The Curse of Achilles (PJO AU)

The House of Hades (Part 3)

The plains of Tartarus

Percy recalled how dangerous Kelli had been the last time they'd fought in the Labyrinth. Despite those mismatched legs, she could move fast when she wanted to. Back then, she'd dodged his sword strikes and would have eaten his face if Annabeth hadn't stabbed her from behind.

Now she had four friends with her. And only Percy had invulnerable skin.

"And your friend Annabeth is with you!" Kelli hissed with laughter. "Oh, yeah, I totally remember her."

Kelli touched her own sternum, where the tip of the knife had exited when Annabeth stabbed her in the back. "What's the matter, daughter of Athena? Don't have your weapon? Bummer. I'd use it to kill you."

Percy tried to think. He and Annabeth stood shoulder to shoulder as they had many times before, ready to fight. But neither of them was in good shape for battle. Annabeth was empty-handed. They were hopelessly outnumbered.

It reminded Percy of their fight against Chrysaor. Just like then, if Percy struck with Riptide and the Curse of Achilles on his side, he might do okay, even with the curse's exhaustion weighing on him. But Annabeth would be overwhelmed. There was nowhere to run. No help coming.

Briefly, Percy considered calling for Mrs. O'Leary, his hellhound friend who could shadow-travel. Even if she heard him, could she make it into Tartarus? This was where monsters went when they died. Calling her here might kill her, or turn her back to her natural state as a fierce monster. No . . . he couldn't do that to his dog.

So, no help. Fighting was a long shot.

That left Annabeth's favorite tactics: trickery, talk, delay.

"So . . ." he started, "I guess you're wondering what we're doing in Tartarus."

Kelli snickered. "Not really. I just want to kill you."

That would've been it, but Annabeth chimed in.

"Too bad," she said. "Because you have no idea what's going on in the mortal world."

The other empousai circled, watching Kelli for a cue to attack; but the ex-cheerleader only snarled, crouching out of reach of Percy's sword.

"We know enough," Kelli said. "Gaea has spoken."

"You're heading toward a major defeat." Annabeth sounded so confident, even Percy was impressed. She glanced at the other empousai, one by one, then pointed accusingly at Kelli. "This one claims she's leading you to a victory. She's lying. The last time she was in the mortal world, Kelli was in charge of keeping my friend Luke Castellan faithful to Kronos. In the end, Luke rejected him. He gave his life to expel Kronos. The Titans lost because Kelli failed. Now Kelli wants to lead you to another disaster."

The other empousai muttered and shifted uneasily.

"Enough!" Kelli's fingernails grew into long black talons. She glared at Annabeth as if imagining her sliced into small pieces.

Percy was pretty sure Kelli had had a thing for Luke Castellan. Luke had that effect on girls—even donkey-legged vampires—and Percy wasn't sure bringing up his name was such a good idea.

"The girl lies," Kelli said. "So the Titans lost. Fine! That was part of the plan to wake Gaea! Now the Earth Mother and her giants will destroy the mortal world, and we will totally feast on demigods!"

The other vampires gnashed their teeth in a frenzy of excitement. Percy had been in the middle of a school of sharks when the water was full of blood. That wasn't nearly as scary as empousai ready to feed.