IMPORTANT! On the last chapter I accidentally posted the same thing for Chapters 22 and 23, but I went back and fixed it so Chapter 23 is actually... well, chapter 23. If you get what I'm trying to say. So if when you read chapter 23 it was the same as chapter 22, go back and read chapter 23 (because I changed it) before this chapter, or you won't get anything here. So sorry for the confusion!

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Annabeth

We all stared at the twins.

Soon they looked at us like we were from another planet, cause we were just sitting there, and Theto cleared his throat, saying, "Um. Anything to say, demigods?"

I jerked out of my stupor, and said as cordially as possible, "I'm sorry, uh… Lord Theto. We came here to be teleported to Mount Olympus. We are supposed to be at the gods council held tomorrow morning."

Theto nodded slowly, "Alright."

I stood there with raised eyebrows, waiting for him to do some magic or whatever it was to teleport us up. But nothing happened.

I bit my lower lip. "Er, so can you teleport us up there, please?"

Theto took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes, as if considering something. After a while, he simply stated, "No."

My eyebrows shot up even higher, if that was possible. "No?" I asked unbelievingly.

"No." Came the return, this time from Milo. I shifted my gaze to the taller man.

"Why not?" I tried to keep my voice level, and keep from yelling. I probably wanted to stay on their good side.

Theto shrugged, "Cause you can't just demand us to send you all to Mount Olympus. You do have to pay."

I resisted the strong urge to roll my gray eyes, "How much does it cost to get up, then?"

"Oh you don't have to pay." Milo replied.

This time, I gave in to the desire to roll my eyes, and said impatiently, "But you just said we had to pay!"

"Don't get your tushy in a tizzy, young lady. There are many different ways of paying something." Milo said, frowning.

Theto took over the conversation from there. "Our means of paying is kind of like… Oh I don't know. Protection, I guess. Come." He motioned for us to follow him, then started to walk towards a doorway in the hall that had not been there a second before.

I looked at our group of demigods, and Percy shrugged and strolled over to the wooden doorway. I followed him, and soon everyone else did the same. The door was already open, and when I walked through, my eyes widened so far I probably looked ridiculous.

But it was amazing! I knew right away that this was the super tall room that I saw from the outside. I looked up at the dizzying sight. Unlike the beginning hall we had walked through, I could see all the way to the top, courtesy of the many green torches lighting up the walls. The walls were pitch black. At the top was small round glass pane for a ceiling, barely big enough to see much because of the distance from there to the floor. But I could still see a speck of the sky from here.

Other than the torches, there was nothing else in the room. When the rest of the group was inside, it was small enough that we were all smashed together. Many grumblings and "Ow! That was my toe!"s sprang up from the mouths of the demigods. I felt a small pain as someone's heel slammed down upon my pinkie toe. I looked down, and then somebody's elbow hit my nose. My hand flew to my face, and in the movement, I felt my arm hit something soft.

"Annabeth! That was my chin!" I recognized Thalia's voice.

"Sorry," I grunted. Just when I thought we were all gonna smack each other to pieces, Theto appeared above the crowd, floating on thin air as gods were apparently able to do.

"Quiet please! Everybody!" He said frantically, trying to make all the arguing demigods settle down.

He kept on trying, but nobody would listen, then someone yelled in an incredibly loud voice, "SHUT UP, PEEPS!"

I stood on my tippy toes to see Theto as said person nodded in the opposite direction of me. "Thank you, young man," Theto said.

I glanced over to see Leo grinning with that crazy grin of his. "You're most certainly welcome, older man." Leo replied easily. Theto frowned, then seemed to shrug it off.

Everyone became quiet when Leo's insane voice had reached our ears, and we were finally calm. When nobody moved, nobody got elbowed or stepped on.

"Is this where we get teleported?" A person, not sure who, asked.

Milo shook his head. "No, this is where you pay to get teleported."

Thalia, right next to me, said, "Well, what do we have to do? Just stay in this tiny room all day?"

Milo chuckled, and replied, "No. In the middle of this tiny room, where Theto and I are standing, there is a platform that will rise up to the ceiling. When you get up, the glass pane at the top will open, and you will be on large balcony. The platform can only take two people at a time, so it will take a while to get up. When you reach the top, wait for the others to get there, then Theto and I will explain."

Thalia frowned. "Can't you just teleport us up there or something?"

Milo grinned cheekily. "Well, yes. But it's much more fun this way."

"Why?" the hunter asked again.

"Cause it is. Which two are going first?" Milo asked, casting glances around the room. I watched as two people from my group walked up to stand on the platform. The dais was really small, and the two people had to stand close to the other person to keep them falling. And there was no railings on the outside of the platform. It was just a small, round, steel base.

The platform began to rise at a relatively quick pace. It didn't have any supports, so it was obvious that the twins were controlling it. It just looked like it was floating in space. In twenty seconds, the two people hopped off and onto the roof where the balcony supposedly was.

The platform came down much quicker, and the next two got on. Hazel and Frank. I noticed that the two of them seemed very close. Frank seemed really protective of the daughter of Hades as well. I made a mental note to ask her about that later.

After a few more turns, Thalia got on with Nico. Wow, this gonna be good. Thalia was deathly afraid of heights, and would hold on tightly to anything that would get her away from them. In this case, that one thing would be Nico.

I chuckled as they started going up, watching Thalia slowly turn pale, and occasionally look down. When they were far enough up that I couldn't see them very well, I saw Thalia's eyes slowly peek out from above the platform, looking at the ground below, then she emitted a loud gasp.

She jumped back, and I heard Nico yell. "Ow! Don't hold my arm that hard, Thalia!"

I heard a deep snicker beside me, and turned to see Percy standing next to me, looking at the rising platform.

He looked down at me, grinning, "You weren't kidding when you said Thalia was afraid of heights."

I smiled along with him, "I feel bad for Nico."

I waited until the platform came back down, then watched it as several more trips were taken. I waited, letting others go before me. As the leader of my group, it only seemed right that I let others go first. After the last turn, I looked back to realize that it was only Percy and I left, other than Milo and Theto.

I stepped on, and Percy followed me. Milo waves at us as we go up, and the two figures slowly start getting smaller. I glanced at Percy, who seems to be studying the torches on the dark walls.

We were really close, our heads about half a foot away. I blushed at the small space between us, and turned my head away, deciding to look down again.

Bad idea.

I don't care about heights, but the height we were at was unexpected. My vision swam, and I almost fell off.

Panicked, I launched my arm back, trying to find something to pull me back up again.

Fortunately, Percy saw that I was falling, and grabbed my arms, bringing me back up. Unfortunately, this movement brought us really close.

I took a deep breath, and stared at his collarbone, which was rising and falling with his breaths. Then I brought my gaze up to those bright green eyes, full of amusement. He was chuckling.

"Not too light on your toes, are you, Wise Girl."

I glared at him, making his grin wider. I was still shook up, but I couldn't tell if it was from the almost fall or from Percy's strong hands which were still on my arms, holding us close.

He released his hands soon, though, and I self consciously stepped back, trying to put some space between us.

Why am I so stupid sometimes?

The platform wasn't large enough from me to step back. My foot landed on thin air. I was really about to fall this time, and I let out a little choked scream.

I heard Percy laugh, and he grabbed my outstretched hand. I stayed like that, hanging over the edge, only supported by Percy's hand. Then he hauled me back up, and I hurriedly grabbed onto Percy, not anxious to fall again.

"Wow, shouldn't a daughter of Athena know that you can't step on thin air?" Percy stated between laughs.

I glowered at him, but no matter how embarrassed I was, I was not going to let go of Percy and risk being stupid and fall again.

The "ride" went so slowly to me, even though I knew it didn't take that long, and when we finally reached the top, the glass pane smoothly flew up, permitting us outside. I let my tight clutch on Percy's shoulder loosen, and I stepped out onto the balcony.

Everybody was there, including Milo and Theto. I guess they had teleported themselves up. The round balcony was probably twice, if not three times as large as the tiny room we had just been in. The floor was glass, and Percy and I were standing exactly in the middle of the balcony where the platform is. We stepped off of the small platform, and onto the glass balcony. I looked down at my feet, which were standing on the glass floor, staring at the roofs of the other buildings and rooms in the fortress. We were really high, and it was kinda creepy, cause it looked like we were floating. I was fine with the heights here, though, cause I trusted the glass to hold.

The edges of the balcony had an intricately designed railing made out of what looked like black metal. The curves of the small supports wove in and out of each other, eventually each settling down onto the glass floor. The fence went up to stomach.

I walked over with Percy to join everyone else that was crowded around, looking at the view set before us. Well, everyone except for Thalia.

She was sitting in the middle of the glass floor, her head in her knees, and she was curled up into a ball. I decided on whether I wanted to go over to see if she was okay, but then I saw the view, and I totally forgot what I was thinking.

It was beautiful. Even prettier than the sight from my own porch back at Athena's temple.

You could see for miles from this high up. To the front of me, a huge forest spread out, and several birds could were flying overhead. Right next to the lush forest lay a placid meadow. I could see the clumps of flowers spread out among the willowy grass. A doe could be faintly seen, leading it's energetic full fawn around.

I took a deep breath in, drinking in the sight. Then, I reluctantly turned around, and rushed to the opposite side of which I was standing, to see if the sights differed.

I wasn't disappointed.

From here, you could see a vast ocean, and waves pulling up to the shore with strong gusts, then retreating back to their watery home. The rocky beach helped prevent the waves from going too far. The sun cast a glow upon the sea, sometimes reflecting too brightly, causing me to look away. I leaned as far as I could out, looking out to the side, where I could see the city of Thessaloniki.

I gazed the other way, and looked at immense bluffs and mountains. It seemed like you could see everything from here. I could just sit here for days, and still not be content that I had seen so little of the view. I let out my breath, not realizing that I had been holding it, and stared at the sea. Nobody was talking. We were all just staring.

"Do you like our views?" Theto asked.

All at once everybody turned around and shouted choruses of "Yes!" and "Are you kidding?" and "It's beautiful!" And then one person groaned and said, "Oh, get me down from here!" I looked at the girl who said that and chuckled.

"Doing okay, Thals?" I questioned. She glared at me, and I tried to stifle my fits of laughter.

"What do we have to do to get to Mount Olympus?" Jason asked, drawing my attention away from Thalia to the twins.

Milo looked at Theto, as if asking something, and when Theto nodded, Milo started to explain.