Percy and Annabeth-Our Journey Through Life

15-Annabeth

"I can come with! I will come with, and you're not stopping me!" I argue.

"Annabeth, who's going to take care of Paige?"

"See, there's these things called babysitters! I'm not staying here while you go and fight! Just because I'm female doesn't mean that I am any less than you are, Perseus!"

"But what if something attacks?"

"Fine!"

"Thank the gods. You women-"

"No. I mean fine, I'll call Thalia."

He sighs.

"Fine."

~~~

I pace outside and wait. Cold fingers touch my shoulder and I jump, but I know who it is.

"Hey, Peej."

"Hey." He says with a forced smile.

"We'll get her back."

"Mom, she's in the Underworld."

"I've been there before. It's not pretty, but here I am. The sooner we find her, the less chances she and the baby will be hurt."

"Where's Nico?" He says, veering off the subject.

"I don't know. Let's just go. He'll meet us there."

I grip his arm and we rush through blackness. Finally I emerge from the dark. Percy stands next to me with Nico and Pj.

"Alright," Says Percy. "Let's do this."

~~~

Screams ring out all around us. One of them might be Starr's. I'm really worried for Pj. He's practically been crossing his fingers and twiddling his thumbs for three days. We couldn't come any sooner because Thalia had to get here first and we refused to let Pj go alone. We walk across a narrow bridge made entirely of rock. Lava bubbles below and more screams erupt as the roar of a lion echos across the giant cavern. I can see Cerberus in the distance and I slip my hand into my crossbody bag, fingering the red ball I've kept handy since I was twelve. Pj stops suddenly, and I bump into him and stumble, nearly losing my balance. He stares straight ahead where an almost unrecognizable Starr is chained to a rock. Her hair is tangled and she has a black eye, along with many cuts, a few recent ones, judging by the blood trickling down her skin. She shakes violently and her bright eyes are widened in shock. She's still pregnant, luckily. The baby is safe. Sweat and blood mix on her forehead. She wears a white tank top and black sweatpants, both with holes. The sweatpants are slashed on her right leg and a nasty-looking wound bleeds heavily. Tear tracks stain her face, and Pj walks forward slowly. He takes out a pen similar to Riptide and slashes through the chains. Unfortunately, she's heavily guarded, and all kinds of monsters surge forward. Pj pushes Starr toward us and Percy catches her by the shoulders. She winces, but remains standing. Pj and Nico stand in front of us and spread their arms. Both sons of Hades, they have small rule over the guards. And if the guards won't listen, there's also shadow travel for a quick escape. A dragon swoops overhead and we duck.

"I am the Son of Hades, and you will LISTEN TO ME!" Nico announces, waving his arms.

"I am also a Son of Hades, and you will stay where you are, or I will report it to my father! You will let us leave peacefully and I will report well!" Pj chimes in.

They murmur in agreement, surprisingly enough, and Sicily turns around.

"Well that was ea- WATCH OUT!"

We sprint carefully across the bridge as the dragon spits fire at us. A rider with an evil grin points and commands it to spew hot flames again.

Nico stops and grabs as many of us as he can, the shouts to Pj. Before I know it, we're tearing through blackness and we fall down on our living room floor. Thalia raises her eyes from 'The Fault In Our Stars' and looks at us, piled in a heap.

"Where's Pj and-" She asks, but she's interrupted as the couple collapse on top of us.

"Here." Pj says, raising his hand.

Thalia takes Starr to the bathroom and gets her cuts cleaned up.

Pj sits down on the couch, kicks off his shoes, and lays down.

"At least we got out alive."

~~~

It's almost Halloween, and Starr is recovering. The baby is still surprisingly healthy, and Sicily is only on crutches, with a few stitches and scars. Sicily and Starr are crutch buddies, because Pj's wife severely twisted her ankle. I take Paige to get her Halloween costume and Felix says he'll take her Trick-or-Treating, so he buys one too, just for fun. Reluctantly, Sicily agrees to go, so Pj and Starr also decide to tag along. Since our oldest daughter left camp, she's been very cautious about what she does and she's almost ready to move out. She never had a boyfriend, it was her choice, but she says she's looking for one now that she isn't gone most of the year. Felix is similar to his sister and has only had two girlfriends, but they didn't last long because neither were demigods. Paige finally picks out a costume, a bee, and Felix dresses up as The Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. Sicily gets a clear umbrella and some streamers and tapes the streamers around the umbrella, along with some large eyes on the top and goes as a Jellyfish. Pj gets a Ghostbuster outfit and so does Starr. Percy and I aren't going to go, but the three oldest in the group convince us to. I can't figure out which outfit I want, so it takes us a while. Finally, he decides on a costume and so do I, but we keep secrets. When we get home, he raises the costume and says in a raspy voice:

"I am Batman."

I smile. It turns out we had similar ideas, because I was running out of time and just grabbed a Batwoman one.

"Aw, dang it!"

I laugh and we put our costumes away in exchange for our many bins of decorations.

~~~

Halloween is my favorite time of year, so our house is decked out in bats, cats, and rats. Spiderwebs hang in corners and entryways, skeletons in the windows, and lights on the bushes. The 31st arrives, and we all suit up. After walking for three blocks, it starts getting late, so we go home and give out candy. I turn on the smoke machines and our walkway looks eerie. A fairy, Bert and Ernie, The Cookie Monster, The Doctor, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, Beatrice Prior, a pirate, Katniss Everdeen, Hermione Granger, a mummy, a ghost, Scooby Doo and Shaggy as well as various others come to our door. It's getting darker and the costumed figures are dwindling, and finally there's no more Candy left, so we shut off our lights and settle down for a Supernatural marathon. The baby is due soon, and every day brings the birth of my first grandchild closer and closer.

~~~~~

Hello. Sorry, I wanted the baby to be born in this chapter too, but it's gonna be Halloween fairly soon and it puts me in a good mood, so I wanted that in the chapter. So, what do you think? Should the baby be a boy or a girl? I already have names for each, but I need to know the gender you guys want to see so I can start writing. I hope you liked the chapter, even though it was kind of a filler chapter, and I hope to get working soon on an update, but the faster I know the preferred gender, the faster I can work on an update. Don't forget to vote because I'm almost at 100! Thank you ALL, every single one of you, for even viewing this. I'm so grateful because I've wanted to be an author for a majority of my life and you guys are getting me closer and closer, even if you just vote or read one chapter. It's my passion to write and you guys are seriously the best. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I love you all, and I hope to get working on a new chapter soon.

-OwlCitizen320