Percy In Tartarus

9: The Styx Sucks

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Word Count: 4,346 words

POV: Percy

Chapter 9: The Styx Sucks

Percy couldn't tell if it was actually darker or if he was just seeing things, but the air was definitely colder and thicker. It was as if he had stepped into a different microclimate. And for a moment, Percy genuinely wondered if the titans built their palace on Mount Tamalpais because the bay area reminded them of Tartarus. What a depressing thought.

Only a titan would see such a beautiful place as a potential outpost of the abyss; a healing home away from home.

Percy continued to the left and Small Bob growled quietly. The air only got colder. The little calico kitten climbed into the crook of Percy's neck and pressed against him for warmth, though Percy wasn't faring much better. He was shaking just as much.

Looking around, Percy could see that he had entered some sort of forest. It was nothing like the forest back at Camp Half-Blood. There were towering black trees that soared into the darkening gloom with perfectly round trunks bare of branches. The ground was smooth and pale, like one singular membrane. The sky had turned the colour of scabbed-over blood. Percy's senses were on high alert and he rested his hand on the trunk of a nearby tree as if he could feel something coming.

Percy stayed silent.

Small Bob didn't make a peep.

Percy wasn't sure what had set him off. Nothing appeared different or more dangerous than usual.

That's when Percy realized the tree trunk was quivering.

He wondered for a moment if it was the kitten's purr, but Small Bob was deathly still. A few yards away another tree shuddered.

Something was moving from above.

Percy raised his celestial bronze club, scared.

He strained to see above in the dark, but nothing made a move. He had almost decided that he was being overly paranoid when the first monster dropped to the ground only about five feet away.

Percy's first thought – the Furies.

They looked almost exactly like his old pre-algebra teacher, Ms. Dodds. It was a wrinkled hag with bat-like wings, brass talons, and glowing red eyes. The monster wore a tattered dress of black silk qnd her face was twisted and ravenous, like a demonic grandmother. Another dropped in front of Percy, this one naked, covered in hair like a bat with pointed ears sticking out of her unruly hair. Another dropped beside it, looking just as hideous. Soon there were half a dozen surrounding Percy. More hissed in the trees. He was trapped.

They weren't the Furies, Percy knew, because there were only three of those and they were all under the command of Hades. The Lord of the Underworld didn't know Percy was in Tartarus right now. Also, these ladies didn't carry whips. That didn't comfort Percy in any way, though – these monsters looked plenty dangerous on their own.

"Back off!" Percy said. He raised his weapon. "Who are you?"

We are the arai, hissed a voice. The curses!

Percy looked for which one spoke, but none of the demons had moved their mouths. Their eyes looked dead; their expressions were frozen like puppets. The voice simply floated overhead as if a single mind controlled all the creatures.

"What do you want?" Percy demanded.

The voice cackled. The demons fluttered their wings in excitement. To curse you, of course! To destroy you a thousand times in the name of Mother Night!