𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐏𝐔𝐓 𝐀 𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐄 𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄.
it seemed percy was only content when she was.
cherry seemed to gag at the creatures all around her; she thought every bit of life was beautiful.
as long as it was very far away from her.
to their right, the phlegethon split into branches that etched the plain, widening into a delta of smoke and fire.
to the north, along the main route of the river, the ground was riddled with cave entrances.
here and there, spires of rock jutted up like exclamation points.
annabeth stood, wiping soot from her face.
she gazed toward the darkness on the horizon. "we're going to be completely exposed, crossing this plain."
as the telkhine burst out of the blistered ground and was promptly devoured by another creature, percy couldn't help but feel a pang of grim amusement at the twisted cycle of tartarus.
everything was so horrible.
cherry tried not to think about it, hoping any sour thoughts wouldn't reflect on her features.
the trio started walking, trying to avoid the cave entrances and sticking close to the riverbank.
there was a movement between the rocks to their right. his heart skipped a beat.
"the empousai," percy spoke, taking his girlfriends usnd.
"where are they?" annabeth questioned.
cherry scanned their surroundings.
the empousai had surrounded them, forming a perfect trap.
kelli, the leader of the empousai, limped forward on her mismatched legs.
percy raised his sword, preparing for a fight."percy jackson," kelli cooed. "how awesome! i don't even have to return to the mortal world to destroy you!"
"your friend annabeth is with you! oh, and your traitorous girlfriend." kelli hissed with laughter.
they didn't really have any weapons. not counting cherry, at least, but she needed to save up some of her energy if they were gonna stay alive any longer.
"i've literally never seen you in my life." cherry spoke.
her tone came off as insulting.
as if kelli was nobody. not important. stupid.
a loser.
annabeth began revealing kelli's past failures and warning of another disaster if they followed gaea.
kelli grew furious, dismissing annabeth's claims and boasting of gaea's impending victory. the other empousai seemed eager for the feast on demigods.
percy prepared for a fight, but he knew he couldn't take them all.
percy bared his forearm and showed them the brand he'd gotten at camp jupiter, the spqr mark, with the trident of neptune.
"you mix greek and roman, and you know what you get? you get baml." percy stomped his foot, and the empousai scrambled back.
one fell off the boulder where she'd been perched.
that made percy feel good, but they recovered quickly and closed in again.
"bold talk," kelli said, "for two demigods and a goddess lost in tartarus. lower your sword, percy jackson, and i'll kill you quickly. believe me, there are worse ways to die down here."
"wait!" annabeth tried again. "aren't empousai the servants of hecate?"
kelli curled her lip. "so?"
"so hecate is on our side now," annabeth said. "she has a cabin at camp half-blood. some of her demigod children are my friends. if you fight us, she'll be angry."
cherry wanted to laugh.
annabeth was too smart.
one of the other empousai growled. "is this true, kelli? has our mistress made peace with olympus?"
"shut up, serephone!" kelli screeched. "gods, you're annoying!"
"i will not cross the dark lady." serephone shook her head.
"that's smart of you." cherry complimented.
kelli huffed.
why hadn't she received a compliment?
annabeth took the opening. "you'd all be better following serephone. she's older and wiser."
"yes!" serephone shrieked. "follow me!"
kelli struck so fast, percy didn't have the chance to raise his sword.
fortunately, she didn't attack him.
kelli lashed out at serephone. for half a second, the two demons were a blur of slashing claws and fangs.
then it was over.
kelli stood triumphant over a pile of dust. from her claws hung the tattered remains of serephone's dress.
"anymore issues?" kelli snapped at her sisters. "hecate is the goddess of the mist! her ways are mysterious. who knows which side she truly favors? she is also the goddess of the crossroads, and she expects us to make our own choices. i choose the path that will bring us the most demigod blood! i choose gaea!"
her friends hissed in approval.
annabeth glanced at percy, and he saw that she was out of ideas.
she'd done what she could.
she'd gotten kelli to eliminate one of her own.
now there was nothing left but to fight.
"for two years i churned in the void," kelli said. "do you know how completely annoying it is to be vaporized, annabeth chase? slowly re-forming, fully conscious, in searing pain for months and years as your body regrows, then finally breaking the crust of this hellish place and clawing your way back to daylight? all because some little girl stabbed you in the back?"
her baleful eyes held annabeth's. "i wonder what happens if a demigod is killed in tartarus. i doubt it's ever happened before. let's find out."
percy sprang, slashing riptide in a huge arc.
he cut one of the demons in half, but kelli dodged and charged annabeth.
the other two empousai launched themselves at cherry. she felt her heart shake in her rib cage.
each time she did something out of cruelty, it came back to bite her. love didn't accept any forms of cruelty. it ate at her heart piece by piece until she'd eventually feel nothing.
until she became nothing.
she didn't really care, though, not when percy was involved.
cherry caught the fist of the first empousai. she spread her hands out, taking hers.
the empousai had no idea what was going on.
she just felt warm. her eyes misted over, and her skin broke into flames.
but she didn't die immediately. that would've been too kind.
as she crumbled to the floor, cherry focused on the other empousai.
cherry had no time to think. her hand had remained perfectly manicured. her beauty was the one thing she could always count on.
her nails slashed at the empousai's face, leaving horrible bright red gashes.
"now you can't pretend to be beautiful." cherry frowned.
only a moment later, the empousai's head came off, and faded into a glitter of dust.
cherry eyed the pile on the other side.
percy's eyes were coated in a mix of impression and horror.
before he could question just how much of an effect tartarus was having on her, a huge, silvery figure dropped right out of the sky and stomped kelli flat, trampling her into a mound of dust.
the titan was ten feet tall, with wild silver einstein hair, pure silver eyes, and muscular arms protruding from a ripped-up blue janitor's uniform.
in his hand was a massive push broom.
his name tag, incredibly, read bob.
annabeth yelped and tried to crawl away, but the giant janitor wasn't interested in her.
a spearhead jutted from the end of bob's broom. with a single deadly swipe, he cut the empousai percy had been fighting into dust.
"sweep!" the titan grinned with delight and did a victory dance. "sweep, sweep, sweep!"
it was absurd.
percy couldn't speak.
annabeth looked just as shocked.
cherry couldn't get herself to stop laughing at the titans dance moves, a smile growing on her face.
"they need you on dancing with the stars." cherry grinned. "whats your name?"
"bob!" the janitor said happily. "percy called me!"
annabeth crawled a little farther away. her arm was bleeding badly.
"called you? he- wait. you're bob? the bob?" annabeth asked.
the janitor frowned when he noticed annabeth's wounds. "owie."
annabeth flinched as he knelt next to her.
"it's okay," percy said, still woozy with pain. "he's friendly."
the janitor tapped annabeth's forearm and it mended instantly.
bob chuckled, pleased with himself. "all better!" he declared.
cherry looked over at her boyfriend.
there was a cut on his neck.
cherry outstretched her hand, gently touching the wound. her fingers were coated in a light layer of blood, and then the wound disappeared.
percy smiled at her.
he didn't understand how she could kill and then touch him as if he'd crumble if she pressed too hard.
"thanks for the help, bob. it's really good to see you again." percy greeted.
"yes!" the janitor agreed.
"bob. that's me. bob, bob, bob." he shuffled around, obviously pleased with his name. "i am helping. i heard my name. upstairs in hades's palace, nobody calls for bob unless there is a mess. bob, sweep up these bones. bob, mop up these tortured souls. bob, a zombie exploded in the dining room."
cherry frowned.
that sentence alone made her feel so confusingly upset.
he only existed for service.
maybe she was reading too much into it. she was always too emotional, and it only got worse in tartarus.
annabeth gave percy a puzzled look, but he had no explanation.
"then i heard my friend call!" the titan beamed. "percy said, bob!"
"that's awesome," percy said. "seriously. but how did you.."
"oh, time to talk later." bob's expression turned serious. "we must go before they find you. they are coming. yes, indeed."
"they?" annabeth asked.
percy scanned the horizon.
he saw no approaching monsters, nothing but the stark gray wasteland.
"who?" cherry questioned.
"yes," bob agreed. "but bob knows a way. come on, friends! we will have fun!"
cherry jumped up, excited to follow him.
she trusted him, and it'd been probably 2 minutes.
they followed bob through the wasteland, tracing the route of the phlegethon as they approached the storm front of darkness.
"bob knows what he's doing," percy promised the two girls.
"i believe him." cherry nodded.
"you have interesting friends," annabeth murmured.
"bob is interesting!" the titan turned and grinned. "yes, thank you!"
"so, bob.." annabeth tried to sound casual and friendly. "how did you get to tartarus?"
"i jumped," he said, like it was obvious.
"you jumped into tartarus," percy asked, "because i said your name?"
he wasn't one to talk.
he'd jumped right into tartarus after seeing his girlfriend do it.
"you needed me." those silver eyes gleamed in the darkness. "it is okay. i was tired of sweeping the palace. come along! we are almost at a rest stop."
a rest stop.
what would that be in tartarus?
hopefully they had snacks.
bobs blue janitor's coveralls were ripped between the shoulder blades, as if someone had tried to stab him.
cleaning rags stuck out of his pocket. a squirt bottle swung from his belt, the blue liquid inside sloshing hypnotically.
they passed a blister in the ground, a writhing, translucent bubble the size of a minivan.
curled inside was the half-formed body of a drakon. bob speared the blister without a second thought. it burst in a geyser of steaming yellow slime, and the drakon dissolved into nothing.
bob kept walking.
"here," bob said.
they stopped at the top of a ridge.
below them, in a sheltered depression like a moon crater, stood a ring of broken black marble columns surrounding a dark stone altar.
"hermes's shrine," bob explained.
percy frowned. "a hermes shrine in tartarus?"
bob laughed in delight. "yes. it fell from somewhere long ago. maybe mortal world. maybe olympus. anyway, monsters steer clear. mostly."
"how did you know it was here?" annabeth asked.
bob's smile faded.
he got a vacant look in his eyes. "can't remember."
"that's okay," percy said quickly.
they climbed into the crater and entered the circle of columns.
cherry scanned their surroundings.
the inky storm front was less than a hundred feet away now, obscuring everything ahead of them. the crater's rim blocked their view of the wasteland behind.
they'd be well hidden here, but if monsters did stumble across them, they would have no warning.
"you said someone was chasing us," annabeth said. "who?"
bob swept his broom around the base of the altar, occasionally crouching to study the ground as if looking for something.
"they are following, yes. they know you are here. giants and titans. the defeated ones. they know."
the defeated ones?
"why are we stopping, then?" annabeth said. "we should keep moving."
"soon," bob said. "but mortals need rest. good place here. best place for.. oh, long, long way. i will guard you."
annabeth glanced at her friends.
"you guys sleep," percy told them. "i'll keep the first watch with bob."
bob rumbled in agreement. "yes, good. when you wake, food should be here!"
cherry nodded her head.
what about percy? he needed to sleep. she was immortal. she didn't need to rest.
she didn't-
her head hit her arms, and she fell fast asleep.
the moment her guard was down, she'd fallen asleep. probably not very good if they'd encounter any monsters.
she slept good for a little, until someone clutched onto her.
her eyes shot up.
she wrapped her arms around annabeth.
annabeth sunk into her. the scent of candy seemed to comfort her. how was cherry so perfect?
well, obviously annabeth knew.
it was just difficult to wrap her head around, sometimes.
cherry was unnaturally beautiful. the way her hair rested, always perfect, her skin looked great, her lips perfectly glossed at any moment.
she understood why percy liked her.
why literally everybody liked her.
everything about her was incredible.
bob the titan sat cross-legged by the altar, happily munching a piece of pizza.
annabeth rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was still dreaming.
"is that.. pepperoni?" annabeth guessed.
"burnt offerings," percy said. "sacrifices to hermes from the mortal world, i guess. they appeared in a cloud of smoke. we've got half a hot dog, cookies, some grapes, a plate of roast beef, and a package of peanut m&m's."
"m&m's for bob!" bob said happily. "uh, that okay?"
"mhm!" cherry agreed.
annabeth didn't protest.
percy brought down the plate of roast beef, and both girls wolfed it down. the brisket was still hot, with exactly the same spicy sweet glaze as the barbecue at camp half-blood.
"do you wanna come sit with us?" cherry waved the titan over.
"oh. okay!" bob grinned at the invite, and made his way over.
"peanut m&m's," annabeth said. "connor stoll always burned a pack for his dad at dinner."
cherry took a bite out of a grape.
"hey, this is good. actual food from home, right?" percy spoke.
bob passed the box around, but nobody took any. cherry made a comment about them being disgusting.
bob chomped down the last of his m&m's. "should go now. they will be here in a few minutes."
"a few minutes?" annabeth reached for her dagger, then remembered she didn't have it.
"yes.. well, i think minutes." bob scratched his silvery hair. "time is hard in tartarus. not the same."
percy crept to the edge of the crater.
he peered back the way they'd come. "i don't see anything, but that doesn't mean much. bob, which giants are we talking about? which titans?"
bob grunted. "not sure of names. six, maybe seven. i can sense them."
"six or seven?" annabeth wasn't sure her barbecue would stay down. "and can they sense you?"
"don't know." bob smiled. "bob is different! but they can smell demigods, yes. you two smell very strong. good strong. like.. hmm. like buttery bread!"
"buttery bread," annabeth said. "well, that's great."
"we have cherry. i believe in her." percy smiled, and then immediately regretted saying that.
she probably didn't feel very complimented.
she probably felt like she had the entire world on her shoulders.
the closest feeling she'd ever had was holding the sky, and even that was done in an effort to help percy.
everything she did was for him.
she liked helping him.
but eventually she'd have to choose what was good for her.
bob started cleaning up, collecting their trash in a little pile, using his squirt bottle to wipe off the altar.
"where to now?" annabeth asked.
percy pointed at the stormy wall of darkness. "bob says that way. apparently the doors of death."
"you told him?" annabeth didn't mean it to come out so harsh, but percy winced.
"while you were asleep," he admitted. "annabeth, bob can help. we need a guide."
"bob helps! into the dark lands. the doors of death.. hmm, walking straight to them would be bad. too many monsters gathered there. even bob could not sweep that many. they would kill percy and annabeth in about two seconds." the titan frowned. "i think seconds. time is hard in tartarus."
"thank you for helping." cherry smiled, and extended a hand for a high-five.
she didn't know him.
it'd be wrong to assume who he was, because of who he'd been.
"right," annabeth grumbled. "so is there another way?"
"hiding," said bob. "the death mist could hide you."
"oh.." annabeth suddenly felt very small in the shadow of the titan. "uh, what is death mist?"
"it is dangerous," bob said. "but if the lady will give you death mist, it might hide you. if we can avoid night. the lady is very close to night. that is bad."
"the lady," percy repeated.
"yes." bob pointed ahead of them into the inky blackness. "we should go."
"okay, let's go." cherry nodded, eager to continue and get out as soon as possible.
"i guess we'll see a lady about some death mist." percy agreed.
"wait," annabeth said.
she stared at the black altar.
"annabeth?" percy sounded concerned.
she walked to the pile of trash and picked out a reasonably clean paper napkin.
"bob," she said, "offerings burned in the mortal world appear on this altar, right?"
bob frowned uncomfortably, like he wasn't ready for a pop quiz. "yes?"
"so what happens if i burn something on the altar here?"
"uh..."
"that's all right, you don't know. nobody knows, because it's never been done."
there was a chance, she thought, just the slimmest chance that an offering burned on this altar might appear at camp half-blood.
"annabeth?" percy said again. "you're planning something. you've got that i'm-planning-something look."
"i don't have an i'm-planning-something look. do either of you have a pen?" annabeth asked.
"oh, percy does." cherry pointed.
she would've searched for her bag, if she still had it.
all she had in there was lipgloss and a couple of knives, though. maybe some bandages.
percy brought out riptide.
"yes, but can you actually write with it?"
"i-i don't know," he admitted. "never tried."
he uncapped the pen.
as usual, it sprang into a full-sized sword. when he touched the cap to the point of the sword, it would turn back into a ballpoint pen.
"what if you touch the cap to the other end of the sword?" annabeth said. "like where you'd put the cap if you were actually going to write with the pen."
"uh.."
percy looked doubtful, but he touched the cap to the hilt of the sword.
riptide shrank back into a ballpoint pen, but now the writing point was exposed.
"may i?" annabeth plucked it from his hand.
she flattened the napkin against the altar and began to write.
riptide's ink glowed celestial bronze.
"what are you doing?" percy asked.
"sending a message," annabeth said. "i just hope rachel gets it."
"rachel?" percy asked. "you mean our rachel? oracle of delphi rachel?"
"what other rachel do you know?" cherry turned.
percy immediately gave a rambled response of never having met anybody named rachel, and that he was so unfamiliar with the name he couldn't even spell it.
annabeth finished her note and folded the napkin. on the outside, she wrote: connor,give this to rachel. not a prank. don't be a moron. love, annabeth.
she took a deep breath.
she was asking rachel dare to do something ridiculously dangerous, but it was the only way she could think of to communicate with the romans, the only way that might avoid bloodshed.
"now i just need to burn it," annabeth said. "anybody got a match?"
the point of bob's spear shot from his broom handle. it sparked against the altar and erupted in silvery fire.
"uh, thanks," annabeth lit the napkin and set it on the altar.
she watched it crumble to ash and wondered if she was crazy.
could the smoke really make it out of tartarus?
"we should go now," bob advised. "really, really go. before we are killed."
annabeth stared at the wall of blackness in front of them.
somewhere in there was a lady who dispensed a death mist that might hide them from monsters, a plan recommended by a titan, one of their bitterest enemies.
another dose of weirdness to explode her brain.
"right," she said. "i'm ready."
after entering the storm front, they plodded on for what seemed like hours, relying on the light of percy's celestial bronze blade, and on bob, who glowed faintly in the dark like some sort of crazy janitor angel.
cherry could only see about five feet in front of her.
she tried to make small talk and distract herself from the thoughts that tried to creep to the front of her mind.
annabeth had accidentally fallen into a shallow pit, but she climbed back up to her feet.
there was a face inside the pit.
"hyperion," percy said. "i hate that guy. i thought grover turned this guy into a maple tree."
"maybe the maple tree died, and he wound up back here?" annabeth presumed.
"i miss grover." cherry huffed.
the silvery titan was studying hyperion with a frown of concentration.. maybe recognition.
"bob," annabeth said, "we should go."
"gold, not silver," bob murmured. "but he looks like me."
"bob," percy said. "hey, buddy, over here."
the titan reluctantly turned.
"am i your friend?" percy asked.
"yes." bob sounded dangerously uncertain. "we are friends."
"you know that some monsters are good," percy said. "and some are bad."
"hmm," bob said. "like.. the pretty ghost ladies who serve persephone are good. exploding zombies are bad."
"right," percy said. "and some mortals are good, and some are bad. well, the same thing is true for titans."
"titans.." bob loomed over them, glowering.
cherry watched, trying not to seem a little scared.
"that's what you are," percy said calmly. "bob the titan. you're good. you're awesome, in fact. but some titans are not. this guy here, hyperion, is full-on bad. he tried to kill me.. tried to kill a lot of people."
bob blinked his silver eyes. "but he looks.. his face is so.."
"he looks like you, he's a titan, like you. but he's not good like you are."
"bob is good."
"yes. there is always at least one good one.. monsters, titans, giants."
"uh.."
"well, i'm not sure about the giants."
"oh, yes."
cherry felt a little uneasy.
she glanced at annabeth, who seemed to feel the same.
their pursuers would be closing in.
"we should go," annabeth urged. "what do we do about.."
"bob," percy said, "it's your call. hyperion 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 annabeth or percy, they would've been cut in half.
instead, bob slashed through the monstrous blister, which burst in a geyser of hot golden mud.
annabeth wiped the titan sludge out of her eyes.
where hyperion 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," percy said.