plague bringer - a heroes of olympus insert

𝗑. 𝗒𝗈𝗎'𝗋𝖾 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾 𝗈𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗂𝗍𝖺𝗇𝗌. 𝗒𝗈𝗎'𝗋𝖾 𝖺 𝖼𝗈𝗈𝗅 𝗍𝗂𝗍𝖺𝗇.

Aria literally stumbled over the second Titan. After entering the storm front, they plodded on for what seemed like hours, relying on the light of her Celestial bronze blade, her glow stick abilities, and on Bob, who glowed faintly in the dark like some sort of crazy janitor angel. Twinsies!

Aria could only see about five feet in front of her. The fog was made of ink. Rocks loomed out of nowhere. Pits appeared at their feet, and Aria barely avoided falling in. Monstrous roars echoed in the gloom, but Aria couldn't tell where they came from. All she could be certain of was that the terrain was still sloping down.

Down seemed to be the only direction allowed in Tartarus. If Aria backtracked even a step, she felt tired and heavy, as if gravity were increasing to discourage her. Assuming that the entire pit was the body of Tartarus, she had a nasty feeling they were marching straight down his throat.

She was so preoccupied with that thought, she didn't notice the ledge until it was too late. Bob grabbed for her arm, but she was already falling. Fortunately, it was only a shallow depression. Most of it was filled with a monster blister. She had a soft landing on a warm bouncy surface and was feeling lucky—until she opened her eyes and found herself staring through a glowing gold membrane at another, much larger face. She screamed and flailed, toppling sideways off the mound. Her heart did a hundred jumping jacks.

Bob helped her to her feet. "You okay?"

She didn't trust herself to answer. If she opened her mouth, she might scream again. She was a daughter of a god, not some shrill girlie victim in a horror movie. But gods of Olympus, that thing...

Curled in the membrane bubble in front of her was a fully formed Titan in golden armor, his skin the color of polished pennies. His eyes were closed, but he scowled so deeply he appeared to be on the verge of a bloodcurdling war cry. Even through the blister, Aria could feel the heat radiating from his body.

Aria shivered at a glance of the guy. She was about to suggest that they burst the titan's bubble before he woke up. He looked ready to pop out at any moment and start charbroiling everything in his path. Then she glanced at Bob. The silvery Titan was studying the other titan with a frown of concentration—maybe recognition. Their faces looked so much alike...

Aria bit back a curse. Of course they looked alike. This guy was a Titan, so he probably was his brother. Take away Bob's broom and his janitor's clothes, put him in armor and cut his hair, change his color scheme from silver to gold, and Iapetus would have been almost indistinguishable from this guy.

"Bob," she said, "we should go."

"Gold, not silver," Bob murmured. "But he looks like me."

"Bob," Aria said. "Hey, buddy, over here." The Titan reluctantly turned.

"Is Percy your friend?" Aria asked.

"Yes." Bob sounded dangerously uncertain.

"And I'm your friend since I'm Percy's friend too?"

Bob hesitantly nodded. "We are friends."

"You know that some monsters are good," she continued. "And some are bad."

"Hmm," Bob said. "Like...the pretty ghost ladies who serve Persephone are good. Exploding zombies are bad."

"Right," Aria said. "And some mortals are good, and some are bad. Well, the same thing is true for Titans."

"Titans..." Bob loomed over her, glowering.

Aria felt like she had just made a big mistake. "That's what you are," she said calmly. "Bob the Titan. You're good. You're awesome, in fact. But some Titans are not. This guy here is full-on bad. He tried to kill my friends... tried to kill a lot of people."

Bob blinked his silver eyes. "But he looks...his face is so—"

"He looks like you," Aria agreed. "He's a Titan, like you. But he's not good like you are."

"Bob is good." His fingers tightened on his broom handle. "Yes. There is always at least one good one—monsters, Titans, giants."

"Uh..." Aria grimaced, thinking back to all of the fights she had been in. "Well, I'm not sure about the giants."

"Oh, yes." Bob nodded earnestly.

Aria sensed they'd already been in this place too long and wanted to change the topic. Their pursuers would be closing in. "We should go," she urged.

Aria turned to the monster pimple and grimaced. After a moment she turned to Bob. "Bob," she said, "it's your call what we do with this guy. He is your kind. We could leave him alone, but if he wakes up—"

Bob's broom-spear swept into motion. If he'd been aiming at Aria, she would've been cut in half. Instead, Bob slashed through the monstrous blister, which burst in a geyser of hot golden mud. Aria wiped the Titan sludge out of her eyes. Where the Titan had been, there was nothing but a smoking crater.

"Hyperion is a bad Titan," Bob announced, his expression grim. "Now he can't hurt my friends. He will have to re-form somewhere else in Tartarus. Hopefully it will take a long time." The Titan's eyes seemed brighter than usual, as if he were about to cry quicksilver.

"Thank you, Bob," Aria said. She had hoped that it would turn out that way and she was very glad she was correct. "We'd better keep going,"

She followed Bob, the golden mud flecks from Hyperion's burst bubble glowing on his janitor's uniform.