Dead Wrong

We were struggling to avoid the lava. Coming from the rocks on both sides, waterfalls – or would it be lavafalls? – met the fire river and it was becoming wider. As I looked ahead and tried to locate a safe path, something really big and scary growled loudly behind us. And I made the mistake of looking back at it.

I cursed. Usually, Annabeth would have punched me and reprimanded me for what I’d said – it had been pretty bad –, but she noticed something was wrong and looked back as well. She almost fell from my arms. As I caught her, she muttered something.

“You know what that is?” I asked, my voice with a hint of despair, and forced myself to walk faster, still glancing behind.

“I have a few guesses,” Annabeth slipped her arm from my shoulders and grabbed my hand from around her waist, gripping it tightly. “But either way, we should just run and thank the gods it’s only half formed.”

She didn’t need to say it twice. I could feel the ground shaking with the monster’s steps and we broke into running. It’s really fascinating what adrenaline can do to the body. Annabeth didn’t trip once. At least during the first fifty feet she didn’t.

I pursed my lips worriedly as I steadied her with my free arm. Annabeth’s face was contorted in pain and I knew it was taking all she had not to cry out. She couldn’t keep this up; she was going to dislocate her ankle again, or worse.

It was as though she read my mind when we locked eyes. “Not a chance, Seaweed Brain,” she managed. “Keep moving.”

I didn’t have time to argue that we needed a better strategy – but considering Annabeth was the strategist, if she’d said we’d better run even if she couldn’t, that meant there weren’t many options left. Another growl sprung me back to life and we pushed forward a bit faster, Annabeth limping all the way.

“How do we kill that thing?” I asked above the monster’s noise, which seemed to be multiplying. Annabeth held my hand even tighter. “I don’t think we can.”

“What?” I felt a shiver running down my spine and looked back to see something dark and heavy flying in our direction. My instincts acted before I could process the situation and I threw myself on top of Annabeth, bringing us to the floor. The boulder flew above our heads, sending dirt over us. “So it throws rocks,” I said out of breath. “How do we kill it?”

“Technically, it’s still dead, Percy,” Annabeth insisted and freed herself from me as she got up. I followed her and we were running again, this time diverting rocks. One hit the wall on our right and sent wreckage toward us. A small stone hit Annabeth’s forehead and she almost lost her balance, which – I must say – added a lot to my anger.

“It seems very alive to me,” I murmured angrily.

“C’mon,” Annabeth grabbed my hand again and raised her free one to the bleeding cut near her hairline. “We’re almost there.” Her voice was so broken I couldn’t find mine to respond; I could hear the tears in it.

All muscles in my body complained loudly. My left hand was white of holding Riptide so firmly, and my right one was white too for holding Annabeth’s like I was holding onto life, which I probably was. I kept trying my best to keep her ahead of me, but I was obviously in a better condition and so I could run faster. I held myself back a bit.

Looking ahead at the Doors of Death, I noticed they were opening. Bright white light came from a line where the doors met in the center and it annoyed my eyes. Annabeth squeezed my hand a bit more to show me she’d seen it as well.

Then I blinked, and for a moment I saw Annabeth on the floor, blood all over her, and her gray eyes staring without seeing. My knees failed me and I blinked again, and she was in front of me running and holding my hand again. I shook my head. Tartarus was playing tricks on my mind. Sure, it had been doing that all the time, but never had a vision felt so… real.

I glanced back to check the distance between the monster and us. It looked as if it was hard for it to move – probably due to half-formed legs or something – but it was still following us close. Behind it, I could make out the outline of more monsters. When I turned my eyes back forward, I thought I’d seen my mom in the darkness.

Focus. Don’t let it get to you. She isn’t here.

The visions got worse. I could barely look at Annabeth and see her there like she was; I’d see her being tortured, or dead, or crying for help. Her screams echoed in my mind, coming from all directions. Then I got a glimpse of Camp Half-Blood on fire, of the campers on fire. Then Grover was being used as a ball in a violent game of dodgeball, dripping blood. I even saw Hazel being thrown down the highest column of rocks. And also a few things I’d rather not repeat.

Suddenly, Annabeth fell against my chest as if she’d jumped back. She was shivering more than I’d ever felt her shiver, and her face was strained with tears. Her hands shook as they tried to cover her face. I didn’t want to know what she’d seen, so I only whispered, “There’s nothing there. I’m still here.” The moment the words left my mouth I saw a huge gash on Annabeth’s arm and panicked for a moment. But as always, I blinked and it wasn’t there anymore.

And we kept going like that. Every once in a while, rocks would fall toward us – or be thrown –, monsters would appear everywhere and try to delay us, one of us would freak and the other had to say softly that it wasn’t real. Gaea really wasn’t making this any easy. One of the things that kept me going was the increasing light coming from the Doors of Death – which we never seemed to reach, by the way.

But when we did, I was able to see our friends waiting for us on the other side and fighting their own monsters. Hazel and Nico stood facing us and their faces lighted up when they took notice of us. They shouted encouragement things, but I was only half listening. Annabeth hadn’t stopped shivering and she was all I cared about right now.

My brain probably went a bit like No, that’s enough. I’m done here, because I felt like I switched to auto-pilot for a moment. Everything was too confused for me to understand, but I snaked an arm around Annabeth to keep her close and standing and kept walking out of Tartarus. I probably could have been more useful and helped Jason with that big thing he was trying to hold back. Instead, I passed out.




The first time I woke up would have been hilarious had it not been tragic. When my body noticed I was conscious, I sat up immediately and my head spun. I only had time to realize Piper was in the room before I fell on the bed again and drifted back to sleep.

The second time was a bit more fortunate. I still sprinted back to life violently, as though I had been electrocuted, which I find funny to think, since this time Jason was the one in the room. But I didn’t sit up. My head still spun, though, and I had to close my eyes.

“Easy there, man,” I heard Jason’s voice somewhere to my right. My hand shot up towards his voice and grabbed the front of his shirt. Something hit the ground with a metallic sound when I pulled him closer using strength I didn’t know I had, but I didn’t care. When I spoke, my voice was raspy and weak, “Where’s Annabeth?”

“S-she’s in her room, resting.” He added something else, but I had already gone unconscious again.

The third time was a bit more eventful. Despite the nightmares, I awaked reasonably quietly. My mouth tasted like my mom’s blue cookies, which told me something about how much nectar and ambrosia I had been given. It had done something at least; I felt exhausted and numb, but my injuries hurt less.

“Welcome back to Earth,” I heard a female voice to my right. I forced my eyes fully open and turned my head slightly to face Piper. “Just promise not to grab me violently.”

I would have given a witty comeback, but I was too tired for that. I leaned my head back down on the pillow and closed my eyelids, trying to get rid of the light spots that were ironically darkening my view. I rubbed my eyes. “For how long was I –”

“About two weeks,” Piper answered as she handed me a glass of water. “And before you ask, Annabeth’s fine. Still unconscious, but fine. How are you feeling?”

I took a gulp of the water, barely listening to Piper, and placed the glass on the bedside table with a bit more violence than needed. Then I threw off the blankets and sat up. When I started to get up, Piper tried to push me back down.

“Hey, you’re still weak,” she insisted. “You can’t go wandering –”

I ignored her and grabbed her wrists, taking her off me. Of course, I didn’t mean to be rude or hurt her, especially because she was probably the one who had been taking care of me for most of the time, but my brain was set on seeing Annabeth. I needed to get to her.

I was vaguely aware of Piper trying to charmspeak me back to sleeping; maybe if I’d been listening, it would have affected me. Since it was useless, she got to the door before I did – I was still a bit dizzy – and called for someone down the hallway before coming back and trying to force me into bed. Honestly, I was so physically tired that I was surprised she couldn’t move me much. Apparently, my subconscious really wanted Annabeth.

Then Leo showed up, and with his help Piper managed to tuck me under the blankets again. I caught Leo saying something like, “Man, I’m sorry, but you’re asking for it,” and I was out cold again.

The fourth time, also known as the time I woke up for real, I was accompanied by Hazel, who was sat on a chair next to the bed and staring at her hands with a miserable expression on her face. She looked so down that I found myself worrying about her instead of Annabeth for a moment.

“Hazel?” I asked weakly and her head shot up. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot. “Are you okay?”

She let out a small, humorless chuckle. “I should be the one asking you that question, Percy Jackson.”

My head went nuts again and I groaned. My left temple really hurt and I wondered if I had really passed out the last time or if Leo had hit me with something. I honestly couldn’t tell, which was incredibly lame if you think of it.

I had so many questions trying to make their way out that I couldn’t speak. Hazel did for me then. “We’re still flying over Greece trying to figure out exactly what to do next. Thanatos wasn’t exactly helpful with his advice this time. We were hoping you and Annabeth could help us with that. Leo’s going crazy.” I opened my mouth, but Hazel understood my question and answered quickly. “Yes, he gave you that,” she pointed to the left side of my head. “He apologizes and claims he had no choice. You were scaring him and Piper.”

I managed a chuckle, which vanished right away. Hazel looked down at me with a painful gaze. Then she sighed and offered me her hand. “Come on. I’ll take you to Annabeth.”

Something clicked on my mind when she said that, and the next thing I remember she was opening the door to Annabeth’s room. I took notice of Piper spinning slowly on the desk chair, but when my eyes caught sight of a blonde maze of hair against the white pillow, I pushed through Hazel and knelt next to the bed.

“Hey, there,” I stroked Annabeth’s face lightly and her eyelids fluttered. I kept whispering for her to wake up for me, and sometime in the middle of it I heard the room’s door being closed behind me. I didn’t need to look around to know that Hazel and Piper were gone. Finally, her gray eyes opened and focused on me. Her lips twisted upwards a bit. “You idiot.”

I laughed for real and kissed her cheek. “I love you, too, Annabeth. How are you feeling?”

She ran both her hands through her face and hair, stretching a bit in the process. Annabeth grabbed my hand, the one that wasn’t caressing her hair, and held it tightly against her chest. “Better now. The nightmares…” I nodded so she wouldn’t have to finish. I knew exactly what she was talking about.

Annabeth smiled. “Hey, we should start keeping a score. World – zero; Annabeth and Percy – four hundred and sixty-five.”

I laughed again. The fact that she could crack jokes meant she was still herself.

Not worrying about what Coach Hedge might do if he walked in, I slipped under the covers next to Annabeth and held her close. I felt her warmth and heartbeat, telling me constantly that she was alive in my arms, and for that I was thankful. I kept her there as she counted how many times we had beaten the odds so she could keep her score true.

I wanted to laugh at Gaea’s face, and I would have if it helped anything in defeating her. She kept saying from the beginning how doomed I was and how she was going to spill Annabeth’s blood and mine to reawaken herself. She talked about how we were her little paws and how she could toy with us and drive us insane in Tartarus. She always said we couldn’t fight her, that she had already won.

Well, I’m sorry, but it seems you are dead wrong.