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Percy grabbed wildly for Annabeth’s hand before the Darkness, conjured by Nyx’s children, clouded his vision. His mist body was still clunky and uncoordinated but he managed to catch Annabeth’s hand, somehow. With their hands clenched together, they jumped into the void, aiming for Nyx’s Mansion, suspended over the primordial abyss. As they fell towards the black marble floor of the mansion of Night, Percy felt his hope slipping away as the torches illuminating the entrance of the house of madness, glowing a blackish white, faded into view. Night’s mansion whipped by just out of reach and Percy grabbed Annbeth closer.
They plummeted into the depths of the abyss, the negligible light from the gateway to the House of Night fading fast. As the darkness grew thicker, Percy lost all sense of direction. All he knew was Annabeth’s hand and his own heartbeat. Slowly it became harder to breathe, a crushing weight squeezing Percy’s body and a burning in his gut that he usually associated with overtaxing his demigod abilities. Percy grunted in pain but no sound entered the void. The pain steadily grew and Percy could tell Annabeth was also in pain because she squeezed his hand as hard as he was squeezing hers. Soon it became unbearable and Percy lost consciousness.
When Percy woke up, he was extremely confused. Last he remembered, he and Annabeth had jumped off the cliffs of Tartarus to attempt to pass through the Mansion of Night and failed to make the jump, ending up in the abyss of Chaos. Not only was he now alive but somehow his clothes and armor were repaired. Percy’s military surplus pants and tight black Under Armor T-shirt were no longer hanging off of him by threads, ripped from monster attacks in Tartarus. His padded vambraces, thrown on in a hurry as he left the Argo II, and his chestplate, which he had put on after he and Jason defeated the twin giants and got picked up by the Argo II, were once again solid celestial bronze. His boots had regained all their tread and the acid burn on the side of his left boot was gone as well. His hoodie was on the outside of his armor, covering it. He sat up and looked around. He was in a forest of trees, most of which were tall as redwoods and a navy blue hue with purple leaves. Many smaller deciduous trees filled in the understory and lower canopy layers, from what Percy could see on the ground. Annabeth laid on the ground to Percy’s right and her clothes and armor had been repaired as well. As he gazed at the daughter of Athena, Percy noticed that her gray streak from holding up the Sky, which had been missing when they reunited in New Rome, had returned.
Annabeth jolted awake after about a minute and immediately Percy felt the sensation of something snapping into place, like his back cracking unexpectedly when stretching or like the tug in his gut when he flexed his control over water a little too far. Instantly, he sought out Annabeth’s gaze. They made eye contact and Percy felt a brief jolt of surprise, distinct from and echoing his own. Annabeth’s face twitched as she surveyed their surroundings and Percy knew she was deep in thought, recognizing the expression from whenever Annabeth was trying to solve a particularly hard problem. Knowing it to be unwise to disturb Annabeth in this state unless there was immediate danger, Percy stood up and stretched. Both their swords lay on the ground between them and as Percy moved to pick up Riptide, he felt its pen form cap poke his thigh.
He picked up Anaklusmos and examined it. The celestial bronze no longer glowed and distinctive ripples, similar to damascus steel, appeared in the metal. The ripples seemed alive, constantly in motion, ebbing and flowing like the tides, and Percy was reminded that, like him, Zoë Nightshade came from the sea. Percy grabbed the cap to Riptide and touched the pen cap to the point of his sword. The 3 foot xiphos style blade quickly shrank into its pen form, which Percy pocketed. He picked up the 3 foot Drakon bone sword that Damasen gave to Annabeth. Percy pressed his pinky finger to the edge of the bone weapon and the sharp white blade sliced through his skin easily. Percy quickly put the sword down near Annabeth and began to suck on his finger in an attempt to make the pain go away.
“We’re either hallucinating or we died and didn’t go to the Underworld. ” Annabeth stated, rising from her meditative position.
“What? ” Percy asked, puzzlement clear across his face.
“The trees are fuckin’ blue, Percy. That’s not normal, even for us.”
“Well, I don’t see what’s wrong with blue trees. Clearly they chose to be a superior color.”
“Be serious, Percy. We should scout around.”
“We’re not splitting up.” Percy vehemently protested.
“Calm down, Seaweed Brain. We go together.”
“As long as we’re together, Wise Girl.”
Percy helped Annabeth stand and checked her armor straps as she did the same for him. The two demigods locked gazes and again Percy felt a spark of emotion not his own, this time a complicated jumble of fear, love, amusement, and disbelief. Annabeth leaned in and kissed him and together they set off towards the sun. Percy moved cautiously through the unknown forest a little behind and to the left of Annabeth.
Nearly two weeks had passed and Percy was still adjusting to the forest he found himself in with his best friend and partner, Annabeth. Not only were the trees different colors but some produced massive sour fruits the size of melons, while others used pitchers the size of large pots to trap and digest animals. Despite these strange characteristics of a few of the tree species, the trees were the tamest of the strange organisms that Percy observed. Their first night, Percy and Annabeth climbed into a tree and tied themselves together and then to the tree, to prevent falling out of the tree or being separated. To prevent attacks or accidents, they slept in shifts with one of them guarding the other as they slept. They were both shocked at the 3 moons in the night sky and Annabeth took first watch so that she could ponder it while Percy fell asleep quickly due to exhaustion. On their third day, they encountered a pack of strange canines the size of horses with dark fur colors. Percy found out that Riptide’s edges, no longer the trademark glowing coppery sheen of celestial bronze, were still able to cut the wolfish creatures, meaning either they were mythological or the sword had changed in more than just appearance. Annabeth managed to set up several net traps and snare traps thanks to her newly realized Athenian inheritance of weaving combined with a childhood spent at Camp Half-Blood. They both had basic survival skills learned at camp and practiced during their quests and missions during the Second Titan War and the demigods put their talents to good use.
By the fifth night, they had woven backpacks made of plant fiber to carry food and extra materials and had created a hammock to share at night. On the tenth day, Annabeth was encouraging Percy to figure out how to control his newest ability, bloodbending, which he had developed just before they fell into the void, when they made an interesting discovery. Annabeth had a host of new powers that ranged from telekinesis to limited precognition. Percy found he could also use the same powers and together they pondered whether this new power was part of the reason they could sense each other’s emotions faintly. While Percy was exploring what was possible with their new power, he sensed emotions emanating from Anaklusmos, his faithful sword. The Xiphos seemed grateful to be wielded by Percy and it almost felt like the blade’s soul was singing, hunting horns melded with melodies from the garden of the Hesperides’, twined with the crashing of waves against the shore and thousands of feet marching in a phalanx. After twenty days in the strange forest, Percy and Annabeth had enough control over the odd new power they had acquired that it no longer burst from them seemingly at random but they had experienced a series of vivid demigod dreams in which groups of armored warriors who shot colored lights from gun-like weapons fought against robed warriors wielding sticks of light.
Vivid demigod dreams aside, Percy had noticed signs of habitation. A lean-to against an old, gnarled tree, a fire pit inside a cave with fresh ash and still warm embers, a herbivore skeleton, similar to a moose, burned in the remains of a fire contained in a stone circle. Percy pointed out all of these indications of a human or monster presence to Annabeth, who just nodded and told him that she saw them too. On the morning of the 28th day, Percy woke up to Annabeth, who had taken second watch after waking from a nightmare, poking him and projecting “quiet”, “caution”, “love”, and “urgency” through their mental link. As their control had grown over the reality warping powers they had found themselves with, Percy and Annabeth had explored their mental link, figuring out that they could project images and emotions to each other. Percy snapped to alertness, grabbing his pack, and followed Annabeth as she scrambled from tree to tree. Annabeth stopped and Percy caught up to her. He opened his mouth to ask what was wrong. Annabeth reached out to shush Percy with a finger on his lips and gestured with her other hand to a group of bipedal humanoids. Percy instantly captured Annabeth’s finger in his mouth, causing her to yank her hand away and wipe it on his shirt. She grinned at him before her face grew serious again. Percy counted 8 humanoids with very different appearances. 2 of them appeared human, 1 looked like a sasquatch, 3 had head protrusions but they were all arranged differently, 1 looked like a blue skinned and red eyed human, and the last one had a mask and goggles on an orange leathery skin. Percy heard them talking in a strange language and wielding spears and what looked like a gun of some sort.
The demigods slowly and carefully began to leave the area. Percy crept after Annabeth, away from the bipedal creatures. About 10 minutes after they lost sight of the group of eight, a wolf’s howl echoed through the forest, originating close to where the teenagers crouched. 5 of the oddly colored, native, horse sized wolves burst from the underbrush to Percy’s left. Both demigods pulled out and uncapped their pens, transforming them into swords, and stood back to back as the giant wolves circled them. The wolves darted forward to attack and received a slash or a kick to the muzzle. Percy and Annabeth played this deadly game of chicken with the wolves until they had killed two of the giant beasts. The other three animals raced off to lick their wounds and the half-bloods heard fast approaching footsteps. They quickly clambered up a tree and took off, racing from branch to branch across the trees. They heard rapidly fading voices shouting at them in a foreign language.
For the next 5 days, Percy and Annabeth moved quickly through the forest in an attempt to lose their pursuers that they heard occasionally, when the group of 8 got too close. On the 5th day, as Annabeth braided a rope, Percy heard a sound similar to the plane engines that he heard frequently living in New York coming from every direction around them. Percy grabbed Annabeth’s shoulder and got her attention. They both checked each other’s armor straps quickly, drew their swords, and took a few deep breaths to calm themselves. 12 figures in full body armor with T-shaped visors, brandishing sci-fi looking guns emerged from the foliage using jetpacks, dropping to the ground around the demigods in a circle. One of the warriors called out something, but it still sounded like gibberish to Percy. “I have no clue what you just said, '' Percy responded. Annabeth rolled her eyes, “Seaweed Brian, if you didn’t understand them, why would you think they’re going to understand you?” . Percy just shrugged.
Percy noticed the warriors tightening their grip on their weapons as the half-bloods were talking. When one of the warriors, a little shorter than the rest, took aim at Annabeth, Percy exploded into action. He called on the new power and threw dry debris and dirt into the air to create a cloud of dust as he charged forward. He made it to the warrior in 10 quick steps and slashed the barrel of the gun, cleaving the weapon in two. The warrior immediately dropped their hand to their belt and began to pull a knife when Percy tried to slice their helmet. Anaklusmos didn’t pierce the armor but it did disorient the warrior and they dropped their knife. Percy caught the knife as he slid around the armored fighter and grabbed them in a rear naked choke, with the beautiful gray metal dagger on the side of the warrior's neck. He saw Annabeth doing something similar to the next fighter to his left in the circle. Percy and Annabeth both backed up with their hostages, standing a few feet apart, facing the other 10 warriors. The warriors slowly shook off their confusion and wiped their visors to clear the dirt and grime caused by the demigods’ powerful telekinesis distraction. When they noticed Percy and Annabeth’s hostages, they slowly crouched to place their guns on the ground. When Percy was about to try to demand that the fighters remove their helmets, a blue sniper shot clipped Annabeth’s side, which did not do any damage because of her celestial bronze armor but stumbled her and caused her to loosen her grip on her hostage. The warrior slammed their head back into Annabeth’s nose, forcing her to release her grip, but Annabeth was used to this particular trick as it was a favorite of her brother, Malcolm. She instinctively kicked out the back of the warrior's knee and smashed the hilt of her drakon bone sword into the back of the warrior’s neck, just below the bottom of their helmet. She was about to haul the unfortunate fighter back into a choke hold when multiple blue rings of energy hit her. Most of them hit her armor but a few hit her head and she dropped to the ground.
Percy’s grip loosened as he watched Annabeth go down and his cold fury began seeping into his presence. Ice began to form on the grass and foliage as Percy’s anger caused his demigod power to run out of control and he unconsciously froze the dew. He drew his arm holding the knife across the neck of his hostage and let the body fall. He didn’t notice the small amount of blood for a neck wound or the light hum of Annabeth’s unconscious mind in the back of his, concentrated as he was exacting revenge for Annabeth. He took a step forward and was struck by over 24 blue rings of light, dropping to the ground in a heap.