Percy Jackson: Survival In The Land Beyond The Gods

"Is that a spider?!"

Piper's POV

Annabeth's face stared down at mine, lips set into a sneer as she pressed her Drakon-bone sword harder against my throat, a thin line of blood emerging from my skin. Her eyes glinted maliciously, crimson shifting to an even darker colour, one that assumably reflected the colour of my blood.

"Annabeth, stop," I was calm, completely at ease as I spoke. I had nothing to fear and reminded myself of that fact over and over again – Annabeth wouldn't kill me.

Her face was dumbfounded for a single second before slipping back into the mask of a Believer. But the grip on her sword had slackened slightly, allowing me to breathe long enough to try again.

"Snap out of it, Annabeth, you're better than these monsters," internally, I was reviewing every memory I had shared with her. Soothing her didn't seem to be working, so it would have to be fear to strike her out of her trance. "Oh, wait! Is that a spider?!"

It did the trick. Annabeth scrambled away from me, blinking rapidly as if to clear her eyes. Startling grey eyes looked down at me and then to her sword, her breath hitching as she realised what had happened. She quickly jogged over to where I sat and passed me her hand. I took it, standing up in one swift movement. Smiling, I looked at her, and she weakly returned the gesture.

But the moment didn't last.

In the monstrous Emperor's Box, the leading monsters looked furious, two with expressions of amusement on their faces – the other simply angry. I prayed to my mother that they wouldn't attack us, but I knew she wouldn't hear my pleas.  my heart pounded in my chest, so loudly that I was sure it was the only thing anyone could hear, and my face was red and sweaty. I had put my all into the fight or – at least – I hoped it looked like I had.

On the far side of the arena, I could see Frank's form shifting, turning into what I guessed was a small beetle. At least he's awake and aware of what's going on, I inwardly sighed.

"Half-bloods," the leading monster in the Emporer's Box boomed. A twisted snarl covered his charcoal face, rage barely contained. It was oblivious to even the blindest half-blood in the world that we weren't supposed to survive – and we had foiled their plans. However, instead of the usual command of ATTACK! that was expected from monsters, he spoke calmly – every word calculated.

"As you have competed in our Trials, we give you same rights as other monsters: you may pass through the mountains... and for the power of Tartarus, take that pathetic warship with you."

There was a pause, "But the Jackson Boy stays here. He will face punishment for admitting the likes of demigods into these sacred mountains."

I could almost feel Annabeth's lips resisting the powerful urge to smirk, as I myself was struggling to combat the tugging on my lips. Inside the Box, Percy shrank down under the heavy gazes of monsters, glares of hatred covering him on every angle.

DONE!
Okay, so this took me a while to write compared to the other first chapters of the books in this series. I'm hoping, however, that I have not left you disappointed within the electronic pages of this chapter.
In other news, I have come to ask of all of you a large favour regarding the PJO Wattys, in which a large amount of my books have been entered. I was... hoping... that you would please vote for my stories, as it would mean a tremendous amount to me.
Also, please don't mind my use of irritatingly posh-sounding vocabulary. I had an English assessment today based upon descriptive writing. A d basically, my narrative was very stylistic.
With great hopes and an active pen,
– Multi-Gamer10