The House of Hades (Heroes of Olympus Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page B

rivers of the Underworld. They could take away your memories, or burn your body and soul to ashes. But she decided not to think about that. This was their only chance.
    The river hurtled towards them. At the last second, Percy yelled defiantly. The water erupted in a massive geyser and swallowed them whole.

VI
     

ANNABETH
     
    T HE IMPACT DIDN’T kill her, but the cold nearly did.
    Freezing water shocked the air right out of her lungs. Her limbs turned rigid, and she lost her grip on Percy. She began to sink. Strange wailing sounds filled her ears – millions of heartbroken voices, as if the river were made of distilled sadness. The voices were worse than the cold. They weighed her down and made her numb.
    What’s the point of struggling?
they told her.
You’re dead anyway. You’ll never leave this place.
    She could sink to the bottom and drown, let the river carry her body away. That would be easier. She could just close her eyes …
    Percy gripped her hand and jolted her back to reality. She couldn’t see him in the murky water, but suddenly she didn’t want to die. Together they kicked upward and broke the surface.
    Annabeth gasped, grateful for the air, no matter howsulphurous. The water swirled around them, and she realized Percy was creating a whirlpool to buoy them up.
    Though she couldn’t make out their surroundings, she knew this was a river. Rivers had shores.
    ‘Land,’ she croaked. ‘Go sideways.’
    Percy looked near dead with exhaustion. Usually water reinvigorated him, but not
this
water. Controlling it must have taken every bit of his strength. The whirlpool began to dissipate. Annabeth hooked one arm around his waist and struggled across the current. The river worked against her: thousands of weeping voices whispering in her ears, getting inside her brain.
    Life is despair
, they said.
Everything is pointless, and then you die.
    ‘Pointless,’ Percy murmured. His teeth chattered from the cold. He stopped swimming and began to sink.
    ‘Percy!’ she shrieked. ‘The river is messing with your mind. It’s the Cocytus – the River of Lamentation. It’s made of pure misery!’
    ‘Misery,’ he agreed.
    ‘Fight it!’
    She kicked and struggled, trying to keep both of them afloat. Another cosmic joke for Gaia to laugh at:
Annabeth dies trying to keep her boyfriend, the son of Poseidon, from drowning.
    Not going to happen, you hag, Annabeth thought.
    She hugged Percy tighter and kissed him. ‘Tell me about New Rome,’ she demanded. ‘What were your plans for us?’
    ‘New Rome … For us …’
    ‘Yeah, Seaweed Brain. You said we could have a future there! Tell me!’
    Annabeth had never wanted to leave Camp Half-Blood. It was the only real home she’d ever known. But days ago, on the
Argo II
, Percy had told her that he imagined a future for the two of them among the Roman demigods. In their city of New Rome, veterans of the legion could settle down safely, go to college, get married, even have kids.
    ‘Architecture,’ Percy murmured. The fog started to clear from his eyes. ‘Thought you’d like the houses, the parks. There’s one street with all these cool fountains.’
    Annabeth started making progress against the current. Her limbs felt like bags of wet sand, but Percy was helping her now. She could see the dark line of the shore about a stone’s throw away.
    ‘College,’ she gasped. ‘Could we go there together?’
    ‘Y-yeah,’ he agreed, a little more confidently.
    ‘What would you study, Percy?’
    ‘Dunno,’ he admitted.
    ‘Marine science,’ she suggested. ‘Oceanography?’
    ‘Surfing?’ he asked.
    She laughed, and the sound sent a shock wave through the water. The wailing faded to background noise. Annabeth wondered if anyone had ever laughed in Tartarus before – just a pure, simple laugh of pleasure. She doubted it.
    She used the last of her strength to reach the riverbank. Her feet dug into the sandy bottom. She and Percy hauled themselves ashore,