The Missing Gods

Chapter 22 - A Sign From Above

"Annabeth," I whispered in shock, lunging my body away from Arce's staff as she continued circling the room with me in toe. Ganymede was having the fight of his life attempting to keep Aether at bay; their weapons were clashing and clanging against each other as they both flitted in and out of my vision in both shadowy corners and glowing hallways. Still hanging upside down with Arce's grip around my ankle becoming tighter and tighter, I started quickly patting my pockets to see if Riptide had appeared yet. I felt a lump and my heart jumped as I withdrew the pen from my pocket, aiming for Arce's arm as I uncapped it, and clipping a few feathers off her wing at the same time. She yelped and dropped me ten feet onto my head, shaking with rage as she gathered herself to dive at me with full force.

I leapt out of the way, dancing out of her reach and giving a wide birth to Ganymede and Aether's fight, though I knew he wouldn't last much longer without help. Sweat was beading on his pristine forehead and his teeth were bared in an animalistic growl and he continued to parry Aether's blows.

Arce was fast behind me as I sprinted into the dark and twisting hallways deeper into the castle. I found a spiral staircase and started going up, thinking that I could drop from above and ambush Arce, but halfway up I heard a shriek above me, so I kept running. Winding my way around the staircase until I was lightheaded and Arce felt like a million miles away.

I burst through the threshold at the top to see Annabeth circling Eos, the goddess' shining light somewhat dimmed by what looked like singed eyebrows and her feet twisted up in what looked like fish nets, covered in algae and smelling like old fish.

"Quick, Percy!" Annabeth shouted as she threw a side of the net towards me. I caught it in the air and felt instantly like the ocean was roaring through my ears, the familiar tug in my gut sending energy through the net and knocking Eos several feet back away from Annabeth. Eos screamed at me and Annabeth as Arce burst through the entrance behind me.

I twisted my body to put the net between Arce's claws and myself, her nails digging into the net and getting twisted up as I felt the power of the ocean flowing through me. Annabeth's hands were working fast, twisting and twisting away to entwine Arce in the net like a giant bug in a spider's web, which I assumed is what she had done to Eos. With both of them thoroughly unable to approach us without entangling themselves further, we ran from the room into a dark corridor.

"Where the heck—" I started, but Annabeth grabbed my arm.

"Your dad is here," Annabeth told me, my heart leaping. "He sent that fishnet for me. I just know it. He has to be close." Her grey eyes were filled with a determined fire, despite the cut on her cheek and what looked like a nasty burn on her arm from whatever scuffle she got into with Eos. Her blonde hair flowed around her like a lion's mane, a messy glowing look that made me want to close my eyes and kiss her right here even with everything going on around us and the danger we just faced that could break free any moment.

"Percy?" Annabeth said, her mouth turning up into a familiar smirk as I tried to wipe the dopey expression off my face.

"Uh yeah, let's look around more of these rooms," I said smartly, pulling Riptide to my side and sweeping my gaze around the corridor. Annabeth took my other hand quickly, caressing it with her thumb and then letting go.

"Is Ganymede still down there?" She asked, starting to walk ahead.

"Yeah, it didn't look too good. I don't think we have much time," I replied, using the faint glow of Riptide to guide my feet through the darkness. I tried to see if I could feel for my dad, if there were any clues I was missing, the smell of the ocean, any dripping water, anything, but there was nothing. The darkness stretched before us like a black cloak, stifling sounds and making the air feel heavy. I realized I was still lightheaded and that we must be very far up based on how long it took me to climb the staircase to the room Annabeth was in. The air was getting harder to breathe.

"What's Eos' deal?" I asked, cutting through the thick silence. Annabeth continued walking as she answered me.

"Eos was known as the winged goddess of the dawn according to Chiron. She heralded the rising of the sun with her rosy brilliance, until Zeus fired her and let Apollo do it instead," she said, looking at me for my reaction.

"That's rough," I replied, nodding my head. "Apollo seems to have more flair though. Probably not a bad move on Zeus' part."

Annabeth snorted lightly and kept walking, but I knew from the stress still on her face that she was still worrying about Ganymede just like I was. The gnawing guilt in my stomach for not going back to help him was bad, but I knew he would want us to find Zeus and the others as fast as possible.

We continued walking, winding our way through dark corridors and up a couple more short staircases, until we came to what felt like a balcony—though we could barely see two feet in front of our faces, a soft wind was blowing at our skin.

We walked forward and suddenly found that we were able to see, as if a curtain had been lifted. There were bright pinpricks of light glistening around us, seemingly very far away but also so close that I could reach out and grab them. But all too quickly the world fell into darkness again.

""Perseus Jackson," a booming voice roared, "finally we meet." I got chills suddenly and whipped around until I knew I was in front of Annabeth, watching the towering form from my nightmares turn to face us, so large that it blocked out all the lights, with a deep laugh loud enough to shake mountains.