Previously:
"Annabeth, don't do this!" He shouted over the wind. "Let him go!"

"I don't think so." Annabeth said cooley. She glanced at Zack and smirked as he whimpered. "Lord Pontus needs all the water affiliated spirits on his side. That includes the Nereids."

Realization dawned on Percy as he looked from Jack to Zack.

Everything was frozen for an unbearably long amount of time. Then: "Take me. I'm a bigger fish than that."

Everything went so quickly after that. Annabeth had smirked triumphantly at the monsters accompanying her and released Zack only after Percy handed over Riptide and let them put chains on his wrists.

The twins had refused almost violently until Percy stopped them by taking Jack by his hands and whispering reassuring words in his ear. Then he left, leaving a crumpled piece of paper in one of Jack's hands.

Grover had finally caught up with Jason, Reyna, Nico, and Will in tow but they were too late. Percy was already in the hands of a bear-like monster and was following them into the rising tide.

"Percy! No!" Grover shouted hopelessly.

"Chase, you bring him back or so help me!" Reyna shouted, her voice wavering.

But they were long gone.

- - -

Percy's hiding spot in the bushes just outside the forest was almost compromised by Juniper appearing out of nowhere.

"Hey, Percy, why are you watching Annabeth?" Percy's heart nearly leapt out through his throat.

"Juniper! Oh, my gods, don't sneak up on people like that!" Percy exclaimed as loudly as he dared.

"Sorry, I thought you heard me." She said. "But why are you watching Annabeth like a creep?"

Percy sighed heavily. "I didn't mean to." He said. "She's just avoiding me and I miss her. I thought if I came to her training spot, I could get the courage to ask her what's going on. But I chickened out and ended up watching her instead."

"Grover told me about what you said about the trip to save some of the new campers." Juniper said thoughtfully. "Do you know if he's tried to talk to her yet?"

Percy nodded. "Him and Chiron. They got nothing from her."

Juniper worried her lip with her teeth. "Do you want me to try?"

"That's alright, Juniper," Percy said sadly. "Maybe she's just in a mood. She might come back to normal if we leave her alone for now."

"If you're sure," Juniper said uncertainly before fading away to who knows where.

"Yeah," Percy said distractedly, not realizing she'd left already.

Percy stayed there for a while longer, admiring Annabeth's form until Juniper's words got to him and he realized how much of a creep he was being. Shuddering, he took one last glance at her before leaving to check on the twins who had been recently claimed as children of one of the Nerieds. That made them family and that caused him to feel some level of responsibility towards them.

As he trudged off, he couldn't get Annabeth's movements as she trained out of his head. She almost seemed...angry. It made him nervous.

Did he do something?

- - -

Now, as Percy observed the blonde demigod amongst the monsters she now associated with, he couldn't help but see the angry girl from that day in the forest. "What happened?" He muttered to himself.

"She's with us now, Perseus Jackson." A high pitched voice said haughtily right in his ear. He jumped and his hands came up to protect himself even as they were chained together. The voice laughed and Percy could now see it was a telchine. The laugh turned into a cough, drawing the attention of Annabeth.

"What's going on here?" She demanded, swimming over—because, yes, they were on the ocean floor. They were camping in a spot that had been obviously their camp for the last few days at least. Monsters were doing their best to pack quickly despite having to swim around for it. Apparently, they were leaving for the castle of Pontus once they finished. Something that filled Percy with dread.

"Just chattn' with the prisoner, General." The telchine said slyly.

Annabeth eyed the two of them but eventually moved on. She had to yell at the cyclopes for putting the food with the weapons.

Percy watched her go with a pained smile. Somethings don't change.

- - -

They made it to the castle without any problems. It grew progressively darker the further they went, which is why Percy was glad to see they'd reached their destination before they lost all light. As they march-swam through the massive courtyard just inside the castle walls, Percy could see naiads and other water spirits stopping in the middle of whatever they were doing to stare as they swam by with him being pulled along. Even mermaids and dolphins that he recognized as once part of Poseidon's realm were there.

Just looking at the monsters and other creatures milling about the courtyard, Percy knew that the campers had almost no chance to stand against the army of Pontus. They would be destroyed before they could get a good force together if they all attacked at once. Which made Percy wonder what Pontus was waiting for.

How he wished he could curl up in a ball and hide away but the monsters escorting him did not make it easy for him to go unnoticed.

"Look who we caught!" Said the cyclopes holding his chains. "Perseus Jackson!"

That same telchine from before cackled. "We got Percy Jackson! We got Percy Jackson!"

"Quiet." Annabeth snapped from the front. She didn't bother turning around. "Your annoying voice is grating on my nerves."

The telchine grumbled but quickly cheered up again when he saw someone in the crowd. He pointed wildly to Percy with the biggest grin on his dog-face.

Upon entering the castle, they took the stairs down. They were already on the part of the ocean floor where a normal human being would barely have been able to see a thing and they wanted to go deeper?

Percy would never admit it but he hesitated on the first step.

"Ah, Miss Chase, I see you've brought me exactly who I asked you to. However did you do it?" A soft, grandfatherly voice came from the chair elaborately decorated with shells and pearls on the other end of the room. Sitting on the throne was a very old but very muscular looking man. His beard was grey and long, though neatly kept. His eyes were hard and though he spoke with a kind voice, he did not smile. It was obviously Pontus and his throne room. Percy couldn't help but be slightly impressed.

"Like I said, I found something he would sacrifice himself for and squeezed." Annabeth responded, sounding proud of herself. She grabbed a hold of Percy's chains from the cyclopes and dragged him closer to the throne.

"Indeed?" Pontus looked pleased. "Well, now our victory is assured since our only competition is now in my grasp." Pontus slowly got up, somehow moving fluidly despite the age he showed. "Tell me, Perseus Jackson, you saw my army, do you think your little camp has any chance against me?"

Percy shrugged, his inner self that refuses to give people more powerful than him any satisfaction rising its ugly head. "Honestly, it was a little underwhelming." Silence met his words.

Pontus laughed. But it was the kind of laugh that promised pain. "I see." He examined the demigod standing defiantly before him with a dangerous glint in his eye. "In that case, we'll double our raids, weaken them even more. Chase—" he didn't take his eyes off Percy but Annabeth stepped forward "—take him to the room we prepared for him and send Kampe to me."

"Yes, my lord." She responded as she jerked on Percy's chains, dragging him through the water backwards.

"You will see, Percy Jackson, Olympus cannot hope to stand against me and my goal. They have reigned for far too long."

Percy bit down another comment that would have tripled the raids on camp. They couldn't take that.

The 'room' they prepared for Percy was far too similar to a certain room in Tartarus to be a coincidence. He had to close his eyes in dread as they locked his hands in the chuckles hanging from the ceiling. When he opened them again, it was to Annabeth's grey eyes looking at him expressionlessly. She ignored his pleading look at left without a word, the door shutting with a foreboding thud.

He closed his eyes again. This was going to be terrible, he just knew it. Especially if Kampe was the next one to visit him like he suspected.