Chapter 25 - The Three Furies
published: Wednesday, 29 May 2019
"You've got to be kidding me."
Percy stared at the spot where Hemera had disappeared. Moments of silence had passed, allowing him to digest that their entire journey had been for absolutely nothing.
Jumping into Tartarus; fighting the arai; making it past Nyx...
Annabeth let out a frustrated yell, and Percy couldn't help but think that she had mirrored his feelings exactly.
"No," she whispered in defeat as she slumped onto the ground in a cross-legged position, holding her face in her hands.
"So, Pontus, our enemy, has the spell — our only hope at beating Tartarus," Percy swallowed. "And we're stuck in Nyx's palace."
"I think you got it all."
"Cool, just checking."
Percy glanced down warily at where Annabeth was curled up in a foetal position at his feet. He knelt down, against his better judgement. "Hey, it'll be okay."
Annabeth let out a humourless laugh that made him wince. "Yeah, no, this is just amazing. We don't have the spell, and we're in the same building as a vengeance-crazed primordial."
Percy shifted into a sitting position beside her. "We've faced worse odds."
They shared a smile that made Percy's heart skip a beat. It reminded him of old times.
"It just doesn't make any sense," Annabeth sighed exasperatedly, running a hand through her tangled hair. "Hemera's one of the good guys. She's the goddess of light — of all things good. She represents everything good — why would she leave us here?"
"She mentioned the primordial of the sea," Percy said slowly. "She was trying to help us. Give us a clue—"
"But Pontus is the primordial of the sea," Annabeth finished. "It's a dead end."
Images flashed through Percy's mind.
A woman with teal hair and a mermaid tail, Annabeth had said. The woman who'd appeared in her dream.
"Except he isn't," Percy said suddenly. "Pontus isn't the primordial of the sea."
Percy heard Annabeth's sharp intake of breath at the same time the realisation hit him.
"The woman from the dream," Annabeth said softly, echoing his thought. "It was Thalassa."
Percy stared blankly at her. He'd made the first connection, but not the second. "This is the part where you explain it to me."
She rolled her eyes. "Thalassa was the original primordial of the sea. Pontus married her — he became primordial consort by default." Annabeth smacked her forehead. "I should've realised sooner! Of course, Hemera was trying to help us. Thalassa is her daughter!"
Percy scrambled to his feet. "So, we find Thalassa, and we find the spell."
Annabeth nodded. "We'll figure out how to get out after that."
Percy reached out a hand — a silent olive branch.
Annabeth took it, and he pulled her to her feet.
"Thalassa's old prison," Percy said. "Where would it be?"
"No idea," Annabeth shrugged. "But think about it. Pontus might have her chained up in his stronghold now, but when he first took power, he would've sent her away. And where do the gods send threats?"
"Here," Percy reasoned. "If she's the embodiment of the sea, she would've left behind enough of a saltwater trace."
"I was thinking the same," Annabeth said begrudgingly. "You could maybe find it?"
Percy gave himself a moment to reflect that he'd had the same idea as Annabeth Chase before he nodded. "I need to be out of the palace. Nyx's magic is blocking me."
Annabeth readjusted her rucksack and beckoned to him. "Come on, there's bound to be a stairwell ahead."
Percy traipsed after Annabeth, occasionally throwing a glance back to check for ambushers.
"Ow!" Percy let out a soft groan as he slammed into Annabeth. "Walk a little—"
His voice wavered as he followed Annabeth's shell-shocked gaze to see a glimmering doorway.
Percy didn't need to ask to know that it was the doorway back to Earth. He just knew.
Annabeth reached out a hand, the expression of pure longing on her face resembling one from years ago, when she'd heard the Sirens' song.
Percy resisted the urge to leap through the doorway home.
Home.
It was so close, yet so far.
Annabeth's outstretched hand fell back, and her gaze hardened as she turned away from the doorway. "Let's go." Her voice trembled.
"We'll be back," Percy said quietly.
Annabeth clenched a fist. "Don't make promises you can't keep."
Percy grabbed her hand and pulled her back to face him. Her foot tripped in the turn and she stumbled into him. Percy caught her by the waist, and he heard her breath catch in her throat.
"We will," he murmured.
She was so close that he could see the flicks of lighter greys amongst the stormy in her eyes.
Her fingers slid into his, a force of habit that felt so right, so perfect in the horrors they were surrounded by.
Then Percy remembered the look of agony that had crossed her face the moment she'd rescued him from Agatha. How much pain he'd caused her by leaving.
And he knew he couldn't ever do that to her again.
Percy stepped away from her, his throat clamping down on his words such that a tense silence was left between them. His fingers withdrew from hers and Percy forced himself to look away.
He heard her footsteps as Annabeth continued to lead the way, unsteadily this time, and he could hear her shaky breathing in the stale air.
As Percy followed her, he deliriously wondered what it would've been like if he'd kissed her. He pushed them out of his mind; no point lingering on things that could never be.
Their walk continued in silence until they stepped out of the palace by the back door.
Percy felt like a massive weight had been lifted off his shoulders, and he let out a sigh of relief. When he glanced back, Nyx's palace was nowhere to be seen — just dead fields stretching on endlessly.
"Can you sense anything?" Annabeth asked, her voice hoarse.
Percy closed his eyes and reached out with his senses. Searching for water was easier on land, when he could simply feel something calling to him or a tugging in his gut.
Here, in the deepest part of the universe, Percy had to find it.
He pushed away all other things pressing on his mind; Annabeth, the quest, everything.
It gave him a sense of déjà vu — in the early of his kidnapping, he'd searched and searched desperately for anything to help him escape.
Of course, he hadn't known that he was deep underground with no water nearby.
All that aimless searching he'd done while in captivity had made it easier for him to find and control water. It was strange, but Percy was glad he wasn't out of practice.
And then there it was. Something so faraway and so faint he might've missed it. There was something that made his fingers tingle and sent shudders down his spine and the familiarity of it.
Water. Saltwater, to be exact.
There was a rushing in his ears; the sea flowing by, unable to be restrained; the crunch of sand beneath his feet—
"Percy!" Annabeth's frantic cry pulled him out of his reverie, and he felt someone grabbing his shoulders.
Everything around him vanished, and Percy staggered backwards at the snap back. The location was imprinted in his mind, and it was like a mental map drawn out for him.
Annabeth blurred into view, her features creased with worry. "Percy!"
"I'm fine, I'm fine," he mumbled. "I know where it is."
"You started smoking!" Annabeth shrieked. "What were you doing? You weren't answering and I thought you were going to die!"
"It's okay, I just got a little carried away," Percy said, alarmed.
"No, you almost died!" Annabeth cried. "You can't leave me here alone! You can't leave me here! Not in Tartarus! Not by myself, please—"
Percy pulled her into a tight embrace, and she buried her face in his shoulder, her arms sliding around his neck.
Her sobs were muffled, and Percy held her as she shuddered, trembling with fear pounding in his blood.
"Annabeth," he whispered. "It's okay. I'm not leaving you — I swear. I won't. Never again."
Percy lost track of how long they stood there, both of them shaking. But he knew that they were together, and that was all that mattered.
When her breathing slowed to small, shaking intakes, Annabeth drew away, her hands falling away from him, but she didn't push him away.
Percy reaches up cautiously and brushed a tear away from her cheek.
"Thanks," Annabeth said shakily. Her eyes were rimmed red, and her chest heaved slowly.
Her gaze was angled upwards at him, and Percy swallowed as she rose on her tiptoes.
A batting of wings cut through the air, and the both of them froze like ice.
Within split seconds, Percy had Riptide unsheathed and Annabeth stood with her back to his, wielding her dagger.
Arai, Percy's mind screamed in warning.
But the silhouettes that descended weren't arai. They were more graceful, and larger. Percy wasn't particularly fond of large flying grandmothers.
As the monsters came into the light, Percy hand went slack with incredulity.
"Perseus Jackson," Alecto sneered, her curled talons and bared fangs sending Percy spiralling back into memories from when he was an untrained twelve years old. "We meet again."
And the three furies landed in the field.
"Mrs Dodds," Percy murmured. "You son of a bitch."
Alecto's two sisters snarled at him, but she kept them back.
"We have no argument with Hades or the Kindly Ones," Annabeth demanded. "Why did he send you?"
"He didn't," one of the other furies — Tisiphone, Percy recalled. "Our master has not been in contact for the last five years. But we follow his last wishes. Protect Perseus Jackson."
Percy froze. "What?"
The third fury, Megaera, frowned. "That was before you went and got yourself kidnapped, of course."
"Yes, because I really loved that."
"You're here to help us," Annabeth said suspiciously, eyeing the furies. "Why should we believe you?"
"We have been keeping the Underworld intact," Alecto hissed. "We are not your enemy."
"What about Hades?" Percy said. "You said he hadn't been in contact for five years. The gods disappeared completely just weeks before my kidnapping. Why? Why did they shut themselves off again?"
"You think our master would be so blind as to do that?" Megaera said angrily. "He has been trapped in his palace with the lady Demeter — blocked from all physical and telepathic contact."
"Oh my Gods," Annabeth breathed. She sent Percy a look of shock. "Pontus and Tartarus shut them away. That's why we haven't heard from the gods — any of them." She turned to the furies. "You said Hades' last wish was to protect Percy. Did he say why?"
Tisiphone exchanged a glance with her sister. "He said that if the demigods didn't save Olympus, this would be their final fall."
Percy resisted the urge to ask for that in writing. "He said that?"
Tisiphone nodded grimly.
"We will bring you to wherever you wish to go," Alecto grumbled reluctantly, reaching out a hand.
Percy hesitantly took it, and felt himself yanked into the air. He turned back frantically, but Annabeth was being carried by Megaera as they took to the sky.
He directed them, following his gut and the directions he'd remembered from earlier.
It was a few minutes of the furies zipping through the biting air before Thalassa's old prison came into view.
The metal bars were blasted open, most of it scattered on the ground. The chains inside that used to hold her lay uselessly on the ground — except for the scroll that lay next to them.
They swooped down, and Percy and Annabeth landed with a running start.
Percy stumbled over and grabbed the scroll, unrolling it.
It was a map, carefully drawn out with a path leading to Pontus' castle. A set of golden keys lay on the paper, which Annabeth snatched up and stuffed into her pocket.
"At least we're getting somewhere," she breathed, exchanging glances with him.
Percy sent her a weak smile, hyperaware of the fact that his heart had just sped up. He stuffed the map in the pocket of his jeans and turned back to the furies.
"We should get back to Nyx's—"
"Percy," Annabeth said suddenly, her voice charged with surprise.
Percy glanced back at her.
There was a small geyser of saltwater spraying from a crack in the ground. Saltwater, in the depths of Tartarus.
Percy started forward slowly, his fingers brushing against the water. Almost instantly, he was revitalised, with power flowing through him again, his cuts healing and fading rapidly, his eyes bright with a buzzing energy.
Thalassa didn't just control water. She was the water.
Percy took a reluctant step back, immediately feeling like there was a gaping hole left where the water had filled it before.
The furies flew them back to Nyx's palace and landed stealthily at the gates.
"This is as far as we can take you," Tisiphone said regrettably. "Nyx is too powerful — even for us."
That did little to comfort Percy.
"Tell Hades 'thank you' if you see him," he told them. "And our parents that we're coming for them."
"And Hera that she owes me for life," Annabeth grumbled.
Megaera and Tisiphone took turns bowing slightly before taking off.
Alecto remained behind for a few moments, regarding Percy carefully.
"What is it?" he blurted out, unable to hold his curiosity in.
Alecto sent him a grim smile. "You have grown up, Perseus." She turned on her heel and shot into the air in a hurtling whirl of feathers and brown. Then the furies disappeared.
Percy stared after them.
The gods were on their side. At least, Hades was.
Father, Percy hesitated. Stay safe. We're coming.
It was the first time in five years that he'd prayed to his father.