𝐍 𝐄 𝐖   𝐇 𝐎 𝐏 𝐄   !

𝙲 𝙷 𝙰 𝙿 𝚃 𝙴 𝚁   𝚃 𝚆 𝙾   !

( ( 𝔫𝔬𝔱 𝔰𝔬 ) 𝔣𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔫𝔡𝔩𝔶 𝔯𝔢𝔲𝔫𝔦𝔬𝔫𝔰 ! )

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⬩❖⬩ ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

          𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐘 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐆𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐍 𝐀 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐍 𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐂 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐒. Well, at least while she was considered his girlfriend. During their quest, he'd walked with her on that beach and gotten to know her better. And he'd consider the walk through New Rome right before they kissed to be romantic. But never had he done those things with Aurora while they were officially together.

So for their first "official romantic walk" as a couple to be in a place like Tartarus? Percy was not having it. 

They followed the River Phlegethon, stumbling over the glassy black terrain, jumping crevices, and hiding behind rocks whenever the vampire girls slowed in front of them. Percy had had to take a moment to silently explain how he'd known the empousai, and afterward, he got a slap to the arm for his, quote, "stupidity!", end quote.

It was tricky to stay far enough back to avoid getting spotted but close enough to keep Kelli and her comrades in view through the dark hazy air. The heat from the river baked Percy's skin. Every breath was like inhaling sulfur-scented fiberglass. When they needed a drink, the best they could do was sip some refreshing liquid fire.

"Would this count as our first real date?" Aurora whispered.

At least she hadn't lost her sense of humor. Though, Percy had noticed that something was wrong. The golden glow that usually surrounded her was flickering like a dying fire, and she seemed pale as a sheet. Her eyes were no longer the bright cerulean that matched the summer sky, but a hazy gray that matched the air around them. She seemed void of light and life, and Percy wondered how long she could be without the sun before something truly bad happened to her.

The various cuts that littered her body had luckily faded from the magic of the Plegethon. She'd tied her black hair back with a strip of cloth she'd torn from her shirt, and in the fiery light of the river, silver strands of hair flickered. Despite being beat-up, sooty, and dressed like a homeless person, she looked beautiful to Percy.

So what if they were in Tartarus? So what if they stood a slim chance of surviving? He was so glad that they were together, he had the ridiculous urge to smile. 

Physically, Percy felt better, too, though his clothes looked like he'd been through a hurricane of broken glass. He was thirsty, hungry, and scared out of his mind (and yes, he'd told Aurora about that. Well, more like she'd figured it out and he hadn't lied), but he'd shaken off the hopeless cold of the River Cocytus. And as nasty as the firewater tasted, it seemed to keep him going.

Time was impossible to judge. They trudged along, following the river as it cut through the harsh landscape. Fortunately the empousai weren't exactly speed walkers. They shuffled on their mismatched bronze and donkey legs, hissing and fighting with each other, apparently in no hurry to reach the Doors of Death.

Once, the demons sped up in excitement and swarmed something that looked like a beached carcass on the riverbank. Percy couldn't tell what it was—a fallen monster? An animal of some kind? The empousai attacked it with relish.

When the demons moved on, Percy and Aurora reached the spot and found nothing left except a few splintered bones and glistening stains drying in the heat of the river. Percy had no doubt the empousai would devour demigods with the same gusto.

"Come on." He led Aurora gently away from the scene. "We don't want to lose them."

As they walked, Percy thought about the first time he'd fought the empousa Kelli at Goode High School's freshman orientation, when he and Rachel Elizabeth Dare got trapped in the band hall. At the time, it seemed like a hopeless situation. Now, he'd give anything to have a problem that simple. At least he'd been in the mortal world then. Here, there was nowhere to run.

Wow. When he started looking back on the war with Kronos as the good old days—that was sad. He hoped that things would get better for him and Aurora once this war was over, but he knew the truth. The life of a demigod never got "better," it just got "exciting," as the Three Fates would say. They enjoyed spinning demigod futures with barbed wire instead of thread just to see how much they could tolerate. Percy was almost at his breaking point, and something told him Aurora was, too.

Come to think of it, Percy had never really seen Aurora pissed off at the gods. Sure, he'd heard her curse at them under her breath, but he'd never seen her actively angry at one. The only person or god she'd ever shown true hatred towards was Octavian, and Percy understood that. He wondered what she'd look like when truly enraged, and part of him hoped to never find out.

After a few more miles, the empousai disappeared over a ridge. When Percy and Aurora caught up, they found themselves at the edge of another massive cliff. The River Phlegethon spilled over the side in jagged tiers of fiery waterfalls. The demon ladies were picking their way down the cliff, jumping from ledge to ledge like mountain goats.

Percy's heart crept into his throat. Even if he and Aurora reached the bottom of the cliff alive, they didn't have much to look forward to. The landscape below them was a bleak, ash-gray plain bristling with black trees, like insect hair. The ground was pocked with blisters. Every once in a while, a bubble would swell and burst, disgorging a monster like a larva from an egg.

Suddenly Percy wasn't hungry anymore.

Aurora pulled a face. "That's disgusting."

"Aren't you used to seeing stuff like that? Being a kid of Apollo?" Percy asked, genuinely curious. The Apollo kids at Camp Half-Blood worked on all injuries and sicknesses. Was it the same at Camp Jupiter.

Aurora gave him a look. "Injuries and sicknesses, I can handle. Fuck, even human and animal births. But that right there? No way in Hades. That ain't natural, and I'm not going near it."

Percy just managed a laugh and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. He frowned when he pulled away. Her skin was cold. Despite being surrounded by the heat of the river, she felt like she'd been standing in the middle of a snow storm with only a sweatshirt and leggings on.

He would ask her later if she was okay. Once they were safe (or as safe as they could get).

All the newly formed monsters were crawling and hobbling in the same direction—toward a bank of black fog that swallowed the horizon like a storm front. The Phlegethon flowed in the same direction until about halfway across the plain, where it met another river of black water—maybe the Cocytus? The two floods combined in a steaming, boiling cataract and flowed on as one toward the black fog.

The longer Percy looked into the storm of darkness, the less he wanted to go there. It could be hiding anything—an ocean, a bottomless pit, an army of monsters. But if the Doors of Death were in that direction, it was their only chance to get home.

He peered over the edge of the cliff.

"Wish we could fly," he muttered.

Aurora rubbed her arms. "I wonder . . . one of the quests Jason and I were sent on involved us entering the Underworld to speak with Proserpina. A child of Mercury had lent us a pair of flying shoes from their dad, but we'd lost them . . . in a giant pit." She shook her head. "I wonder if they're down here."

Percy frowned. That sounded a lot like . . . "The quest I went on to get Zeus's Masterbolt?" Aurora nodded. "Luke gave us a pair of flying shoes cursed to drag whoever wore them down to, well, here. Almost took my friend Grover."

"Strange how we've had similar experiences with flying shoes." She scanned the area. "But, despite the fact that flying would make things easier, I doubt it would be safer. Look."

She pointed up. Above them, dark winged shaped spiraled in and out of the bloodred clouds.

"Furies?" Percy wondered.

"Or some other kind of demon," Aurora said. "Tartarus has thousands, I think."

"Including the kind that eats demigods wearing flying shoes," Percy guessed. "Okay, so we climb."

He couldn't see the empousai below them anymore. They'd disappeared behind one of the ridges, but that didn't matter. It was clear where he and Aurora needed to go. Like all the maggot monsters crawling over the plains of Tartarus, they should head toward the dark horizon. Percy was just brimming with enthusiasm for that. 

⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⬩❖⬩ ⎯⎯⎯⎯

As they started down the cliff, Percy concentrated on the challenges at hand: keeping his footing, avoiding rockslides that would alert the empousai to their presence, and of course making sure he and Aurora didn't plummet to their deaths. 

About halfway down the precipice, Aurora said, "Stop, okay? Just a quick break."

Her legs wobbled so badly, Percy cursed himself for not calling a rest earlier. Not to mention the fact that her skin had a gray sheen to it. 

They sat together on a ledge next to a roaring fiery waterfall. Percy put his arm around Aurora, and she leaned against him, shaking from exhaustion. 

He wasn't much better. His stomach felt like it had shrunk to the size of a gumdrop. If they came across any more monster carcasses, he was afraid he might pull an empousa and try to devour it. 

At least he had Aurora. They would find a way out of Tartarus. They had to. He didn't think much of fates and prophecies (ironic considering he was dating a daughter of Apollo), but he did believe in one thing: Aurora and he were supposed to be together. They hadn't survived so much both together and apart to get killed now.

"Things could be worse," Aurora ventured.

"Yeah?" Percy didn't see how, but he tried to sound upbeat. 

She snuggled against him. Her hair smelled of smoke, and if he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine they were at the campfire at Camp Half-Blood. Man, he really hoped Aurora would one day see the camp. It was so different to Camp Jupiter, and yet . . . he knew she'd fit in there. She and Will would get along so well, he was sure of it.

"We could've fallen into the River Lethe," she said. "Lost all our memories."

Percy's skin crawled just thinking about it. He'd had enough trouble with amnesia for one lifetime. Only last month, Hera had erased his memories to put him among the Roman demigods. Percy had stumbled into Camp Jupiter with no idea who he was or where he came from. And a few years before that, he'd fought a Titan on the banks of the Lethe, near Hades's palace. He'd blasted the Titan with water from that river and completely wiped his memory clean. "Yeah, the Lethe," he muttered. "Not my favorite."

"Annabeth mentioned something about you battling a Titan and wiping his memory." Percy hummed. "What was their name?"

"Uh . . . Iapetus. He said it meant the Impaler or something."

Aurora managed a weak laugh. "No, no. The name you gave him after he lost his memory. Annabeth said it, but I can't remember. Um . . . Steve, or something?"

"Bob," Percy said.

She shook her head against his chest. "Bob the Titan."

Percy's lips were so parched, it hurt to smile. He wondered what had happened to Iapetus after they'd left him in Hades's palace . . . if he was still content being Bob, friendly, happy, and clueless. Percy hoped so, but the Underworld seemed to bring out the worst in everyone⎯monsters, heroes, and gods.

He gazed across the ashen plains. The other Titans were supposed to be here in Tartarus⎯maybe bound in chains, or roaming aimlessly, or hiding in some of those dark crevices. Percy and his allies had destroyed the worst Titan, Kronos, but even his remains might be down here somewhere⎯a billion angry Titan particles floating through the blood-colored clouds or lurking in that dark fog. 

Percy decided not to think about that. He kissed Aurora's forehead, which was cold to the touch. "We should keep moving. You want some more fire to drink?"

"Ugh. I'll pass."

They struggled to their feet. The rest of the cliff looked impossible to descend⎯nothing more than a crosshatching of tiny ledges⎯but they kept climbing down.

Percy's body went on autopilot. His fingers cramped. He felt blisters popping up on his knuckles. He got shaky from hunger.

He wondered if they would die of starvation, or if the fire-water would keep them going. He remembered the punishment of Tantalus, who'd been permanently stuck in a pool of water under a fruit tree but couldn't reach either food or drink.

Jeez, Percy hadn't thought about Tantalus in years. That stupid guy had been paroled briefly to serve as director at Camp Half-Blood. Probably he was back in the Fields of Punishment. Percy had never felt sorry for the jerk before, but now he was starting to sympathize. He could imagine what it would be like, getting hungrier and hungrier for eternity but never being able to eat.

Keep climbing, he told himself.

Cheeseburger, his stomach replied.

Shut up, he thought.

With fries, his stomach complained.

A billion years later, with a dozen new blisters on his feet, Percy reached the bottom. He helped aurora down, and they collapsed on the ground.

Ahead of them stretched miles of wasteland, bubbling with monstrous larvae and big insect-hair trees. 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.

Under Percy's hand, the soil felt alarmingly warm and smooth. He tried to grab a handful, then realized that under a thin layer of dirt and debris, the ground was a single vast membrane . . . like skin. 

He almost threw up, but forced himself not to. There was nothing in his stomach but fire.

He didn't mention it to Aurora, but he started to feel like something was watching them⎯something vast and malevolent. He couldn't zero in on it, because the presence was all around them. Watching was the wrong word, too. That implied eyes, and this thing was simply aware of them. The ridges above them now looked less like steps and more like rows of massive teeth. The spires of rock looked like broken ribs. And if the ground was skin . . .

Percy forced those thoughts aside. This place was just freaking him out. That was all.

Aurora stood, wiping soot from her face. She gazed toward the darkness on the horizon. "We're going to be completely exposed, crossing this plain."

About a hundred yards ahead of them, a blister burst on the ground. A monster clawed its way out . . . a glistening telkhine with slick fur, a seal-like body, and stunted human limbs. It managed to crawl a few yards before something shot out of the nearest cave, so fast that Percy could only register a dark green reptilian head. The monster snatched the squealing teklhine in its jaws and dragged it into the darkness.

Reborn in Tartarus for two seconds, only to be eaten. Percy wondered if that telkhine would pop up some other place in Tartarus, and how long it would take to re-form.

He swallowed down the sour taste of firewater. "Oh, yeah. This'll be fun."

Aurora helped him to his feet. He took one last look at the cliffs, but there was no going back. He would've given a thousand golden drachmas to have Frank Zhang with them right now⎯good old Frank, who always seemed to show up when needed and could turn into an eagle or a dragon to fly them across this stupid wasteland.

They started walking, trying to avoid the cave entrances, sticking close to the bank of the river.

They were just skirting one of the spires when a glint of movement caught Percy's eye⎯something darting between the rocks to their right.

A monster following them? Or maybe it was just some random evil thing, heading for the Doors of Death.

Suddenly he remembered why they'd started following this route, and he froze in his tracks.

"The empousai." He grabbed Aurora's arm. "Where are they?"

Aurora scanned a three-sixty, her dimming eyes suddenly bright with alarm.

Maybe the demon ladies had been snapped up by that reptile in the cave. If the empousai were still ahead of them, they should've been visible somewhere on the plains.

Unless they were hiding . . .

Too late, Percy and Aurora drew their swords.

The empousai emerged from the rocks all around them⎯five of them forming a ring. A perfect trap.

Kelli limped forward on her mismatched legs. Her fiery hair burned across her shoulders like a miniature Phlegethon waterfall. Her tattered cheerleader outfit was splattered with rusty-brown stains, and Percy was pretty sure they weren't ketchup. She fixed him with her glowing red eyes and bared her fangs.

"Percy Jackson," she cooed. "How awesome! I don't even have to return to the mortal world to destroy you

⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⬩❖⬩ ⎯⎯⎯⎯

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. She'd dodged his sword strikes and would have eaten his face if Annabeth hadn't stabbed her from behind.

Now she had friends with her.

"And who is this with you?" Kelli hissed. "She doesn't look too good. Bummer, I like it when they put up a fight."

Percy didn't have to glance in Aurora's direction to know that Kelli was telling the truth. Her skin was ashen, eyes dull and movements sluggish. It was almost as if the hell hole they'd been dragged into was sucking her of life.

Unless . . .

No, he couldn't think like that right now. He had to find a way to get them out of this situation. They stood shoulder to shoulder, just like they had during every battle they'd faced, ready to fight. But neither of them was in good shape for battle. While they had their weapons, both were starved, tired, and injured beyond measure. They were hopelessly outnumbered. 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 Sarah's and 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 Aurora 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 and Aurora's swords.

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

"You're headed toward a major defeat." Aurora 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," Percy continued, Aurora shooting him an almost imperceptible look of thanks. He only nodded back. "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 the two demigods as if imagining them 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. But it was the only defense they had against Kelli, and while he absolutely adored his girlfriend's brain, she didn't know much about Kelli to be spitting lies mixed with truth.

"The boy 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.

He prepared to attack, but how many could he dispatch before they overwhelmed him and Aurora? It wouldn't be enough.

"Okay, first of all, using totally in your sentences just makes me want to run you through even more," Aurora said, glaring pointedly at Kelli without an ounce of fear in her eyes. "And secondly, the demigods have united. You'd better think twice before attacking us. Romans and Greeks will fight you together. You don't stand a chance against both Camp Half-Blood and the Twelfth Legion."

The empousai backed up nervously, hissing "Romani."

Percy guessed they'd had experience with the Twelfth Legion before, and it hadn't worked out well for them.

"You bet your ugly, mismatched asses Romani." Percy and Aurora bared their forearms and showed them the brand they'd gotten at Camp Jupiter⎯the SPQR mark, with a trident of Neptune and a lyre for Apollo. "You mix Greek and Roman, and you know what you get? You get BAM!"

He 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 lost in Tartarus. Lower your swords, Percy Jackson and whoever you are, and I'll kill you both quickly. Believe me, there are worse ways to die down here."

"Wait!" Aurora called, trying once more. "Aren't empousai servants of Trivia⎯I mean, Hecate?"

Kelli curled her lip. "So?"

"So Hecate is on our side now," Aurora said. "She has children at Camp Jupiter who are respected and loved. I have seen a cabin for her at Camp Half-Blood and heard of it from Percy and his friends. Her children are my friends. If you fight us, she'll be angry."

Percy wanted to kiss Aurora, she was so brilliant.

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."

Percy took the opening. "You'd all be better following Serephone. She's older and much wiser than Kelli."

"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.

Aurora huffed. "Well, you didn't have to kill her."

"Any more issues?" Kelli snapped at her sisters, ignoring Aurora's comment. "Hecate is the goddess of the Mist! Her ways are mysterious. Who knows which side she truly favors? She i 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. 

Aurora 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, Percy Jackson? 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 moved to Aurora'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 Aurora. The other two empousai launched themselves at Percy. One grabbed his sword arm. Her friend jumped on his back.

Percy tried to ignore them and staggered toward Aurora, determined to go down fighting by her side, defending her if he had to; but she was doing pretty well. She tumbled to one side, evading Kelli's claws, and came up with her sword blazing. She smacked the flat of the sizzling blade into Kelli's nose. Hard.

Kelli wailed. Aurora slashed at the demon again, the smoke from her sword stinging Kelli's eyes.

Meanwhile Percy thrashed from side to side, trying to throw off his empousa hitchiker, but her claws sank deeper into his shoulders. The second empousa held his arm, preventing him from using Riptide.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kelli lunge, raking her talons across Aurora's arm. Aurora screamed and fell.

Percy stumbled in her direction. The vampire on his back sank her teeth into his neck. Searing pain coursed through his body. His knees buckled.

Stay on your feet, he told himself. You have to beat them.

That was it. His luck had finally run out. Kelli loomed over Aurora, savoring her moment of triumph. He didn't fully understand what the demon had against Aurora, but he didn't care. She was going to kill his girlfriend while the other two empousai circled Percy, ready to do the same to him.

Then a shadow fell across Percy. A deep war cry bellowed from somewhere above, echoing across the plains of Tartarus, and a Titan dropped onto the battlefield.

Percy thought he was hallucinating. It just wasn't possible that a huge, silvery figure could drop out of the sky and stomp Kelli flat, trampling her into a mound of monster dust.

But that's exactly what happened. 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.

Aurora yelped and tried to crawl away, but the giant janitor wasn't interested in her. He turned to the two remaining empousai, who stood over Percy.

One was foolish enough to attack. She lunched with the speech of a tiger, but she never stood a chance. A spearhead jutted from the end of Bob's broom. With a single deadly swipe, he cut her to dust. The last vampire tried to run. Bob threw his broom like a massive boomerang (was there such a thing as a broomerang?). It sliced through the vampire and returned to Bob's hand.

"SWEEP!" The Titan grinned with delight and did a victory dance. "Sweep, sweep, sweep!"

Percy couldn't speak. He couldn't bring himself to believe that something good had actually happened. Aurora looked about ready to pass out from shock, her skin paling even more and her eyes bulging from their sockets.

"H-how . . . ?" she stammered.

"Percy called me!" the janitor said happily. "Yes, he did."

Aurora crawled a little further away. Her arm was bleeding badly. "Called you? He⎯wait. You're Bob? The Bob?"

The janitor frowned when he noticed Aurora's state. "Owie."

Aurora flinched as he knelt next to her.

"It's okay," Percy said, still woozy with pain. "He's friendly."

He remembered when he'd first met Bob. the Titan had healed a bad wound on Percy's shoulder just by touching it. Kind of like what Aurora could do, but without the beautiful singing. Sure enough, the janitor tapped Aurora's forearm and it mended instantly. In fact, some of the color came back to her skin.

Bob chuckled, pleased with himself, then bounded over to Percy and healed his bleeding neck and arm. The Titan's hands were surprisingly warm and gentle.

"All better!" Bob declared, his eerie silver eyes crinkling with pleasure. "I am Bob, Percy's friend!"

"Uh . . . yeah," Percy managed. "Thanks for the help, Bob. It's really good to see you again."

"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."

Aurora gave Percy a puzzled look, but he had no explanation.

"Then I heard my friend call!" The Titan beamed. "Percy said, Bob!"

He grabbed Percy's arm and hoisted him to his feet.

"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?" Aurora asked.

Percy scanned the horizon. He saw no approaching monsters⎯nothing but the stark gray wasteland. 

"Yes," Bob agreed. "But Bob knows a way. Come on, friends! We will have fun!"

Aurora met Percy's eyes as she approached him, leaning into him with tired limbs. "Yipee. More fun. Just what we need."

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⬩❖⬩ ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

𝐀 𝐔 𝐓 𝐇 𝐎 𝐑 𝐒   𝐍 𝐎 𝐓 𝐄   !

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So sorry it's taken forever for me to post. I'm currently working on four different published works at once while also working on unpublished shit. I'm also currently in my first year of college, so that's royally kicking my ass. Got midterms coming up, tests, labs, and more. And keep in mind that I am an English major. So essays and reading and shit is also on my to-do list. Still, I will try to post as often as I can.

Welcome to spooky season bitches. I'm excited. But shit went down in this chapter. Percy is smart, I know he is, so I'm giving him some of Annabeth's lines. Aurora is going through it. Bob is here, and I absolutely love him. I can't wait for the kitten to show up as well!

Please comment and vote!

Love you all!

~ a.h.