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

Annabeth XIIII

After seeing her boyfriend dissappear down a sandpit, Annabeth was not in the best of moods.

At first, she had tried to scramble down the pit after him, but Eva held her back. Then, she had tried poking a large stick (which Eva had sheepishly found after Percy had dissappeared) down the sandpit, to no avail. Now, she was curled up in a ball of misery, rocking herself up and down.

"Why couldn't it have been me?" She drawled sadly, half to herself and half to Eva. "Percy doesn't deserve any of this...he's just a huge kelp brain."

"Annabeth, you'll see him again. I promise. Now, sitting there rocking in a heap isn't going to help anybody, is it?" Eva asked, producing a tissue from her rucksack and handing it to her. "Now wipe those tears away, and let's get some Gaea payback." With those comforting words, Eva stood up and put on her usual, tough face. She hoisted her rucksack onto her shoulder before giving Annabeth a hand up.

It was then that Annabeth realised how much she wanted to get her own back on Gaea. She had taken her boyfriend, threatened to destroy her home and made her friends and family suffer. Now, it was Gaea's turn for some suffering. Annabeth wiped her nose before pulling herself together.

"Right. Which way?" She asked Eva, who was holding the Iron Peridotite necklace and studying it. It was then that she realised, she hadn't really studied Eva yet. Taking Eva's moment of indecision to grasp a look, she took in her features.

Eva's father must've bern Egyptian, or middle-eastern, because his daughter had brownish hair unlike Athena. Annabeth was instantly jealous- she'd give almost anything to be brunette. Her long, curled light brown hair was tinted with caramel highlights, and she was tanned too. Annabeth noticed that the only thing she really had in common with Athena was her stormy eyes.

"Well, the Iron seems to burn hotter when I point it down there-" Eva indicated towards the edge of the valley "-so, I guess that's where we're headed."

Annabeth shrugged and answered, "I guess so." Before going behind Eva to reach their destination.

"So, I couldn't help noticing. You don't bear many resemblences with Mom." Annabeth asked, poking conversation as they walked.

It seemed like a forever, never-ending abyss of awkward moment before Eva sighed and responded. "Yeah, I...like it that way. I don't really want that much to do with her."

Annabeth nodded, she guessed she could relate. "If you don't mind, what did she do to you? I mean, you don't have to answer. If it's...too personal."

Eva shook her head from in front of her. "No, it's fine. Athena abandoned my brother and I, after my father had died. My father had insulted Athena, how I'm not sure. So, she cursed him with bad luck, which lead to his death a few months later." Eva paused to draw breath, "Athena left us two on our own, no clues as to how to survive or get to somewhere safe. We wandered for months, trying to find rumoured camps. Eventually, we ran into Eirenne and her maidens. I joined up, and my brother is at camp half-blood. His name is Sebastian"

Annabeth searched her mind to think of a half-brother named Sebastian, but none came to mind. "I don't know him."

Eva waved the statement away. "Seb's brand new. It was a difficulty getting him there. But, you asked about my resemblense. My father was mixed Egyptian and Spanish, and owned a library. His characteristics are stronger than that of Athena, and I'm thankful."

"I'm sorry." Was all Annabeth could think to say.

"It's not your fault. It's Athena's, and the Gods', for having such crap family values."

Amen to that, Annabeth thought.

*****************************

After hours of trekking, Annabeth knew everything about Eva, and vise versa. It turned out that she wasn't such a hard nut- she was pretty soft on the inside. And finally, they had reached the edge of the valley. If that was a good thing, Annabeth thought.

Towering, deep red cliffs hung above the two girls. Crevices and pathways, with forked edges and steep drops ran like veins across the rocky mountain. Stalactites hung like daggers, threatning to slice any trespassers head off, and slippery pools made the menacing paths even more dangerous conditions.

Annabeth gulped.

"What, blondie? You afraid?" Eva joked, but she looked pretty scared herself.

"Gosh, don't be stupid. What even is fear," Annabeth answered sternly, before slouching her shoulders. "Of course I'm afraid. How in the gods are we going to survive up there, with only two bottles of water and some pop tarts?"

Eva laughed. "You only bought water and pop tarts? Firstly, pop tarts are gross. Did you hear about that guy who got put in hospital because of one?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "But whatever. I've got three bottles of water, cereal bars, yorkies and fruit. You know, man fuel. And one other thing, too."

Annabeth grinned. "Let me guess, that elvin bread out of Lord of the Rings?"

She only knew this because of how much her dad loved old black and white movies. Lord of the Rings may not be that old, or black and white, but her dad had loved the book. And so, they had watched the film together.

"Yep."

Annabeth searched Eva's face, but found that she was deadly serious. "For real?"

"Well, Eirenne's own version. Don't worry. We can split it."

"Alright," Annabeth decided, "Let's do this thing."

Annabeth decided, if she'd sat through over nine hours of Lord of the Rings, she could battle through Tartarus. Plus, she'd do it for Percy.

After what Annabeth figured to be around two hours of restless climbling slipping and sliding, scratching and bruising, the two girls had managed to make it into a large, rocky, circular chamber in the mountain. As far as she could see, Annabeth sighted no exit door.

Eva began running her hand through the cracks in the wall, feeling the dents and nooks. Annabeth realised she was looking for something to open a door. Stepping forwards and into the chamber, she was about help her, when the entrance to the chamber was blocked.

Annabeth blinked again and rubbed her eyes, but sure enough, all different sizes of rocks and pebbles made the entrance impossible to exit through.

"Um, Eva, the entrance has...blocked." She said, beginning to panic.

"Oh, Mierda. Well, let's look for a switch or something." Eva offered.

Annabeth began searching for a lever in the rocks, surprised by the texture of the rock. It was spongey and damp, like a blood-soaked pumice stone. She drew away immediately, before regaining composure and continuing.

"Hey, Eva," Annabeth quizzed, "Was that Spanish you spoke?"

"Yeah sure, why?" Eva replied absent mindedly. Annabeth smiled to herself and was reminded of Leo and his quirky jokes.

Just as she was about to answer, Annabeth felt a searing hot pain course through her fingers. Eva jumped away from the wall, her nails smoking.

"What-" She began, but was interrupted by a fierce howl. The sound of something moving on the other side of the wall made Annabeth feel queezy.

By the time she looked around to meet Eva's gaze, Eva already had her pair of throwing knives gripped in her fists. Annabeth drew her bronze dagger.

"You better be good with that," Eva looked at the dagger, "Because we've got a nasty wolf hybrid on our taill."

"How will it get to us?"

"Hybrid wolves, bred by Tartarus to do his bidding, have teeth that can bite through anything, and claws that can do twice as much. So get ready for some serious combat."

Annabeth readied herself, before wondering. Eva seemed to know a lot more about the demigod world than she let on.

Then a sharp growl, before a chunk of rock gave way to reveal one of the most terrifying sights Annabeth had ever seen.