Shrouded in Darkness

Curses in the Trees

"Is that.." i murmur lightly touching my fingertips to my lips. "A forest?" Hazel echoes my thoughts. We've all sort of just stopped and stared at the scene before us. Some light had given way after the clod cover overhead shifted. We no longer needed to have our swords out but i dragged mine along in the dirt watching the small lines it made widen and hiss before cracking open.

"You do know that we're literally standing on top of Tartarus and you're basically scratching his skin." Nico whispered to me at one point. Wide eyed i put my sword away and stared at the scratch marks i made in the dirk watching it shift from bright red to a deep black leathery looking material mimicking skin. Shaking my head and squeezing my eyes shut i tried to block the thought before opening my eyes again. Not far in front of us, maybe a mile or so, was what looked like a giant black line of rocks but as we drew closer we could distinctly make out the forms of blackened and burned trees. Tree stumps, tree branches.

"The Cursed Forest." Percy murmurs grinding his teeth.

"That doesn't sound good." i mutter eyeing the forest suspiciously.

"It's not. Can we go around it?" he asks. I shrug.

"Is there a way around it?" i reply. Percy taps his chin thoughtfully.

"I don't think so." he says glumly.

"What do you think is in there?" i asked out loud. Percy scoffed.

"I know what's in there. The Arai." the name didn't ring a bell but it was enough to make Thalia and Nico come to a grinding halt. Jason, Hazel and I looked at our siblings confused. Then at each other.

"The Arai." Thalia whispered staring at the dead forest. "Is that a bad thing?" i questioned.

"Killing them almost nearly seals your fate." Nico mutters running a hand through his dark hair.

"Wait why?" Hazel asks worriedly glancing at the forest. Percy grinds his teeth.

"If you kill them they curse you. Every monster youv'e ever killed if with their dying breathe they wished revenge upon you the Arai will hurt you the same way you killed them." we stare at them in horror.

"We have to go around then!" i cry out.

"I don't know if we can. It just stretches on." Jason reminds me stretching his arms out toward the sides. He was right as far as i could see there was no way around it. you could only go through it and hope you didn't die.

"This isn't going to be fun." i say unhappily as we continue to push forward. Turns out we weren't a mile away or perhaps we were. It was hard to judge distance. Halfway there though everyone started feeling run down and worn out. We stopped for a bit wolfing down food and washing down water. Percy ran his fingers through his sweat streaked hair and smiled over at me.

"We should try to get some sleep before we go in there." Jason calls out glancing around the group. He looks at me for confirmation and i nod my head slowly.

"Yeah. Sounds like a good idea." i murmur.

"I'll watch." Percy touches my arm.

"Not for too long though ok? It's hard to judge time. If you get tired kick me or something." i start laughing and nod my head.

"Yeah big brother." i reply punching his arm.

"I'll stay up with you." Nico murmurs quietly glancing down at his sister as everyone else settles down.

"You haven't slept at all Nico." i argue lightly moving towards him. He's sitting on the ground with his knees pulled up and his arms wrapped loosely around them. When i sit down next to him he stretches one leg out and props himself up with his arms behind his back.