Annie's PoV

I didn't understand what was up with Gab. Ze kept muttering to zeirself and shaking zeir head. I tried to ask em what they were doing as we were riding on Damasan's drakon, but all I got from em was that ze was working out a problem. I even stole zeir bow off zeir back in the most obvious way possible to get em to say something instead of muttering to zeirself, but ze didn't even bat an eye.

At least Nico seemed to be doing better if one could call having an angry glint in his eye and a fiery determination to get to the Lethe as soon as possible while killing everything that got in the way "better". He was sitting in front of Nelson in case Nelson needed to help him again, and he was glaring at the ground as if stabbing it would fix everything. "We're almost there," Bob called over his shoulder.

Nico looked up and gave a curt nod before resuming his staring contest with the ground. I sighed and looked up at Bob, but his back was turned to me. Small Bob was walking back and forth across his shoulders. "Should we expect a fight when we get there?" I asked him.

He turned his again to try and look at me. "Possibly. Lethe is... forgetful."

"Great," Nelson muttered as he fingered his bow lightly. "All we need is a goddess who will forget she decided not to kill us."

I burst out laughing, and the other three turned around to look at me strangely. I looked at my lap and tried to calm down, but when I looked back up at them, I started laughing again. "Annie, are you okay?" Gab asked in bewilderment.

"Y-yeah," I choked out. "I'm-" I couldn't say anymore because I started laughing even harder than before.

"We're here!" Bob called over my laughing.

"Annie, please calm down. We don't want to attract attention." Nelson pleaded.

"Alright, alright, I'm calm," I said as I wiped tears from my eyes. We got off the drakon, and Damasan walked up to the edge of the river next to Bob.

The rest of us approached the river more cautiously and peered into the depths below. "Lethe? We need to talk to you. Are you there?" Bob called down to the river. Nothing happened. I felt really stupid expecting a river to answer back, and I was about to suggest we go find this Achyls chick (she can't be that bad, right?) when the river exploded.

We took several hasty steps backward to avoid the water as a water spout took the shape of a humanoid form. In a few seconds, the water turned into a woman with long flowing black hair and a simple but elegant white dress. She shook her head a little, and droplets of the river rained down in front of us. She opened her eyes, and they were milky white like the river. "Did someone call me?" She asked in a slow, dreamy voice.

"Don't touch her," Gab whispered frantically. I didn't need zeir warning to figure out there was no way I was going near her.

"Yes, we did, Lady Lethe," Bob said. "We were wondering if you could-"

"You dare to disturb my sleep? You dare to bring me out of hiding in this dark and cruel place?" She shrieked.

"Lady Lethe, please, we only-" Gab began, but she swiped her hand at em and ze jumped back to avoid it.

"Fools! You better give me a good reason for awakening me. I haven't been happy since I lost my Netflix service down here, and at least sleeping could take my mind off of it. Why must you remind me of where I am, the televisionless wasteland of Tartarus?" She cried.

"She's upset about her lack of Netflix service more than about where she actually is?" Nelson mouthed at me. I just shrugged and shook my head helplessly.

"We were wondering if you could help us," Nico said.

"And why would I help you? Who are you?" Lethe asked.

We explained what we were down here to do, and Bob explained his idea of how Lethe could help us. If she could make the hordes of monsters forget that they saw us as we passed, we wouldn't raise the alarm. When we finished explaining, Lethe looked at us thoughtfully. Finally, she said, "Who are you again?"

"Ugh! This is hopeless! We don't have the time to keep explaining who we are to a forgetful goddess who might not even help us!" Nico exclaimed angrily before he stomped away.

Everyone else started to run after Nico except for Bob and I. I explained who we were one more time and prayed that she would remember. "I don't-" she started to say, but then a booming voice from somewhere close by cut her off.

"There they are! Get them!"

I drew my bow and arrow and whipped around to see five cyclopses charging toward my friends. I ran forward and shot arrows at them until I felt a hand drag me back and cover my mouth. I tried to scream, but the person who caught me only laughed. "And who do you think is going to save you now?"

"I will not tolerate this animosity!" Lethe shouted from behind me. My captor spun us around to face her, and her eyes were glowing angrily. "You two must forget this encounter. That is the cure to this unnecessary violence!"

I managed to pull my captor's hand away from my mouth. "Wait! But don't you want Netflix?" I shouted desperately.

"What?" Lethe asked.

"Netflix! If you help me and my friends, we can get you your Netflix back!" I said.

"Don't listen to her! If you help us and Tartarus, we can give you something more valuable than Netflix!" My captor said.

"Like what?" Lethe asked skeptically.

"Power?" My captor asked.

Lethe looked at them for a moment. "Netflix is more appealing than power. Annie Cortez, I shall indeed help you and your friends to succeed in your quest."

"But-" my captor's words were cut short as Lethe stepped out of her river and dragged them into the river. I barely had a chance to recognize that he was another cyclops before he slipped under the water.

"Now, where are we going again?" Lethe asked me.

I'm not sure if Nico is going to be happy that we have help or if he is going to be pissed we're going to have to keep reminding her that she decided to help us.