If Percy Hadn't Caught Annabeth

Part 5: Annabeth's Fall, A Spider's Catch

The darkness took on a gray-red tinge. She realized she could see her hands as she plummeted. The whistling in her ears turned into more of a roar. The air became intolerably hot, permeated with a smell like rotting eggs.

Suddenly, the chute she'd been falling through opened up into a vast cavern. Maybe half a mile below her, Annabeth could see the bottom. For a moment, she was too stunned to think properly. The entire island of Manhattan could fit inside the cavern-- and she couldn't see its full extent. Red clouds hung in the air like vaporized blood. The landscape-- at least what she could see of it-- was rocky black plains, punctuated by jagged mountains and fiery chasms. To her left, the ground dropped off in a series of cliffs, like colossal steps leading deeper into the abyss.

The stench of sulfur made it hard to concentrate as she looked at her surroundings. Annabeth began to panic as got closer and closer to the ground. She was out of ideas. She had no special powers. If only she had the power to fly-- like Jason, who could control the wind, or Frank, who could turn into a winged animal.

She felt tears begin to run off her face as the ground came into view.

"I love you, Percy."

She was going to die, and she wanted those to be her last words.

Suddenly, her fall began to slow. Annabeth couldn't tell why until she saw that she was beginning to tangle in more and more spider silk. Her heart began to throb. She almost wished she could hit the cavern floor instead of face Arachne again, who had spun a funnel with a woven, trampoline-like contraption beneath it to catch Annabeth. She had no idea how Arachne had figured out exactly where Annabeth would land, which frightened her even more. Arachne was smart and she wouldn't let her pride get in the way a second time.

Finally Annabeth hit the cavern floor. It didn't kill her, but hit her just hard enough to hurt.

Hopelessly tangled, Arachne approached. Her tusks were inches from Annabeth's face, her beady eyes glinting with smugness. Annabeth couldn't decide what smelled worse-- Arachne or Tartarus. She wasn't proud as she squirmed in the web like a helpless bug.

"Well hello, my sweet." Arachne let loose a violent laugh, a rip-rip-rip that seemed to echo. Annabeth remained silent, her mind blinded with panic. Her thoughts were like threads of spider silk and she was unable to weave even the smallest of webs.

"I couldn't let you die so easily." She was so close her words cut into Annabeth's eardrums like knives.

"Go ahead," Annabeth finally managed to spit out. She gathered up her strength and looked the spider in the eyes. "Kill me. You have your chance."

The spider smiled, and Annabeth did her best to maintain her steely stare. If she was going to die, she was going to stare Arachne down for as long as she could.

"Now why would I do that when I can take you to Gaea herself?" she smiled.

Annabeth's stomach clenched like a fist and she felt sick.

"Ah yes, my sweet. Imagine how I would be rewarded when I, Arachne, bring the much needed demigod sacrifice. I would get revenge on you and your mother and-" her eyes began to glaze over, "my tapestries will be brought out for everyone to see. They will look even more beautiful in the light of day."

As Arachne continued on, Annabeth felt something hard underneath her body. Her one free hand felt around before clasping on a handle. Somehow, Annabeth had landed in the exact same spot as her celestial bronze dagger. She slipped it under the web and out of sight as Arachne continued-- at least now she was armed.

"Well, no need to waste time." She began to spin a rope. She attached it to Annabeth and began to drag her across the rocky terrain and deeper into Tartarus.

"Come along, my sweet." Annabeth could hear her wicked smile. "Not that you have a choice."