Chapter One

Percy's POV

"Annabeth!" I yelled.

"Shhh!" An invisible hand clamped over my mouth and wrestled me down behind a big golden cauldron. "You want to get us killed?"

I found her head and took off her Yankees cap. She shimmered into existence in front of me, scowling, her face streaked with ash and grime. "Percy, what is your problem?"

"We're going to have company!" I explained quickly about the monster orientation class. Her eyes widened.

"So that's what they are," she said. "Telekhines. I should've known. And they're making… Well, look."

We peeked over the cauldron. In the center of the platform stood four sea demons, but these were fully grown, at least eight feet tall. Their black skin glistened in the firelight as they worked, sparks flying as they took turns hammering on a long piece of glowing hot metal.

"The blade is almost complete," one said. "It needs another cooling in blood to fuse the metals."

"Aye," a second said. "It shall be even sharper than before."

"What is that?" I whispered.

Annabeth shook her head. "They keep talking about fusing metals. I wonder-"

"They were talking about the greatest Titan weapon," I said. "And they . . . they said they made my father's trident."

"The telekhines betrayed the gods," Annabeth said. "They were practicing dark magic. I don't know what, exactly, but Zeus banished them to Tartarus."

"With Kronos."

She nodded. "We have to get our-"

No sooner had she said that than the door to the classroom exploded and young telekhines came pouring out. They stumbled over each other, trying to figure out which way to charge.

"Put your cap back on," I said. "Get our!"

"What?" Annabeth shrieked. "No! I'm not leaving you."

"I've got a plan. I'll distract them. You can use the metal spider-maybe it'll lead you back to Hephaestus. You have to tell him what's going on."

"But you'll be killed!"

"I'll be fine. Besides, we've got no choice."

Annabeth glared at me like she was going to punch me. And then she did something that surprised me even more. She kissed me.

"Be careful, Seaweed Brain." She put on her hat and vanished.

I probably would've sat there for the rest of the day, staring at the lava and trying to remember what my name was, but the sea demons jarred me back to reality.

"There!" one yelled. The entire class of telekhines charged across the bridge towards me. I ran for the middle of the platform, surprising the four elder sea demons so much they dropped the red-hot blade. It was about six feet long and curved like a crescent moon. I'd seen a lot of terrifying things, but this unfinished whatever-it-was scared me worse.

The elder demons got over their surprise quickly. There were four ramps leading off the platform, and before I could dash in any direction, each of them had covered an exit.

The tallest one snarled. "What do we have here? A son of Poseidon?"

"Yes," another growled. "I can smell the sea in his blood."

I raised Riptide. My heart was pounding.

"Strike down one of us, demigod," the third demon said, "and the rest of us shall tear you to shreds. Your father betrayed us. He took our gift and said nothing as we were cast into the pit. We will see him sliced to pieces. He and all the other Olympians."

I wished I had a plan. I wished I hadn't been lying to Annabeth. I'd wanted her to get our safely, and I hoped she'd been sensible enough to do it. But now it was dawning on me that this might be the place I would die. No prophecies for me. I would get overrun in the heart of a volcano by a pack of dog-faced sea-lion people. The young telekhines were at the platform now, too, snarling and waiting to see how their four elders would deal with me.

I felt something burning against the side of my leg. The ice whistle in my pocket was getting colder. If I ever needed help, no was the time. But I hesitated. I didn't trust Quintus's gift.

Before I could make up my mind the tallest telekhine said, "Let us see how strong he is. Let us see how long it takes him to burn!"

He scooped some lava out of the nearest furnace. It set his fingers ablaze, but this didn't seem to bother him at all. The other telekhines did the same. The first one threw a glop of molten rock at me and set my pants on fire. Two more splattered across my chest. I dropped my sword in sheer terror and swatted at my clothes. Fire was engulfing me. Strangely, it felt only warm at first, but it was getting hotter by the instant.

"Your father's nature protects you," one said. "Makes you hard to burn. But not impossible, youngling. Not impossible."

They threw more lava at me, and I remember screaming. My whole body was on fire. The pain was worse than anything I'd ever felt. I was being consumed. I crumpled to the metal floor and heard the sea demon children howling in delight.

Then I remembered the voice of the river naiad at the ranch: The water is within me

When I awoke I was in a waiting room full of ghostly figures and I realized where I was at.

I needed the sea. I felt a tugging sensation in my gut, but I had nothing around to help me. Not a faucet or a river. Not even a petrified seashell this time. And besides, the last time I'd unleashed my power at the stables, there'd been that scary moment when it had almost gotten away from me.

I had no choice. I called the sea. I reached inside myself and remembered the waves and the currents, the endless power of the ocean. And I let it loose in one horrible scream.

Afterward, I could never describe what happened. An explosion, a tidal wave, a whirlwind of power simultaneously catching me up and blasting me downward into the lava. Fire and water collided, superheated steam, and I shot upward from the heart of the volcano in a huge explosion, just one piece of flotsam thrown free by a million pounds of pressure. The last thing I remember before losing consciousness was flying, flying so high Zeus would never have forgiven me, and then beginning to fall, smoke, and fire and water streaming from me. I was a comet hurtling toward the earth.

d-d-d

Percy slowly began to come around, he could hear the sound of voices, and noticed that he was sitting down in what felt like a chair. He slowly opened my eyes and was startled to find someone looking down at him.

"Percy Jackson, I can't say that I'm happy to see you. I thought you would last a few more years before you died. Luckily for you, you have a free ride to the underworld" said Charon winking. "Those drachma's you gave me a couple years ago, are making me feel generous."

Percy laughed, even though it was no laughing matter, Charon was barely ever generous. Charon motioned Percy to follow him. Percy took one last look outside the window to the world outside. Already missing the feeling of the warm sun on his face, and the smell of the sea. Percy sighed as he got up from the chair, turning his back from the sun and began to follow Charon. He glanced quickly around before he got onto the elevator and was glad to find that Annabeth wasn't among the dead gathered there, she must have gotten out before the explosion. He sent a prayer to Athena thanking her for keeping Annabeth safe.

Percy wished as the elevator's doors closed and they began to descended, that he could have said good-bye to his mother, his stepfather, Tyson, Grover, and everybody else he cared about. All too soon they came to a wrenching stop and with a ding the doors opened. Charon's boat floated on top of the river, waiting to be used. With all the other ghosts, Percy boarded the boat, Charon's appearance changed as he stepped aboard and began to push them across.

Going across the River Styx didn't frighten Percy as it had when he was still alive. In fact it made him sad as he looked down into the water; it was even more polluted now than it had been a few years ago. Percy was rocked out of his thoughts as the boat hit the opposite shore. As soon as he stepped down his clothes changed into the black robes of the dead.

Percy was barely on the shore when he found himself surrounded by five skeleton soldiers, each carrying a gun, Percy recognized them as Uncle Hades personal guards. He reached into his pocket expecting to find Riptide there as it always was, but it wasn't. It must be in the pocket of his dead body. That thought stop Percy short as he froze. He was actually dead, and somewhere on the surface was his body. He shook his head, he didn't want to think about it. The skeletons cocked their guns, Percy slowly raised his hands showing that he wasn't armed. A skeleton wearing a WWII uniform stepped forward and cuffed his hands together before he prodded Percy with the barrel of his gun. Percy reluctantly followed them with growing dread as they lead him to Hade's palace, heading straight to the throne room where Percy came face to face with Hades himself and he wasn't very happy. The aura that usually surrounded him was intensified, the souls that were trapped in his robes were moving around frenziedly. The skeletons in his midst seemed to quake with fear.

Hade's glare bore into Percy for a moment, long enough for the hair on the back of his neck to rise. It was even worse when he finally began to speak.

"Boy, do you realized what you have done?" yelled Hades, his voice echoing throughout the entire Underworld. Rocks from the ceiling even fell from the force of the yell. It made Percy fell like he needed to curl up into a little ball, but he stood straight and meet Hade's fiery gaze.

"No, Lord Hades I do not know what you are talking about."

This seemed to make Hades even angrier; Percy was shocked as Hades stood up and backhanded Percy, causing him to fly into one of the columns in the room. Even with him being dead, Percy felt the pain of the blow. He struggled to set up as Hades moved to stand over him. In a deadly whisper, Hades told Percy what he had caused.

"Because of your explosion at Mount. St. Helen's, dead have been pouring into here none stop. Typhon is beginning to stir in his sleep. In the not too distant future he will wake, you can depend on that and nothing will be able to stop him. This will all come to pass because of you Percy Jackson, it is your fault, and I have a just punishment for you."

Hades turned away from Percy to look at his guards. "Take him to the Field of Punishment."

He turned to look at Percy again, an evil look of triumph filled his face as he watched his guards haul Percy to his feet. "I have a special place for my dear nephew."

Percy legs turned to jelly as he heard these words, if it wasn't for the skeletons he would have fallen to the floor. "Lord Hades, have mercy. I didn't mean for the explosion to happen, oh please have mercy."

Hades just leaned down and patted his check. "No Percy Jackson, to show you mercy would be a kindness. All I can give you is false hope for I have a secret for you. Percy Jackson, you are not fully dead. You're only 3/4ths shade, your body is still alive, somehow only a part of your soul arrived in the Underworld. If you manage to reunite with the rest of your soul before the sun sets on the third day you will live again. If you don't you will become fully dead. However I will not allow that to happen, in three days Nico will be the one of the Prophecy, and he will decide what will happen to the fate of the world" said Hades. With a flip of his cloak he began to walk towards the Field, the skeletons followed without a word. Lord Hades traveled through the maze of tortures, each one more horrible than the one before it. The skeletons halted as Hades came to a stop in front of a giant cauldron. Five men could easily sit in it comfortably. It sat next to a bed of lava, a ladder leaned against the rim. A skeleton was on the ladder securing a pair of manacles to the lip, another one was inside of it securing a pair to the bottom.

"Put him in the cauldron," ordered Hades. Percy struggled as the skeletons dragged him towards the cauldron.

"No, Mercy" he yelled as the skeleton grabbed him by the hair and used it to drag him onto the ladder. Hades watched satisfied as his arms and legs were secured inside the cauldron. He turned back to the skeletons.

"Put the cauldron over the fire and begin to fill it with water." The skeletons were quick to obey, the cauldron was swung over the lava, beginning to heat immediately as they ran to get water.

Inside the cauldron, Percy began to panic. The heat was intense and began to burn his feet. With his feet chained tight, he couldn't move them. He began to whimper in pain, as his shoes began to melt. He cried out as they caught on fire, only to be saved when the first bucketful of water was splashed into the cauldron. He managed to kick the remains of the shoes off of his feet. The water only took minutes before it began to boil, blister started forming immediately on his feet, and with each bucketful they got bigger. Percy gave up trying to be brave and began to scream in pain. The skeletons kept filling the cauldron until the water was up to Percy's neck, and Percy had slipped into shock. The water had already turned red with Percy's blood as the blisters burst.

Hades climbed the ladder and gazed down at his nephew. "Don't worry Percy, no one is going to come and rescue you. I'm sealing the entrances to the Underworld until your three days are up. Maybe if you're a good boy, I'll let you out of there when Nico fulfills the prophecy in the next couple of years" said Hades laughing.

"Guards, kill anyone who approaches if there alive, and keep the cauldron filled" he ordered before he left

Percy lowered his head till it touched his chest, the water had already evaporated so much that he could do this. No one could see him crying from this position, he knew that all hope was lost.

-s-s-s-s-s—s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s

The spider didn't lead her to Hephaestus workshop again. It wandered the tunnels of the labyrinth, with Annabeth running behind it. It soon stopped and climbed the wall, Annabeth saw that it had stopped next to the mark of Daedalus. Ignoring the spider, she pushed on the mark. A metal ladder fell next to her, pulling out her hat she put it on before she began to climb out. The ladder lead into a group of boulders, at first Annabeth thought she was back at camp until she saw the skyline. Skyscrapers meet her gave, and she realized that she was in Central Park in New York. She couldn't understand why the spider had lead her here. The park seemed unusually quiet, only a few birds chirping. Suddenly a voice broke the silence.

"You think that's good, well look at this, Carter, Hada-Jov."

Annabeth began to cautiously walk toward the voice, she peeked around a tree and was saw that there was a boy and a girl. The girl was Caucasian with blue streaks in her hair. The other was an African American boy which she took to be Carter. She guessed that the boy was older than the boy, as Annabeth watched the girl lifted off the ground turning a complete circle, Annabeth noticed a strange object in the girls hand, it seemed to be a staff.

Annabeth wondered if the girl was a daughter of Zeus, it would explain her being able to fly, and also the blue streaks. Though she didn't know what she had yelled, it sounded like a different language, defiantly not Greek.

"Sadie, come down before you break your neck" called to boy, Carter. Annabeth wondered if the Gods had led her to them. Why else would the spider lead her to this boy and girl.

"Hello?" Annabeth called approaching them, taking off her ball cap. Carter and Sadie snapped their heads her way startled. Sadie realizing that she was still floating, and she landed quickly. She began to wave her hands.

"You didn't see anything" she said in a hypnotic voice. Carter just rolled his eyes.

"Sadie stop it, I told you not to be more careful, she obviously seen you."

"Well what are we going to do about it, where not supposed to be here, we can't exactly tell Bast can we" whispered Sadie in a harsh voice.

"It's okay, I've seen people do stranger things. I'm Annabeth Chase, who's your godly parents" asked Annabeth, certain that they were demigods. why else would the spider lead her to them. Carter and Sadie looked at each other again and then back to the blonde girl before them.

"She must be like us," whispered Sadie to Carter, this time more quietly then before. Carter nodded at Sadie, before he turned his attention back to Annabeth.

"Osiris, I'm Carter Kane and this is my sister Sadie, but how did you know we had a godly parent?" asked Carter, he wondered if she had heard the tape they sent out, or did she randomly run into them.

Annabeth looked back and forth at the two, confused, there was no Greek god of that name, it sounded Egyptian. If she remembered correctly he was the King of the Dead.

"What do you mean Osiris, aren't you guys demigods?" asked Annabeth.

Now the Kanes were really confused. Sadie looked at Annabeth like she was nuts.

"I don't know what a demigod is but were not one of them, were godlings, I'm the host of Iris, and Carter is the host of Horus."

"That isn't possible, the Egyptian Gods don't exist."

"Well if you don't think the Egyptian Gods exist which ones do you think do" asked Carter, his curiosity beginning to rise.

"The Greek Gods, I'm the daughter of Athena, Goddess of Wisdom" she paused when Carter and Sadie exchanged looks. Annabeth's head was reeling the Egyptian Gods existed, but that didn't matter know, she had to find help. Percy was counting on her. "I'm sorry for disturbing you, I thought you could help me, I'll let you be." Annabeth quickly turned away and began to walk away, heading back to the entrance of the labyrinth.

Carter began to jog after her. "Wait, who said we couldn't help you" he called as he caught up with Annabeth, he grabbed her arm to stop her. She turned to look at him, meeting his brown eyes with her grey ones.

"Carter, this is the first time I've ever heard about the Egyptian Gods being real, there must be a reason why our world never meet before now. I don't know if you can help me."

"There's always a first time for everything. Carter Kane host of Egyptian Gods, nice to meet you Annabeth daughter of Greek Gods" Carter shook Annabeth's hand, Sadie just rolled her eyes. Carter just smiled before he turned serious. "Annabeth, why don't you just tell us the problem and let me and Sadie be the judge if we can help you or not?"

Annabeth sighed giving in, maybe they could help her. "My friend Percy and I got into some trouble during our quest. He stayed behind to distract the monsters and sent me ahead to find the Greek god of the Forge, Hephaestus, but the spider I was following lead me to you instead."

"Spider?" asked Sadie looking around quickly, she hated spiders.

"It was a mechanic one. Anyway I need to find Hephaestus quickly, Percy is in grave danger."

Suddenly the ground began to shake under the trio's feet.

"Earthquake," yelled Carter, "Get back to the clearing it's the safest place."

The three tried to get back into the meadow clearing, but something held them back. It seemed like no matter how hard or fast they ran, they moved as if they were trapped in quicksand. Annabeth was the only one who saw the tree beginning to fall.

"Carter watch out!" yelled Annabeth, reaching for his hand. The world seemed to snap back to regular time as Carter looked up and saw the tree falling. Annabeth's fingers brushed against Carter's as she reached for him, but she wasn't fast enough, her eyes meet his brown one as the tree fell on top of him.

"Carter!" yelled Sadie. She tried to run to him stumbling as the ground heaved under her. Annabeth grabbed her as another tree tumbled, dragging her into the clearing.

"Let me go, Carter! Carter!" wailed Sadie attempting to punch Annabeth. Annabeth just held on tight as the earth rolled, hoping that this wasn't Poseidon's doing. Within five minutes the earth quieted down. Annabeth removed her arms allowing Sadie to run to Carter. The quake had rolled the tree off of him, Sadie pulled his head into her lap smoothing the hair out of his eyes. He was still alive, a steady stream of blood ran out of the corner of his mouth.

"Sadie?" Carter whispered, trying to raise his head off her lap.

"Shhh Carter I'm here. I'm going to call for Bast, you're going to be alright Carter, you'll be alright" she whispered, tears running down her face.

"Don't cry Sadie, you're supposed to be the tough one" he whispered coughing weakly. Annabeth stayed back, she knew that even all the Nectar and Ambrose couldn't save him. Carter raised his hand and Sadie took it squeezing gentle.

"I love you Sadie, I'm sorry to be leaving you" he whispered, he drew in one last shaky breath before his chest stopped moving, the light in his eyes fading.

"No, no, no, Carter, Carter," wailed Sadie, shaking him, crying as she did. Annabeth came up and knelt down next to the girl and tried to comfort her, but Sadie pushed her off. She leaned down and pressed her head onto Carter's whispering his name, begging him to come back. Annabeth ripped a piece off her ruined shirt and gently wiped the blood of his face, halting when she noticed something. Even though Carter wasn't breathing anymore, there was a pulse in his neck.

-s-s-s—s-s

Hope you liked it. Please let me know what you think of it. Rewritten 2/27/12