Percy Jackson and the Heroes of Olympus - the House of Hades

Percy XII

Percy had a knack for sensing.

For example, right now he could sense that things between Annabeth and Eva could get awkward. There was this thing that people did at Goode; like 'awkward turtle' or something? Right now Percy was making mega awkward turtles with his hands. Annabeth gave him a disturbed look. She then held out her hand, palm flat.

"Can I have the necklace, sweetie?" She smiled sweetly. If she were Piper, her voice would be dripping with charmspeak.

Percy used his own hand to curl up Annabeth's, empty. "No, moonpie. I know you- if I give it to you, the total control freak that you are- I will never, ever get it back."

Annabeth shrugged. "One day, you'll come crawling back with that necklace, begging me to take it."

"We'll see." He finished. Annabeth swirled back round grumpily and continued to walk behind Eva, who had by now walked a considerable distance. She had her iPod plugged in, the wires tangled menacingly. She suddenly turned.

"Hey, guys..." She called, "I've got a feeling, we shouldn't step on this bit of path."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. How can you sense what will be on the path? Absurd." She shook her head and began to walk past Eva.

"Stop." Percy said. All eyes set on him. Suddenly intimidated, he shrank away again. Two sets of Athenian children staring him down? Not exactly a moral booster.

"Uhm, Urr..well, uk...Eva could be...erm, right. I mean, why don't we poke it with something?" He suggested unhelpfully. Eva stared at him.

"What?" She quizzed gormlessly.

Annabeth sighed and plucked the earphones from Eva. "Why don't you listen? Why aren't you sure about this path?"

Ooh. Percy thought. She went there.

"Well, you know, I have been trained by a goddess, you should have more faith in me." She answered back. Percy nodded at Annabeth enthusiastically.

Annabeth scowled. "Well, I don't."

And with that, she swivelled and turned onto the path. A second passed, but Percy swore it was hours. Nothing happened.

"Ha! You should have more faith in ME." Annabeth answered cheekily, continuing to walk onwards. "Well come on, loosers."

Eva shrugged and walked over. Was it Percy's imagination, or did the ground move? It was like a rug had been pulled slightly, as Annabeth and Eva were on it. He shrugged before stepping onto it. It was probably nothing.

They had been walking about two minutes when it happened. Percy felt his feet sinking into the ground, sand coursing over his feet and reddening his calfs.

"Hey, guys, stop?" Percy said calmly. Once the two girls had turned to face him, Eva let out a starled cry.

"Oh, Percy, haven't you shrunk a little bit?" She gasped. Annabeth looked as if she could easily smack her round the head.

"You blithering idiot, look at his feet! It's quicksand." She exclaimed.

"So, I guess I don't move, right?" He summed up. Eva got into action. She began rummaging through her pockets and emptying out her backpack, but clearly couldn't find what she wanted. She slapped her legs in frustration.

"We need some kind of rope." She suggested. Annabeth nodded, before looking at Percy fretfully. He was very calm and cool- two Athenian girls could help him. He hoped.

Annabeth looked around frantically for a rope, string whatever. She looked through her rucksack whilst Eva searched the grassland around them.

Percy was up to his knees and starting to feel a little panicky inside, his eyes following Annabeth's every move. He began humming some random tune, and it turned out to be the theme tune off The Big Bang Theory.

Eva eventually returned with a very long, thick peice of pond thrush. She threw one end at Percy and held the other herself, holding on tightly. She steadied her feet.

"Right! Okay, I'll try pulling you up." Eva said, signalling for Annabeth to help her.

"One...Two...Three!" On three, Eva and Annabeth tried pulling Percy out of the quicksand. Percy tried jumping out, but he couldn't feel the bottom. He felt the sand closing in and pouring fown the cracks his body made as he attempted to move.It was up to his chest, and he delt his fear of suffocation closing his throat up.

"Percy, seaweed brain! Come on, pull harder on the..grass thing!" Annabeth said desperately, seeing Percy turning pale.

Eva looked scared. "He's stopped responding. Probably terrified." She choked up.

"Well, do something!" Annabeth screamed, trying to get close enough to Percy so as to offer her hand. Percy leant towards her and reached out his hand; their fingers briefly brushed past each other, before Percy's hand began to dissappear under the sand.

His throat re-opened. "Oh my gods, I'm going to die." Was all he could manage to get out. He stared at Annabeth and with his free hand, ripped the necklace from his throat. He flung it at her wildly and it flew onto Eva's lap.

"Where is this quickssnd going to take me?" His words stumbled out quickly.

"It could kill you," Eva suggested, "Or it could take you onto some kind of...lower level of Tartarus. Nasty, not sure which option is better," She finished, her teeth chattering.

Annabeth shot her a look of death. "Percy, if you get to another level, meet me at the Doors. Oh my gods, pkease live, i know after all we've been through, I'll see you again!" She cried out, crawling closer to him. Pecy's neck began dissappearing under the sand and he shut his eyes, terrified.

"Love..you." He choked out.

He could hear Annabeth crying and saying she loved him too, but that was it. His ears were filled with sand and he heard it rising over his head. His fear of suffocation grabbed hold of him and screamed in his ear.

Percy woke up and found himself clawing at his throat. His neck was dry and scratchy, he would do anything for some water. He sat up. It felt as though his insides had been through a compressor.

He looked around, squinting through his burning eyes. Percy imagined this to be what Hell would look like.

Percy was sitting on a rise of rocks, and below him lay what looked like a concentration camp- with cyclops, harpies and other mythological animals working and walking around, like prisoners. He was sure he even spotted a red pegasus.

Fire erupted like geysers dotted around, the rocky ground producing diluted red, frothy mixtures. Looking up, Percy saw where he had fallen from. A meshy barbed wire held up a deep red sand pit. He grimaced- he'd fallen through the barbed wire and onto the rocks. Percy checked his back; just as he suspected, scratches bled and lumps had risen. He grimaced and looked around for supplies.

To his surprise, he saw a rucksack next to him. It was Annabeth's- she must've chucked it in after him. Percy felt like crying; just after almost a year of being apart, this was how they got rewarded? After this, Percy swore, he was done doing errands and favours for the gods. Even for his dad, whom had so far done nothing to help him. Percy shot a look of doom at the ceiling.

Right now, he couldn't imagine a worse situation to be in. He was Annabeth-less, in a deeper circle of Tartarus and about to embark on the worst journey he had ever faced down.

He gad a quick drink of water and cleaned his wounds before slinging the rucksack over his back, uncapping Riptide and stumbling down the rock pile.

On the way down, he felt nothing apart from a dull awareness of pain as his feet made contact with the ground. At one point, he almost slipped on some bubbly red liquid. Ignoring it, he jumped down the last few rocks and analysed the situation.

To his right, there was a working camp. Percy had a sadness inside him that these animals were caged up, but didn't know whether he should help them, or go left. There was a long, winding path filled with steep drops, cliffs, bad path conditions and corroding tunnels to his left, which he guessed was the way he needed to go. Around three weeks were left, Percy estimated. His mind made up, he set off go right.