This one is a bit late...Wattpad was being a right bitch yesterday, so I didn't publish. But, here you go!

~~~

Jason and Ash swam swiftly and silently, killing only when they had to so as to not attract attention to themselves. They where careful, quiet, as they had trained for. It didn't take them too long to get into the Palace, but longer than they would have liked. When they entered it was to a room that seemed to be all stone, unlike the normal glass towers of the Palace.

They where on a lower level, and so while they hadn't fully expected it to be as lush and luxurious as the top layers were, they hadn't expect the rough stone walls. 

They weaved their way silently through the walls, carefully looking into the rooms, checking for prisoners and threats. 

They were almost out of the place before they came across a room that had an actual prisoner in it. Ash almost cursed at seeing Percy inside the cage. He swam forward while Jason kept his guard up for any signs of what had put Percy down here. He put a hand on the cage, only to rip it back violently. He stumbled back, away from it, as he cradled his burned hand to his chest, feeling as though the energy was being sucked out of him, a curse dying on his lips.

"Tried that," Percy said weakly, and Jason and Ash both noticed burns along various places of his body. "the thing drains your energy, makes you feel like crap as well." He murmured, curling in on himself further. 

"Anything?" Jason asked quietly, eyes flickering to the silver-haired Mer-Person. He hadn't known him for long, but he knew he had a brain on him, at least. He seemed on of the smartest in their small army, along with Annabeth and Poseidon.

"It...feeds off energy. I don't see Percy getting out unless someone else take his place," Ash muttered, hating himself for saying it. 

Jason drew a long breath, before releasing it slowly. "Squid shit." He said quietly, dropping his head. "What do I do?" He said, before raising his head. He wasn't going to take this like a wimp. 

Ash narrowed his eyes, but seemed to not want to argue. "I believe you'd need to unlatch it, and get Percy out. You may be able to avoid it but I'm not sure," He said slowly, eyes flickering to the hot metal. "I want to make sure you're aware that this could kill you?" He asked lowly. Their whole conversation had been in low voices, so Percy couldn't make out the words, if he was even trying in this state. He seemed far too worn to even attempt such a thing. 

Jason nodded shortly, clenching his jaw. Ash stepped back, and opened his arms for Percy. Jason wasted only a moment before plunging into the small ring of helplessness and hopelessness surrounded him, suffocated him, and he had trouble getting out until the lock under his fingers clicked. He grabbed Percy trying to be gentle, before chuckling him off to Ash, who caught him. 

Jason stumbled back, away from the possessed torture device, but it wanted revenge. As though it had a suction cup feature, he found himself propelled inside the cage, the door clanging shut behind him. He winced. It felt as though cold water was being dumped on him, and he was able to shoo the others away before he slumped to the ground, eyes drooping. 

Percy blinked wearily as he struggled to gain some sort of self-efficiency in his weak state. Ash shushed him and caught him, and Percy sighed, resigning himself to being carried until he got his strength back. 

"I'm sorry, Grace. Thank you." Percy murmured, slumping against Ash, who held his best friend securely. Ash hooked his arms underneath Percy, and he was taken out of the room. As he left the suffocating cage, he felt his energy slowly return to him. 

They swam several rooms away, stopping at the ramp that seemed to lead up into the higher levels of the Palace. Ash set Percy down, and Percy leaned his head against the cold stone.

"How did you get trapped down there?" Ash asked, trying to get his mind off a dying Jason.

"Gaea. I...was looking for her, and found my mother. But apparently Gaea was with my mother. She said something to her, and then she took me and put me in there." He whispered, eyes closing in horror that she could control his mothers actions. 

"Listen to me, Percy." Ash said, forcing Percy to open his eyes and look at him. "We're going to get your mother back." He said, his voice filled with such confidence Percy found himself offering a weak smile in return. "Now. Get up, get moving, and well kill this Blobfish." Ash said, heaving Percy off the ground. 

Percy stumbled for just a moment, before he regained his balance. He stood straight, leveled his sword, and nodded to Ash. With a feral grin, Ash took off, Percy not far behind him.

~~~

Rachel and Luke where on top of the Palace, trying in vain to find a weak spot in the glass. They were tense, constantly looking down into the throne room. The glass was see-through, and while unlikely that they'd be spotted, it was possible. 

"Castellan!" Rachel hissed, making the blonds head snap up. 

"What? Did you find a latch?" He whispered, looking around them to check for possible creatures. 

"I think so..." She whispered, fiddling with a little thing that Luke couldn't see clearly. 

"Well, did you or didn't you, Dare?" He growled, and Rachel glared at him. 

"Don't get your fins and scales in a twist! This looks like a latch," She whispered, and returned her eyes to the lock. 

Luke got closer, trying to see the thing she was fiddling with. Before he could get a good look, however, a noise caught his attention, causing his head to snap in another direction. He narrowed his eyes, and nudged Rachel.

"Dare," He whispered, only for the girl to brush his hand off. "Dare!" He hissed, and she turned her head.

"What?" She whispered, voice annoyed. 

"Does that look like on of those creatures?" He asked, his eyes never leaving a spot a little ways beyond them. Rachel's head snapped in his direction. 

The roof was littered with many little pillars and towers, offering protection from physical attacks and visual access. Behind one of these said pillars, there seemed to be a pair of blank, milky orbs. 

Rachel froze, her blue coral held tightly, her knuckles turning white. 

"Castellan, distract it, kill it, I don't care. Cover me while I get this lock." She whispered, and before Luke could do anything, she darted down, and the creature darted at him. He let out a startled shout, sword flailing and striking the creature in the chest, sword easily cutting off the rotten arm. 

The creature wasn't affected, and clawed at him with her good arm. He quickly cut that off as well, but then she darted forward, trying to bite him. He managed to cut her head off, and just in time, as in the dim glow of fish inside the Palace he could see what seemed to be Eels or something similar heading towards them. 

"Dare! Retreat!" Luke whispered, seeing a dull glow appear briefly around one form, lighting up the surrounding creatures. The flash of light allowed him to get a glimpse at what was quickly approaching, and if his panic-ridden mind quickly identified multiple sentient corpses, skin rotten and falling away, along with an Electric Eel and some Dragonfish.

They were outnumbered heavily. 

"No! I almost got it." 

Luke made a choked noise. He shook his head, and in a move of cowardice, swam away rapidly. 

"CASTELLAN!" Rachel shouted at him, only moments before tortured screams filled the air. Luke closed his eyes tightly, trying in vain to block out the screams. 

If he had looked back, he would have seen Rachel writhing in pain, an Eel wrapped around her torso, filling her body with electricity as a Dragonfish and poisonous claws and teeth bit and tore at her body in various places, her tail taking the blunt of the damage. 

Blood tendrils floated into the air as Rachel Elizabeth Dare fell unconscious from the pain, and soon thereafter she died, her body mangled and eaten. 

~~~

'Member when I said I tried to make Luke a bit useful, at least for now? Yeah. That's what I meant...*Scowls at own creation*