Annabeth's pov

I found myself in a dark void. I turned around and saw nothing. I have better night vision than normal people but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't see anything. It was more like being in a room painted black than being surrounded by darkness.

What the hell? I was here all of a sudden. Suddenly a yellow light appeared in front of me. Strangely, I moved closer to the light because I had no other choice. Maybe this was a dream.

-Annabeth Chase, daughter of Hades. Nice to meet you.

A voice rang out from the strange light, it was an old man's voice but it sounded strong and powerful.

-Who are you? Is this my dream?

I asked. I couldn't find my sword.

-Yes. This is your dream, Annabeth. I am Kronos, don't you recognize this grandfather? I'm disappointed.

Kronos said, his voice mocking me. So I was right. What was my godly grandfather doing in his granddaughter's dream?

-Kronos..? Why did you want to talk to me

I asked. The gods, old and new, always wanted something and they would let the demigods do it, it seemed to be the law in the demigod world. It was corrupt and disgusting but many considered it a great honor to work for the gods.

-Annabeth Chase, do you remember what happened to me?

Kronos asked me. Kronos had been defeated by his children and had taken the throne. Could it be that he wanted revenge on me now? What have the gods not done to me yet??

-I remember, tell me straight, what do you want from me?

I asked him. I didn't mean to be rude to the gods, I was just extremely wary. A part of me told me this wouldn't lead to anything good.

-I will rise from Tatarus and you are allowed to be a part of my grand plan, you should feel honored Annabeth Chase.

He wants me to help him escape from Tatarus? It will not lead to good results, will never lead to good results for the world.

-So that's all it is? What if I refuse to be a part of it?

-Do you really think you have a choice? Yes, you are given the choice between "dying" and "Becoming a part of my new world". So think carefully, Annabeth Chase. Surely you don't want to be a part of your father's kingdom so soon? After all, I just want my throne back.

Kronos smiled faintly, but then I saw the yellow light flicker and fade. I was about to wake up, I guessed.

-I don't see any reason to accept your offer, Kronos.

I said, trying to sound tough. I knew that Kronos would surely destroy western civilization if he really did rise and conquer Olympus, and no matter how tempting the offer was, I couldn't turn my back on the world, my family, Luke, and my newfound friends and let them be destroyed.

-No? Oh, you're still confused, aren't you? Since I'm generous, I'll give you some time to think. Choose carefully, Annabeth Chase.

Kronos said, and the yellow light disappeared. I don't think he wanted to leave so soon, since he was being held captive in Tatarus, I guess even if he wanted to, he wouldn't be able to maintain the dream for much longer. It's just that it's something that a former king of the gods like Kronos would never accept.

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-Annabeth!

Grover said, shaking my shoulder to wake me up. That's right, I was on Pegasus. Looking at the sky, I could see that it was already evening.

-My shift?

I stretched, yawning. Percy was riding Alisk and talking to the horse. I didn't know what they were talking about or if Percy knew horse language. Honestly, being on a horse and doing nothing for a long time was quite a torture for both my ADHD and Percy, so we rode as much as we could to keep ourselves busy, and then slept to regain our strength.

-Percy, have you learned horse language?

I asked, teasing him.

-Hmm? No. It's just that I feel more secure talking to horses than to humans. I'm not very good at dealing with humans.

Percy chuckled awkwardly, he clearly didn't mean to say that but he let it slip. I could understand, I wasn't very good at dealing with humans either. After all, we were half-humans, not humans.

-Let's stop at that clearing, huh? I need a nap too.

Percy said and yawned. We landed and changed shifts. I took the saddle again. It had been over a day and it seemed like we had only just arrived in Colorado. I'd honestly advise against trusting the map-reading and navigational skills of three 12-year-olds. Although I would be much better at navigating on the ground, I couldn't do it in the air. And we needed to stop for Alisk and myself to rest.

As we were flying over a rather large river whose name I didn't know, Alisk suddenly lost control. She was squirming and wouldn't follow my instructions. I don't know why she suddenly acted like this. Is it because we made her fly too much? Or is Alisk a teenager rebellious horse!?

-Grover! Wake up Percy!

I shouted. Percy was clearly better at handling horses than I was. And I also wanted to be prepared in case I had to fly down right away.

-I'm shaking him awake!! Percy, wake up!

Grover shook Percy's shoulder repeatedly, causing the son of fire to grimace slightly.

-Really? I've only been asleep for about 10 minutes! Oh-

Percy grumbled but then he realized that Alisk's body was shaking violently. Alisk was not calming down and was probably even more agitated. I tried to remember the lessons about Pegasus taught at the half-blood camp but it was no use!

At this point, I had to land. I thought and tried to control Alisk to fly down but Alisk took the initiative to dive down very quickly.

-What's going on!?

Percy shouted, clinging to Grover. Grover was also clinging to Percy while I was clinging to the saddle.

-I don't know! Suddenly Alisk..

I cried out, oh my god, we're about to hit the water?! The water is the worst fighting terrain for me and Percy, so if we encounter a sea monster, I'm about to become a resident of my father's kingdom!?

- Oh my god! I haven't even found Pan yet, no, I'm too young to die!!

Grover screamed. I wanted to scream too, but if I screamed, things would only get worse. I tried to pull the saddle as tight as possible, Alisk cried out in pain. Sorry Alisk, I'll buy horse food to compensate you later (if we survive this ordeal) but for now you have to calm down!

But Alisk's speed of descent didn't change. It was strange. And what was to come happened, Percy, Grover and I were officially pulled into the water. I could feel the water rushing straight into my nose and mouth.

Luckily I know how to swim but it had been a long time since I had been in the water so it took me 3 seconds to react. Suddenly I saw a black-haired woman appear in the middle of the water. She had the color of the sea on her. I guessed she was a River Nymph but as she got closer I could feel that she was much stronger than a normal nymph. Could she be a Nereid..?

I don't know much about the 50 Nereids. Maybe I only know them because Achilles' mother, Thetis, was one of the 50 Nereids, and Amphitrite, Poseiden's wife... Wait, Poiseden was the lord of horses and he must have had a pretty close relationship with his wife's sisters.

Damn, at this rate I'm going to drown or worse, get eaten by fish. But before I could think of the worse scenario, I passed out from lack of oxygen.

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I woke up, I don't know how much time had passed but my clothes and hair were somewhat dry. I was surprised that I was still alive and I was in a rather dark cave, the cave was also quite damp and I could hear the sound of running water from outside. I guess I was dragged into some cave near the river.

So they wanted to keep me alive? Oh yeah..Poiseden will definitely find a way to pin all the blame on me in the Olympus court on the summer solstice. I didn't come all this way just to be wrongly accused like that.

I turned to look at Percy and Grover, I was quite worried about Percy when he fell into the water because he used fire but he was still breathing and was tied up with me and Grover. And when I noticed a Nereid, I was also worried that she would ignore Percy and Grover but for some reason, they were tied up with me. I was glad that Grover and Percy were alive, but what did Poiseden want from them?

If I tried to be positive, maybe Poiseden didn't want to make enemies with Haephatus? But I was extremely concerned about that. Out of kindness? That sounded even more worrying. The sea wasn't a peaceful thing.

My sword was gone. Too bad, I couldn't cut the rope and escape. Calm down, I needed to calm down and think of a way to escape. Maybe waiting until Percy and Grover woke up would be better.

Suddenly I heard voices approaching me. I immediately pretended to be unconscious (I was very good at this).

-Do you think those demigods are dead? If they are dead then..

A female voice asked, her tone sounded worried but I didn't think she was really worried about our lives. Typical Gods.

-Huh, how could they be dead. Dynemene, demigods are stronger than you think. They don't die that easily.

Another girl spoke up. Dynemene? Um, I don't recognize that name... I racked my brains to search through my memories.

-Death is scary, sister. And humans are so fragile too.

Dynemene said. Her voice had a strange nostalgia.

-Gosh, how long has it been and you still keep mentioning your late husband? When are you going to stop?

The other girl spoke, her voice teasing and complaining towards Dyneme.

-What do you understand, you single person for thousands of years..

Dynemene argued back. This pair of sisters doesn't seem to be getting along very well, huh? I was waiting for a retort from the other side when I suddenly heard another voice, this time a man's.

-Pherusa, Dynemene. Have you two caught the target yet?

The man's voice said. I could clearly hear the divine aura in his voice. But this was different from Poiseden's voice. Pherusa and Dynemene? I don't remember anything about these two.

-Sir Triton! Yes, we caught the target. You underestimate us, they're just children.

Pherusa complained. So the man is Triton? No wonder the divine aura through his voice is so obvious, he's truly the eldest son and heir of Poiseden.

-Don't underestimate them. Humph, my father was so desperate that he asked Echdina for help but failed in the end. We still need them alive anyway. I will definitely please him with this gift.

Triton said.

-It's just that those Amazons messed things up, huh.

Pherusa said, she was clearly still angry about that.

Roughly speaking, it seemed that Triton had asked the two Nereids, Dynemene and Pherusa, to capture the three of us. Judging from the humidity of our clothes and hair, we had probably been captured for about 3-4 hours. If I didn't act quickly, we might be taken to Atlantis or Mount Olympus and sentenced to death. I couldn't rush out, out there were two Nereids and Triton, a real god, they would take me down in less than 30 seconds.

I fumbled around to see if I had anything useful. I managed to take out a Dramach coin from my glove. I had left it there for so long that I had almost forgotten about it, but I should thank my past self. But the problem now was water. What should I do to get some water?

I thought I should wait until Percy and Grover woke up and then discuss and think about it, hoping they would wake up soon. And what about Alisk? I hope she's okay. Not only because I'm genuinely worried about the horse, she's been carrying us for the past two days, after all. But also because I'm worried about how I'm going to explain to Allison if I lose her. And how we're going to get to Camp Jupiter.

I want to bite my tongue but I realize that it would give away my consciousness so I stop myself. Is there any chance I can make a bet or cooperate, convince Triton to let us go? I'm not good at talking. And neither are Percy or Grover. This quest team is so unbalanced, all three of them are bad at talking.

The best chance I can think of is to call for help from Hades but like I said, I don't have the water for that. Next to me were people from the sea and right next to the cave there was the sound of running water but I was having a headache over the water problem..

-Humph, my father has only been worrying about his demigod kid lately, it's really useless. Why is he worrying about a half-human who is weaker than me?

Triton said, his voice complaining, he walked towards me. I could feel my heart beating very fast in my chest.

Poiseden also has a living demigod kid?? Why have I never heard of that? I have lived with Hades for almost 1.5 years, and I'm sure Hades wouldn't leave that person alone if they existed like Triton said, at least not to the extent that I've never heard of them.Could it be that Poiseden hid that person? How could that be? And yet he punished me and my father for my existence? Hypocrisy.!! I tried to suppress my anger. One of the first lessons Hades taught me was anger control, because you know, the fatal weakness of Hades' children is often holding grudges. Although Hades himself had a personal grudge against Olympus.

-My mother didn't bother to comment further! Do you think that's right?

Triton added that this time it seemed like the god was examining my face. At least that person wasn't turned into a fish or seaweed by Amphitrite, right?

-You guys stay here and watch these brats. I'll go report to father. Remember to keep a close eye on them.

Triton said and then he stood up and left. Leaving Pherusa and Dynemene to watch over me, Grover and Percy. I guess it's a good thing right?