Chapter 5

¨Bring her forward...¨ Said a woman, her voice a soft, mothering tone. 

I felt constricted, and itchy, but mostly tired.  The bites I had received (from what I felt) had made my skin red, and swell. Surprisingly enough, I wasn´t dead yet.

I opened my eyes and found my body encased in a disgusting webbed silk. 

¨Gross,¨ I mumbled, ¨Where am I?¨

The motherly voice sounded louder now, ¨Welcome to the cave of Arachne, daughter of Athena...¨

Ice flowed through my veins. Arachne..The spider woman. 

¨Let me go!¨ I squirmed within my confinement, and I heard a hissing, as the webbing shredded to bits. 

¨We are not here to hurt you, dear. We merely require you as our key.¨

¨The key to set us free.¨ She explained, not fully in the poor lighting that sheathed the cave from my eyes. 

I lay on the ground, before standing to clutch at the dagger in my belt loop. 

¨Why the hell should I free you? I can´t even see you when I speak to you.¨ I explained and crossed my arms. 

¨If that is what you wish..¨ She muttered and I could hear the slithering of legs. 

The sound filled me with fright, and my grip on the dagger grew tighter. 

Long hairy legs appeared in the crude lighting, and then a human stomach, long black hair ascending over her spider-like frame, black soulless eyes piercing through my very core, "We need you, Annabeth Chase. You are the key to freeing us from this place."

"What place?" 

"This prison. Do you not see where we are?" 

"Uhhh..." I had been to Tartarus before, this looked nothing like a chamber of imprisonment, "A cave?"

"This is the barrier between Olympus and the cave of unwanted. You, Annabeth are the key."