I got the idea for this chapter as I was going to bed one night. Hmm, as the saying goes, "the best ideas come from the strangest places." Or maybe that's just me ...

Ok, so this chapter is dedicated to *drum roll* Jane_Music, for her epic comment, "OMG PEOPLE NOW I HAVE TO WHALE ABOUT THIS ATORY AND HOUSE OF HADES THAT I DON'T KNOW WHEN I WILL BUY BECAUSE THE COUNTRY I LIVE IN IS STUPID Oh by the way I can't chose between The Titan's Curse And The battle of the Labrinth." Thanks so much Jane_Music!

Anyway, this is chapter 19 (you probably knew that already - you're all smart people) and I'm one away from 20. I feel so proud of myself. So, enojoy this chapter which may be a little longer ...

Chapter 19: Azelle - Percy's POV

When I woke up, I felt better.

I'm not sure if was the fact that I didn't have to hide who I was from Annabeth anymore or the fact that I'd had my first nights sleep in over a week.

Not that it wasn't infested with nightmares, because it was was. There was just a twist to this one ...

I was back in the Torture Tomb, watching as Destruction tortured me. The real me stood behind him, staring in horror as I saw myself scream. Then the dream me changed into Annabeth, then my mom, then Luke. The figure started changing into everyone I loved, faster and faster, until all I could see was a blur of mismatched faces.

'Percy Jackson.'

A soft, clear voice rung throughout the room. I twirled around, trying to locate the source of the sound until my eyes fell on a young girl standing behind Destruction. He didn't seem to notice her.

She had waist length, silky black hair braided messily down her back. Her eyes twinkled with a playful intelligence, but I couldn't decide what colour they were. She wore a short, sky blue dress that was torn in places. Her skin was pale as snow and she was barefoot.

'Percy Jackson,' she whispered again. Her voice was soft and sweet, but didn't sound threatening.

I couldn't do anything but stare. Everything about her was enthralling and peaceful.

The edges of the dream began to slowly dissolve. The girl seemed panicked and quickly locked eyes with me.

'Watch and wait,' she warned.

Then the dream faded and I woke up, arm in arm with Annabeth. She was already awake and simply staring up at me.

She smiled when she saw me staring back, 'Morning, Percy.'

I sighed, 'Good morning.'

She chuckled and realized why. There was no way to tell whether or not it was morning in this cell. We had absolutely no sense of time in this place.

We both sat up straight, creaking and groaning. I didn't know if they would bring us food in this new cell, but I hoped so. Even if it was less like food and more like rocks, we needed to eat.

Annabeth frowned at me, 'You like tired. Nightmares?'

I nodded hesitantly, 'Yeah.'

She touched my arm causing a spark of electricity to arc down my spine. She smiled and leaned into me.

'You know that you've got me now,' she mumbled, 'Now I've found you again, I'm never letting go. I caused you to leave, now I need you to come back. You understand that don't you?'

I nodded and she sighed, sitting back up, 'So what was in your nightmares?'

I shivered involuntarily and told her. When I was done, she seemed troubled, like she didn't know what to make of the girl.

'What did she say again?' Annabeth asked for the millionth time.

I wished Annabeth would stop pacing. She was making me dizzy just watching her, going back and forth and back and forth and back and-

I closed my eyes and rested my head against the wall, 'She said, "Watch and wait." And she seemed really afraid of something.'

Annabeth's sneakers clapped against the concrete floor, 'Destruction?'

I sighed, 'Possibly. She knew my name. My real name, I mean.'

I opened my eyes. Annabeth had stopped pacing and was frowning at me.

'She knew you were Percy?'

I nodded, 'Yeah. Something about her was familiar. Kind of like I'd met her before.'

Annabeth's frown deepened and she resumed pacing. I groaned and stood, using the wall to hoist myself up. My bones ached in protest, almost whining Sit back down! It's less painful that way.

Despite my body's disapproval, I walked around the cell, trying to work some feeling back into my numb limbs. My muscles were weak from non use and standing gave me a pounding headache. I stretched my neck and felt a painful kink pop.

Annabeth was still pacing, with a look on her face like she was doing an incredibly hard maths sum in her head. She was waving her fingers around, her face scrunched up. I took the time to think.

Where had I seen that girl before? It was odd, like I'd never seen her in person, but only in an old photograph or a dream. The image was sketchy and the more I thought about it, the more it made no sense. I had never met this girl face to face, of that I was sure. But she still felt familiar.

I hoped we didn't have to wait too long before we learnt what her warning meant.

For once, the gods headed my prayer.

We had no idea how much time past. All we knew was that we went to sleep four times. They never came and fed us, so our conclusion was that Destruction was going leave us here to starve.

It was working. We were both incredibly skinny and pale. Whenever we were awake, we were lightheaded, tired and very hungry. Whenever we were asleep, we would have nightmares. All in all, not one of my most pleasant experiences.

 But if I was dying, I wanted to spend every last moment with Annabeth. For the last 10 000 years (or 10. Depends on how you look at it) she thought that she'd driven me away, and I thought that she'd betrayed me. Now we knew the truth, we wanted to spend every moment making up for those years.

We woke up the forth time clutched in each others grip, just like we had previously.

I smiled at her weakly, and she returned it. We went through our little routine of saying good morning and asking how we were. Then we got up and moved about the cell, trying desperately to think of something - anything - to help us make sense of the girls words. I didn't know why, but I got the feeling that we should heed her warning.

I glanced at the door. It was wide and very tall, big enough for even a giant (I've met enough giants to know). It was carved out of a stone that I'd never seen before and engraved with words in a forgotten language. Annabeth said that they would be spells of binding, keeping or powers locked inside us. If we ever got out, we should be still able to use them.

Unfortunately, the odds of us escaping were rather slim.

I sighed and slid down the back wall. Two seconds later, the door exploded open in a cloud of dust. Coughing and spluttering, Annabeth and I found each others hands and moved slowly towards the dust hidden door.

We didn't make it very far before the girl from my dream emerged from the ruin.

She looked exactly as she did in the dream; her skin like snow, hair like the night sky draped over her shoulder in a braid. Her face was hidden under a hooded black cloak, just like mine. Except Destruction had ripped the hood off mine. She held two more cloaks gingerly in her thin arms.

'Hurry,' she whispered urgently, 'There is much to say, and yet not enough time to say it.'

The girl beckoned us closer and we obeyed warily.

'Put these on,' she commanded, handing us the two spare cloaks, 'No one must see us.'

'Hold on a minute,' Annabeth held up a hand, 'Who are you?'

The girl sighed, 'There isn't enough time. We must leave before they find the door blown open.'

'But how do we know you're not leading us into a trap?' I asked.

She raised an eyebrow, 'You'd die anyway in this hellhole. That's what they plan; to starve you to death. Even if this were a trap to kill you, which it isn't, it would only be making your end quicker, more merciful. Now are you coming? Or are you going to stay here?'

One glance with Annabeth was all it took. We would go with this strange girl. I tossed off my torn, ruined cloak and put the new one on. Annabeth followed my example.

'Ok,' the girl said, 'We have to get moving. Now.'

She took off and we followed her down the corridors of complex tunnels. She must've been here a long time because she seemed to know where she was going.

'Would you mind telling us your name?' I asked quietly as we crept down a tunnel.

She stiffened, 'They called me Azelle.'

Annabeth frowned, 'Called you?'

Azelle sighed, 'It is forbidden to speak here. But my friends would call me Azelle, if they were not so afraid of him.'

'Him being Destruction,' Annabeth clarified.

Azelle nodded, 'Here, he is called the Master. The only words were are permitted to utter in his fortress are "Yes Master." If anything else is said,' she looked at me, 'I believe you know how he loves to torture those who do not do as he wishes.'

I felt cold, 'He does that to you?'

Azelle hugged herself and turned left. I'd almost forgotten that we were still walking. I stumbled around the corner and Annabeth caught me.

'Wait,' Annabeth called to Azelle, 'you mentioned others. Who else is here?'

Azelle stopped suddenly, staring blankly ahead.

'My whole family,' she whispered, 'Everyone I know.'

'Then why are you doing this?' I asked, 'Why would you help us?'

She turned and smiled sadly, 'We all wanted to do it. I was chosen because I was the youngest; the easiest to slip away. Every time there are captives held here, we fight to free them. But Destruction cannot know it was us. If he did, he would kill us all.'

'How can you stay here?' Annabeth murmured.

Azelle reached out and grasped her shoulder, 'Because if we tried to escape, he would catch us, torture us, and feed us to his beasts, not necessarily in that order.'

I was stunned, 'I'm so sorry.'

She shook her head and kept going to down the hall, 'We're wasting time. My job is to get you to the Portal Room without being seen, then give you directions from there.'

'Wait,' I said, 'You're not coming with us?'

'No,' she called over her shoulder, 'I can't. My whole family is here, I can't leave them.'

She stopped at an intersection and peered around a corner. She whipped her head back almost instantly. Looking back at us, she sighed. Her eyes were filled with sadness.

'Look,' she whispered, 'I can't leave without my family. He'll kill them.'

I frowned, 'How do you know?'

Azelle blinked, 'Excuse me?'

'How do you know he'll kill them?' I repeated, 'You said you're the easiest to slip away. How much attention do you think Destruction pays to his servants?'

Her eyes got wide as she saw things through a new light, 'You may be right.'

I made up my mind, 'Where can we find your family?'

She looked at me like she was seeing me for the first time, 'What?'

'Your family,' I said, 'where can we find them? We can take them with us.'

Annabeth squeezed my shoulder, 'Percy, that's brilliant.'

Azelle, however, shook her head, 'There isn't enough time. The shadows check the cell every half hour. We have approximately seven minutes before they discover your absence. The servants quarters are on the other side of the fortress. We could never make it there and back in time.'

'Then come with us,' I grabbed her wrist and looked straight at her.

For the first time, I could see her eyes. It was like looking in a mirror; they were the same sea-green as mine. They shone under her hood, sparkling with fear and excitement. I shook my head, telling myself to focus.

'You can help us in the war,' I continued, 'You appeared in my dreams, you must have other powers. You can help. Just, please, come with us.'

I could still feel Annabeth's hand on my shoulder and I kept mine around Azelle's wrist. For a moment, she seemed indecisive. Then her eyes took on a defiant glint and she grinned, grasping my wrist like I grasped hers.

'Let's go,' she whispered.

We released each others wrists and she peeked around the corner again. I shot a smile at Annabeth over my shoulder, who gave me a thumbs up. Azelle looked back and gestured for us to follow her.

We darted down more corridors - so many I lost count - until we finally stopped outside an enormous black metal door.

Azelle turned around to face Annabeth and me. She was grinning like crazy. I can't say the same for us. After so long locked up without any physical activity but the occasional stretch, we weren't incredibly fit. We were both panting and pale, stumbling around dizzily as Azelle guided us through the maze of tunnels.

'Ok, guys,' she took a deep breath, 'This is the Portal Room.'

She turned and pushed open the doors. The only thing inside was a magnificent mirror. The border was a gleaming black and designed as intertwining tree branches. The mirror's reflective surface shone like pure silver.

We walked into the room slowly, Azelle pulling the door shut behind us. She tip toed up to the mirror and tapped it. Where she touched, ripples spiraled out like it was made off liquid silver. She smiled back at us.

'This is the portal that connects the outside world to the Black Realm,' she said sadly.

'Wait,' I wasn't sure I heard right, 'The Black Realm? That's where Destruction hid his fortress.'

Azelle nodded, 'It was his prison, and now it is his castle.'

'The Black Realm,' Annabeth whispered in my ear, 'What is that?'

I wrapped my hand around her waist for comfort, 'The darkest, most evil place in the entire universe, and the one place Chaos told us never to go.'

Annabeth sighed, 'So naturally, that's where we are.'

'Normal day in the life of a demigod.'

We walked up to stand beside Azelle. She was examining the mirror cautiously, like she didn't know what would happen if she went through.

'I've spent my whole life here,' she muttered, staring at her reflection, 'It feels strange to leave.'

She looked back at us, 'Every time I helped a hero escape, they would be caught here. I would hide behind the portal until they were gone. No one ever made it out.'

She gazed back at the portal and traced the designs on the side, 'I will come back, I promise. Mom, Dad, Chelsea, Hammish, all of you. I promise to return.'

A sudden crash and an angry roar echoed from the other side of the doors.

Azelle looked at us, eyes wide, 'He knows you're missing. We must hurry. Follow me.'

She closed her eyes, whispered, 'I'm sorry,' and dove head first into the mirror. The portal shimmered and she tumbled through until nothing was left but a ripple. I glanced at Annabeth.

'How do we know its safe,' she asked, voicing my doubts.

Then, we could Azelle's voice projected from the mirror.

'Follow me through. Its OK, but we don't have much time. Hurry!'

Annabeth grabbed my hand, 'We do this together.'

I smiled at her, 'One.'

She smiled back, 'Two.'

As one, we turned to the mirror, closed our eyes and shouted, 'Three!'

We jumped into the portal and it whisked us off. I could here a scream, although I wasn't sure if it came from Annabeth or me. Strangely, the portal felt like swimming. Time seemed to slow down, making the portal seem peaceful and tranquil. I would've happily stayed there for eternity.

What could've been seconds or years later, Annabeth and I fell out of the portal, tumbling over each other.

'Ow,' Annabeth muttered.

'Ow, indeed,' Azelle said, picking her way around rocks. She held her hand out, 'That looked like it hurt.'

I took her hand and she helped me up. I turned and did the same for Annabeth. Once we were all up, we took the opportunity to take a look around. All we could see were the ruins of an old mansion. It was almost like being back at the Wolf House, except this place had less remains.

The portal was no where in sight. I guess you couldn't acess it from the outside, but had to make your own instead. In the distance, he sun was almost setting.

'Where are we?' I mumbled.

Azelle shook her head looking mystified, 'I have no idea.'

Annabeth frowned, 'These are the ruins of an old mansion. I came here once with my father. This is Knapp's Castle, close to California.'

'Caifornia,' I scratched my head, 'Weird. For some reason, I imagined popping out in some place remote like Russia.'

Annabeth chuckled, 'Russia?'

I nodded, 'Yeah. Or maybe Antarctica. I heard the penguins up there are really friendly.'

That set both Annabeth and Azelle laughing at me while I stood there frowning.

'What?' I demanded.

'P-penguins?' Azelle managed, 'Why penguins?'

'Because I'm the son of the sea god,' I said, 'Duh.'

She nodded and straightened, trying to hide away the smile on her face. It didn't work so well. Annabeth was having similar trouble.

It took a few seconds to realize that I was breathing hard, and a few second more to realize that I was incredibly dizzy.

Only when I fell to the ground did Annabeth see that something was wrong.

'Percy!' she yelled, 'What's happening?'

Her face was nothing but a blurry blob. Then a second dark haired splotch appeared above me.

'He's weakening,' Azelle murmured, 'We need to get somewhere safe.'

'Camp,' Annabeth answered immediately, 'But its too far away. There's no chance we'd make it before the sun goes down.'

'We have to set up camp in the woods,' I mumbled, 'To rest.'

I think Azelle nodded, it was hard to tell. Annabeth helped me sit up and hitched her head under my arm. With the help of Azelle, she got me on my feet where I swayed profusely. We took off for the nearby woods, Azelle darting ahead and Annabeth dragging me along behind.

We stumbled deeper into the thicket of trees. Eventually, we came across a clearing sprinkled with honeysuckle. We might've kept going, except my strength gave out and I collapsed face first into the sweet smelling grass, taking Annabeth down with me.

She groaned as she hit the ground, my arm still hooked around her.

'Sorry,' I mumbled, my words slurred together.

Annabeth slipped out from under me and hurried off ... somewhere.

I wanted to settle in the soft ground. I fought to stay awake, though it was so tempting to simply pass out. Azelle pushed me into a sitting position and leaned me against a tree. I took deep heaving breaths until my vision cleared.

Annabeth came back into focus. Apples were piled high in her arms. She picked a good one from the bunch, rubbed it clean on her sleeve, and held it out to me.

'Here,' she smiled, 'We're all hungry. There's an apple tree just over there, so we can get as much as we want.'

I took the apple gratefully and devoured it. Annabeth began to eat one, as did Azelle. The three of as ate reverently, like we'd hadn't seen food in a long time - which we hadn't.

Azelle dug into the apples just as greedily as we did. I sent her a questioning look and she shrugged.

'They don't care so much about how much the servants get to eat,' she replied.

We ate the rest of the apples in silence. After days of no food, eating countless apples made me want to throw up. I felt better than I had since we first came to the fortress. If I could just get a shower, a change of clothes and some sleep, I'd be golden. Maybe even Imperial golden.

I frowned; that felt familiar.

I yawned and stretched out, my back still against the tree. Annabeth was already curled up in a ball with her head resting on my lap. She was still, but her eyes were wide and alert. I was also tired, but reluctant to go to sleep. Azelle was carving something long and thin out of wood with a small dagger.

'You two get some sleep,' she said smiling, 'I can keep watch for a while. I'll wake you guys if anything happens.'

I wanted to protest but she blew on the flute she'd just whittled. The melody that came from it sounded eerie and sweet. I found myself swaying gently in time with the music, my eyelids getting heavier.

I shook my head and muttered, 'No.'

But the music took me over as I slipped down the tree and into a blissfully dreamless sleep.

Has anyone realized that most of my chapters end with someone passing out? Strange. Oh well, passing out is dramatic, especially when you write it dramatically (I get the dramatics from Zeus, my uncle {I will not submit} 'cause I'm the daughter of Poseidon).

Anyway, like always, a question. Last chapter's question was, 'Which is your favourite book of the first series?' Thanks to all those who responded. This chapter the question is; if you could be a child of any two of the seven (including Nico), who would they be? You can pick any, they don't have to be a couple, however, yes, they must be a boy and a girl (seriously, people, what is wrong with your minds?) For example, I'd be a kid of Percy and Hazel, my favourite powers.

Also, thank you to heroesofolympus63 for their idea for this chapters question. If you have ideas for questions, please feel free to comment them. I almost always respond to every comment.

As always, please vote, comment and follow. And, my countdown says THE HOUSE OF HADES COMES OUT IN 4 DAYS!!! SO CLOSE NOW, SO CLOSE!!! ;)

Thanks everyone, stay blue! (I love smurfs) ;)