Chapter 10 - Escape From the Castle
published: Wednesday, 30 January 2018

"What was that down there?" Leo asked quietly.

He and Jason were walking along the hallway to the meeting point.

Jason was fiddling with the coin in his pocket, his face a pale shade of white. He refused to meet Leo's eyes.

"You said to kill them," Jason said monotonously.

Leo shook his head. "Before that." He sighed. "Jason, I've never seen you like that."

Jason stopped walking and turned to Leo. His eyes were haunted with fear and regret. "Remember when I asked you about night terrors?"

Leo slowly nodded.

Jason looked down at his feet. "Well, recently, I-I've been having, well, nightmares about what happened at Camp Jupiter."

They shared a moment of silence.

"What are they like?"

"I see ghosts," Jason said miserably. "Old friends, people I didn't save. Everyone I love dead."

"Everyone?" Leo echoed.

"Everyone," Jason confirmed. "And theres always someone – a good friend – who tells me I could've done more. It was you once."

Leo didn't know how to react. He still wasn't the best at human contact or comforting friends. Was he supposed to hug Jason? Reach out and pat him on the back?

"I have them almost every night," Jason said hollowly. "And I-I guess the maid reminded me of it." He turned away. "I can't lose Piper too, Leo. I just can't."

"You won't," Leo promised.

Jason gave him a weak smile. "Don't make promises you can't keep."

Leo was suddenly reminded of Calypso. She'd told him the same thing before they'd left for the quest.

"You'll see her again," Leo insisted. "And when you do, I want you to tell her everything you just told me."

Jason frantically shook his head. "No. You're the only one who knows. If Piper knew..." He sighed in frustration. "She'd find out that I'm not as strong a person she thinks I am."

Leo frowned. "Well, she'd be better than me at this by far."

Jason chuckled.

"Tell her," Leo said. "Seriously, man–"

A sudden flash of orange in the window next to them, followed by a deafening splash of water snapped Leo and Jason back to reality.

Leo rushed to the window in alarm and glanced back at Jason in panic.

"Annabeth," Jason breathed.

They sprinted through the hallway and burst through the castle doors.

"Annabeth!" Leo yelled. "Annabeth!"

He hurried across the drawbridge, towards where he'd seen the splash, Jason at his heels. They came to a halt.

Jason shook his head, a slow grin spreading across his face. "That son of a gun."

Like something out of a movie, Percy Jackson had resurfaced, his arm wrapped around Annabeth's waist as he manipulated the currents to push them towards the shore.

Annabeth slid out of his grasp and pulled herself onto land. She wrung her hair and her clothes dry.

Percy followed suit and dried her instantly with a touch to her shoulder, though she flinched at it and backed away.

"Percy!" Leo cheered. "I knew you were alive!"

He attacked Percy with a hug, practically jumping onto him. Percy staggered back, laughing as he tried to regain his balance.

Jason and Percy shared a hug, Jason unable to stop grinning. "I can't believe you."

"I know," Percy said with a wink.

Annabeth cleared her throat. "Hate to break it to you guys, but there's a very angry primordial chasing us down."

Jason nodded. "Tartarus. A ghost we found in the kitchen told us."

Percy gave him a strange look.

"Long story," Jason told him. He pivoted in a circle. "Wait, did you find Piper?" He felt his heart start to race. "Where are the others?"

Leo and Annabeth exchanged glances.

"They'll be here," Annabeth assured him. She glanced back at the castle worriedly. "I'm sure of it."

As if on cue, Hazel, Frank and Piper appeared in the castle's hallway, desperately racing towards the drawbridge, Tartarus in hot pursuit of them with his wicked sword swinging around madly.

A loud creaking noise drew their attention to the warrior standing by the window on the castle's second storey, winding up the heavy drawbridge as quickly as he could.

"No!" Jason yelled. He took off into the air on a running start, blasting Tartarus back with a small gust of wind.

Percy grunted as he stabbed Riptide into the ground.

However, instead of usual tiny tremor, a massive earthquake rippled across Agatha, shaking the demigods off their feet and destroying houses.

"It's because we're so deep underground," Annabeth shouted as she struggled to get up. "Hurry! We need to go!"

Cracks started to run across the ground, and stones began to tumble down the castle walls.

"Stop–the–shaking!" Hazel yelled desperately as she clung onto the drawbridge rails. Are drawbridge was starting to slant as it retracted towards the castle.

Frank seemed to regain his senses and morphed into a dragon.

Jason let out a shout as an arc of lightning struck Tartarus in the chest from the tip of his spatha.

As he landed running, Jason grabbed Piper by the waist and Hazel by the arm as he took off once again into the air.

The castle was starting to crumble from the sheer strength of the earthquake, but Tartarus was still blasting his magic left and right of Jason and the girls. Jason swooped madly in attempts to dodge the blasts, but even he knew that it was only a matter of time before they were struck.

"Eat gold!" Hazel shrieked as she reached out a hand and clenched her fist. The black walls of the castle rumbled for a moment before they burst into dust as pieces of gold, jewellery and other precious metals exploded into the air. They fell in a huge flurry of shimmers, burying Tartarus in an enormous pile of treasure.

Frank the dragon lowered his altitude and grabbed the rest of his friends with his claws. Annabeth quickly leaped onto his back as Frank grabbed Leo and Percy with his claws.

All seven demigods soared through the air until they came to a tumbling stop at the door they had entered by. Jason touched down, exhausted and perspiring from carrying both Piper and Hazel through the air. 

Frank smashed into the ground, transforming back into a human as he tumbled along. Hazel yanked him up by the arm and ran through the door, followed by Piper and Jason, then Leo and Percy.

"Go! Go!" Annabeth rushed as she shoved everyone through the door, hurrying inside before slamming it shut behind her.

She let out a sigh of relief as the door disappeared. She took a deep breath to calm her racing heart.

"Um," Leo was the first to speak through the darkness. "What's going on?" A flame appeared in his palm, lighting up the area around him. 

Annabeth's eyes scanned her surroundings. There was only dried grass covering the ground, with no sign of the staircase that had brought them down in the first place.

Something wasn't right.

"Where's the stairs?" Frank asked, his voice slightly higher with panic.

"It's gone," Hazel realised.

A low cackling filled the air. "How strong can you be?" a sickly voice cooed.

"Who's there?" Jason demanded.

Annabeth sucked in a breath like she had been punched in the gut. "The test isn't to get into Agatha. It's to get out."

Her mind was racing at blinding speed. A sickly voice, disappearing stairs and trickery.

"Apate," Annabeth said loudly as she stepped away from her friends and further into the plains. She held her bronze dagger out for light. "Goddess of mischief and trickery."

There was a loud clearing of a throat.

"And Dolos," Annabeth realised. "Her counterpart."

"Indeed," the male voice said.

"Patron gods of Agatha," Annabeth said with a sigh.

The darkness seemed to bend as two figures appeared in the middle of the plain.

A tall woman with black hair in a bun – or was it blonde beach waves? Her appearance kept flickering, confusing Annabeth even more.

At her side stood an even taller, even skinnier man, with long, spindly fingers and a wicked smirk.

Apate tutted. "You don't sound happy to see us, Annabeth Chase." She laughed at Annabeth's surprise. "Yes, I've heard all about you. You and the boy – Perseus Jackson. Heroes of Olympus."

"Um, it's Percy," Percy told her.

"Bah!" Dolos scoffed. He turned to Apate. "Why are we waiting so long to pulverise them? It's the only reason I agreed to this whole scheme of yours."

Apate calmed him by slipping her hand in his. She turned back to the demigods. "As for the rest of you, don't feel forgotten. I know all of you. I make it a note to study up on potential nuisances. It makes it so much more fun to watch you squirm."

"What's the plan?" Percy hissed.

Annabeth silenced him with a glare.

"As you know," Dolos started. "A test is required to get out of Agatha. A test of strength and ability."

"If we fail?" Piper asked.

"You die," Dolos said simply.

"And if we succeed?"

Apate flourished her arms towards a door behind her. "You may leave."

"No," Annabeth said.

Apate's face fell. "What?"

"No," Annabeth repeated. "The stakes aren't worth the risk. We just won't participate, I guess." She sheathed her dagger as if to make it final.

Percy exchanged glances with his friends. They didn't know what Annabeth was up to either.

Athena always has a plan. Annabeth had told him that once.

Annabeth didn't seem to have anything planned by the look on her face, but Percy decided to take the chance.

"What do you mean "don't participate"?" Apate demanded.

Annabeth shrugged. "So I get to leave Agatha if I pas your stupid test?"

"It's a mastery of tricks," Apate insisted.

Annabeth snorted. "I don't see why I should bother with it. It's not that amazing. You want to trick me? You'll have to give me better options."

"I'll give you some ideas on how to trick your questmates!" Apate said triumphantly.

Annabeth folded her arms obstinately. "Not good enough."

"The newest prank equipment!"

"Boring."

"How about something you never knew about yourself?"

Annabeth looked intrigued, but she shook her head. "Not enough, but it's getting better."

"I'll give you a clue," Apate said eagerly. "To help you on your already impossible quest."

Annabeth pursed her lips. "A clue?"

Apate nodded with a small smirk, knowing she had the demigod's attention. "You won't succeed without it."

Annabeth thought for a moment. "Alright. Swear on the River Styx."

"I swear on the River Styx," Apate vowed.

Even underground, they could hear the rumbling of thunder in the sky that always followed a vow on the Styx.

Dolos was grinning. "I underestimated you, Annabeth Chase."

Annabeth held her head high defiantly.  

"I suppose the mightiest are always the first to fall," Dolos mused.

Apate shushed him again with a giggle. She took his hand.

"Good luck, heroes," Apate said as she cackled. "It's shame that none of you will pass the test."

Annabeth started forward in alarm, but the gods had already disappeared from sight.

A loud laughing filled the air once again.

"Rise!" Dolos boomed. "Rise!"

The ground in front of the exit door started to crack.

First a hand, then another. Seven figures started to claw their way out from the ground.

"What's going on?" Annabeth shouted. "Apate!"

The seven demigods scattered nervously, drawing their weapons.

"You aren't supposed to raise the dead," Hazel murmured, her eyes fixed on the creatures.

"The test," Apate chuckled. "They always think they can undermine me. But I am the goddess of deceit."

The first creature's head snapped up.

Annabeth staggered back with a choking gasp.

"Luke?"