Percy Jackson and the Saviors of Tartarus

Understanding

Alex's POV

 "What in the world is going on?" 

    • • • 

Annabeth looked to me for an answer, although I felt vastly unqualified to offer an one, as I always was asking myself the same question.

"Uh, where to even start," I thought for a minute.  "I was the first one down here.  It was a while ago, and people, mortals in particular, were very suspicious of magic and those they believed to be witches or wizards.  Many of the Hecate children were put on trial and executed.  I went into hiding to protect myself, but the gods saw this as an admission of guilt, and I think they also took offense to my wardrobe."  I gestured to my flamboyant golden clothing.  They had taken me numerous months to craft, along with all of the charms and spells I had placed on them.  They were my pride and joy, even though Jenna teased me endlessly.  

"The gods decided that death wasn't enough and banished me down here."  Not sure how to end, I looked to Neo.  The kid flushed. I knew his story wasn't something he was too proud of.

"Back at camp, I was really close friends with one of the children of Ares.  He started leaving camp for a few hours and asked me to cover for him.  He always made up excuses about wanting to visit his family or wanting to grab something from the store, so I did it.  As it went on, the times he was gone started to get longer and get to the point where he would disappear for days, but I trusted him so I kept covering for him. 

 A few months later, there was an attack on camp, and he was leading it.  It turned out that he had been working with the monsters and assembling a force to overthrow the gods.  Once he had been beaten, the gods found out about my involvement, and wouldn't believe me when I said that I had no idea what was going on."  Neo closed his eyes and swallowed.  "They voted unanimously to send me down here." He looked up, his eyes filled with a mix of sorrow and loathing. "I shouldn't have... why did I trust him?" He looked back down, and I caught a glint of something falling from his cheek. Jenna looked at him for a few seconds, and once she had determined that he was done speaking, began her story.

"I threw my shield at Zeus's head."  That was Jenna, no other information, just the facts.  Annabeth choked.  

"What?"

Jenna frowned.  "I threw my shield at Zeus's head.  He was being annoying and kept going on about how much he had contributed to our war, and he literally did nothing.  And he didn't even acknowledge the kids who died.  I got mad, and I threw my shield at him."  She smiled smugly.  "Honestly, the look on his face... So worth it."  She looked to Percy expectantly, clearly looking forward to hearing his backstory.  I saw Neo sit up as well, although Percy seemed to be dreading it.

"Buckle up," he said.  "It's... something."

    • • • 

There was a moment of unbroken silence after Percy finished his story.

"You were busy." Jenna said, at a loss for any other words.

"That's the understatement of the century."  Neo added, looking at Percy with a renewed awe.

"Wait, so let me get this straight," I started.  "You have water powers; super speed, strength, and senses, can teleport, and have a horse, like, inside of you?"

Percy made a face.  "When you put it like that..."

"Can we see the horse?" Neo asked with a sense of childlike excitement.

"Pegasus," Percy corrected.  "And sure."  He closed his eyes and concentrated for a second before a sea-green light filled the room.  When it died down, the most brilliant creature I'd ever seen stood before me.  It was a pegasus with a glistening sea-green coat, and wings that faded to a midnight black.  I recognized the wings, they were the ones that had sprouted from Percy's back when he was trying to save Annabeth.  It was a proud creature, standing with its head held high, looking at us each.  Its eyes seemed more human than animal.

"Wow," Neo gasped.  "It's... beautiful."

"She," Percy corrected.  

'And her name is Aéras."  The voice seemed to fill my head, not seeming to come from any particular source.  I looked at the horse to see it looking at me, eyes twinkling with what I could almost guest was mischief.

"She can speak," Jenna whispered.

"Wait," Percy looked confused.  "You can hear her?"

"Duh," Jenna said, and I saw Annabeth looking at her approvingly.

"I thought you could only speak to Annabeth and I?" Percy asked Aéras.  She looked over at him.

'You all seem to share a bond unbeknownst to you, for now.'

"What-" Annabeth started, but Aérascut her off. 

'That is all I have to say for now.  You will have to discover this on your own.'  With that, the horse began to glow until I could no longer make out the outline of its body.  The glowing ball shrank, then seemed to go into Percy.  I saw as he thought for a minute, but then his expression turned to one of annoyance.

"Ugh, she's gone silent." He said, and Annabeth sighed.

"Guess we won't be getting much else out of her."  We were silent for a minute more, until Percy turned to his wife.

"How'd you end up down here, and what happened after I left?"

Annabeth sighed.  "Well, after you left, everyone was very upset, as you would imagine-" 

Percy raised an eyebrow.  "Everyone?"

"Well maybe not everyone..." Percy didn't move his gaze from her face.  Finally, she seemed to give up. Fine.  Maybe some people weren't to happy with the whole... incident, and felt safer that you were gone."  It was only because I was looking at Percy's face that I caught the flash of betrayal on it, although he covered it well and I wasn't sure anyone else noticed.  "Anyway, after a bit of being sad, I decided that I should do something... I ended up being charged with," she mumbled the rest of the sentence so quietly that I couldn't hear her. 

"What?" Jenna asked.  Annabeth looked at us, blushing.  "Twenty four counts of attempted murder against the gods."  

Percy's eyes bulged.  "Twenty four!  How long had it been since I was banished?"

Annabeth looked at her worn-down combat boots.  "Like, a little longer than a month?"  Percy sat back in exasperation.  

Jenna looked to Neo.  "I like her." She said. 

"How long have you guys been down here?" Annabeth asked. I shared a look with Neo and Jenna and shrugged.

"I have no clue." I said.  

"How can you not know?" Annabeth questioned, her eyebrows drawing together.  

"I've been here since '83." I offered.

"I've been here since 1987." Neo said.

"I was banished in 1995." Jenna added.  

"It has been decades, but it doesn't feel like it." I explained it.

"Time is weird, like the Labyrinth." Percy explained.  This seemed to make sense to Annabeth, as she nodded.  

"This is so weird, we are in a safe house in Tartarus surrounded by a force field with kids from like twenty years ago, and also we have a toilet." Annabeth seemed to be attempting to comprehend the weirdness by saying it out loud, which almost made it worse.  

"Yeah," I groaned.  "Tell me about it."