour the rotting carcass of a beached animal? Monster? Which confused me more most monster disintegrated when killed so what it was, evaded me. When I got approached the scene there was nothing left but splinted bones and gruesome stains on the glassy shore.

Disturbed I continued to trek after demon donkey ladies only to see that they had disappeared over a ridge, as I continued forwards I saw another massive cliff, however it seemed I was luck this one was only about seventy feet high. Bellow me The River Phlegethon spilled over the side in jagged tiers of fiery waterfalls. The demon ladies were picking their way down the cliff, jumping from ledge to ledge like mountain goats. My heart crept up into my throat. It also wasn't like I had much to look forward to. The landscape below them was a bleak ash-grey plain bristling with black trees, like insect hair. The ground was pocked with blisters. Every once in a while, a bubble would swell and burst, disgorging a monster like a larva from an egg.