𝐍 𝐄 𝐖   𝐇 𝐎 𝐏 𝐄   !

⎯ 𝘍 𝘐 𝘝 𝘌 ⎯

( 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔠𝔲𝔯𝔰𝔢𝔰 ! )

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⬩❖⬩ ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

          𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋.

Sure, he was terrified. He didn't like the odds of three against several dozen. But at least he understood fighting. Wandering through the darkness, waiting to be attacked⎯that had been driving him crazy. 

Besides, he and Aurora had fought together plenty of times. And now they had a Titan on their side. 

"Back off." Percy jabbed Riptide at the nearest shriveled hag, but she only sneered. 

We are the arai, said the weird voice-over, like the entire forest was speaking. You cannot destroy us.

Percy rolled his eyes. Yeah, Aurora already told us that. 

Speaking of her, his girlfriend pressed against his side. "Don't touch them," she warned. "They're the spirits of curses."

"Bob doesn't like curses," Bob decided. The skeleton kitten Small Bob disappeared inside his coveralls. Smart cat.

The Titan swiped his broom in a wide arc, forcing the spirits back, but they came in again like the tide.

We serve the bitter and the defeated, the arai said. We serve the slain who prayed for vengeance with their final breath. We have many curses to share with you.

The firewater in Percy's stomach started crawling up his throat. He wished Tartarus had better beverage options, or maybe a tree that produced antacid fruit. He'd ask Aurora to do one of her healing hymns, but he knew something was wrong. Since Bob announced that her inner sun was dying⎯hell, even before that, he knew. She was paler, less energetic and optimistic, and her body seemed weaker.

"I appreciate the offer," Percy said. "But my mom told me not to accept curses from strangers."

The nearest demon lunged. Her claws extended like bony switchblades. Percy cut her in two, but as soon as she vaporized, the sides of his chest flared with pain. He stumbled back, clamping his hand to his ribcage. His fingers came away wet and red.

"Percy, you're bleeding!" Aurora's voice was hoarse as she turned to him, eyes wide. "From both sides? Oh, gods. Oh, gods!"

It was true. The left and right hems of his tattered shirt were sticky with blood, as if a javelin had run him through.

Or an arrow . . .

Queasiness almost knocked him over. Vengeance. A curse from the slain. 

He flashed back to an encounter in Texas two years ago⎯a fight with a monstrous rancher who could only be killed if each of his three bodies was cut through simultaneously. 

"Geryon," Percy said. "This is how I killed him . . ."

The spirits bared their fangs. More arai leaped from the black trees, flapping their leathery wings. 

Yes, they agreed. Feel the pain you inflicted upon Geryon. So many curses have been leveled at you, Percy Jackson. Which will you die from? Choose, or we will rip you apart!

Somehow he stayed on his feet. The blood stopped spreading, but he still felt like he had a hot metal curtain rod sticking through his ribs. His sword arm was heavy and weak.

"I don't understand," he muttered.

Bob's voice seemed to echo from the end of a long tunnel: "If you kill one, it gives you a curse."

"But if we don't kill them . . ." Aurora swallowed.

"They'll kill us anyways," Percy guessed.

Choose! the arai cried. Will you be crushed like Kampe? Or disintegrated like the young telkhines you slaughtered under Mount St. Helens? You have spread so much death and suffering, Percy Jackson. Let us repay you!

The winged hags pressed in, their breath sour, their eyes burning with hatred. They looked like Furies, but Percy decided these things were even worse. At least the three Furies were under the control of Hades. These things were wild, and they just kept multiplying.

If they really embodied the dying curses of every enemy Percy had ever destroyed . . . then Percy was in some serious trouble. He'd faced a lot of enemies. 

One of the demons lunged at Aurora. Instinctively, she dodged, and for a moment⎯just the smallest spot in time⎯her eyes turned black. He'd seen it happen before when they were at the altar and she'd tried summoning light. Whatever was getting to her, taking over, it was trying to break through now.

He couldn't stop her before she brought her sword down on the demon's neck, turning her to dust. It wasn't like she had much of a choice. Percy would've done the same thing. He watched her warily, searching for any signs of curses, but she barely flinched as the dust disappeared. 

Percy approached her gently, scanning her body as the arai cackled. 

You feel that, daughter of Apollo? That burning within you? You feel what those poor demigods felt when you set them on fire. Now you too will burn from the inside out.

Now that he was closer, he could see the redness of her skin and the perspiration gathering. Heat filtered from her body, feeling much like how someone with a high fever would. Despite the look of confidence on her face, he could see the way she grit her teeth and clenched her fists. She was in pain.

"I've got you," he promised. Percy put his arm around her, but as the arai advanced, he didn't know how he could protect either of them.

A dozen demons leaped from every direction, but Bob yelled, "SWEEP!"

His broom whooshed over Percy's head. The entire arai offensive line toppled backward like bowling pins. 

More surged forward. Bob whacked one over the head and speared another, blasting them to dust. The others backed away. 

Percy held his breath, waiting for their Titan friend to be laid low with some terrible curse, but Bob seemed fine⎯a massive silvery bodyguard keeping death at bay with the world's most terrifying cleaning implement. 

"Bob, you okay?" Percy asked. "No curses?"

"No curses for Bob!" Bob agreed.

The arai snarled and circled, eyeing the broom. The Titan is already cursed. Why should we torture him further? You, Percy Jackson, have already destroyed his memory. 

Bob's spearhead dipped. 

Time slowed. Percy wondered if the spirit of Kronos was somewhere nearby, swirling in the darkness, enjoying this moment so much that he wanted it to last forever. Percy felt exactly like he had at twelve years old, battling Ares on the beach in Las Angeles, when the shadow of the Titan lord had first passed over him. 

Bob turned. His wild white hair looked like an exploded halo. "My memory . . . It was you?"

Curse him, Titan! the arai urged, their red eyes gleaming. Add to our numbers!

Percy's heart pressed again his spine. "Bob, it's a long story. I didn't want you to be my enemy. I tried to make you a friend."

By stealing your life, the arai said. Leaving you in the palace of Hades to scrub floors!

Aurora's hand wrapped around Percy's bicep. "If we have to run, Perce, which way should we go?"

He understood. If Bob wouldn't protect them, their only chance was to run⎯but that wasn't any chance at all.

"Bob, listen," he tried again, "the arai want you to get angry. They spawn from bitter thoughts. Don't give them what they want. We are your friends."

Even as he said it, Percy felt like a liar. He'd left Bob in the Underworld and hadn't given him a thought since. What made them friends? The fact that Percy needed him now? Percy always hated it when the gods used him for their errands. Now Percy was treating Bob the same way.

You see his face? the arai growled. The boy cannot even convince himself. Did he visit you, after he stole your memory?

"No," Bob murmured. His lower lip quivered. "The other one did."

Percy's thoughts moved sluggishly. "The other one?"

"Nico." Bob scowled at him, his eyes full of hurt. "Nico visited. Told me about Percy. Said Percy was good. Said he was a friend. That is why Bob helped."

"But . . ." Percy's voice disintegrated like someone had hit it with a Celestial bronze blade. He's never felt so low and dishonorable, so unworthy of having a friend.

The arai attacked, and this time Bob did not stop them.

"Left!" Percy dragged Aurora, slicing through the arai to clear a path. He probably brought down a dozen curses on himself, but he didn't feel them right away, so he kept running.

The pain in his chest flared with every step. He wove between the tree, leading Aurora at a full sprint, very aware of her increasing body temperature and how slick her palm had become. When he glance back, he noted how her eyes were closed⎯swollen, actually. The heat was making her skin swell.

Percy realized at that moment how much trust she had in him⎯both in general, and to get them out of this. He couldn't let her down, yet how could he save her? And if her temperature rose and she burned from the inside out? No. He suppressed a surge of panic. He would figure out how to cure her later. First they had to escape.

Leathery wings beat the air above them. Angry hissing and the scuttling of clawed feet told him the demons were at their backs.

As they ran past one of the black trees, he slashed his sword across the trunk. He heard it topple, followed by the satisfying crunch of several dozen arai as they were smashed flat.

If a tree falls in the forest and crushes a demon, does the tree get cursed?

Percy slashed down another trunk, then another. It bought them a few seconds, but not enough. 

Suddenly the darkness in front of them became thicker. Percy realized what it meant just in time. He grabbed Aurora right before they both charged off the side of the cliff.

"What?" she asked, rubbing at her eyes. "Why are we stopping? Is it over?"

"Cliff," he gasped. "Big cliff."

"Which way, then?"

Percy couldn't see how far the cliff dropped. It could be ten feet or a thousand. There was no telling what was at the bottom. They could jump and hope for the best, but he doubted "the best" ever happened in Tartarus.

So, two options: right or left, following the edge.

He was about to choose randomly when a winged demon descended in front of him, hovering over the void on her bat wings, just out of sword reach.

Did you have a nice walk? the collective voice asked, echoing all around them.

Percy turned. The arai poured out of the woods, making a crescent around them. One grabbed Aurora's arm. Aurora's face contorted into pure fury. The tips of her fingers sparked black and it was as if the shadows before them reached out and tore the demon apart. Percy's jaw dropped, and the silence of the surrounding demons proved that he had not seen wrong.

However, as the dust faded, a frown pulled at her lips and she began looking around. "Percy?"

Barely-concealed panic laced her voice. 

"I'm right here."

He tried to put his hand on her shoulder, but she wasn't standing where he thought. He tried again, only to find she was several feet further away. It was like trying to grab something in a tank of water, with the light shifting the image away.

"Percy?" she called, her voice heartbreaking. "Where are you? I thought . . . where'd you go?"

"I'm here, Rory!" He turned to the arai, his arms shaking with anger. "What did you do to her?"

We did nothing, the demons said. Your beloved has unleashed a special curse⎯a bitter thought from someone you abandoned. You punished an innocent soul by leaving her in solitude. Now her most hateful wish has come to pass: Aurora feels her despair. She, too, will perish alone and abandoned.

"Percy?" Aurora spun in a circle, her brows pulled together as she searched wherever she could. She could hardly see, and yet she was looking for him. The arai backed up, letting her stumble through their ranks.

"Who did I abandon?" Percy demanded. "I never⎯"

Suddenly his stomach felt like it had dropped off the cliff.

The words rang in his head. An innocent soul. Alone and abandoned. He remembered an island, a cave lit with soft glowing crystals, a dinner table on the beach tended by invisible air spirits. 

"She wouldn't," he mumbled. "She'd never curse me."

The eyes of the demons blurred together like their voices. Percy's sides throbbed. The pain in his chest was worse, as if someone were slowly twisting a dagger. 

Aurora wandered among the demons, desperately calling his name. Percy longed to run to her, but he knew the arai wouldn't allow it. The only reason they hadn't killed her yet was that they were enjoying her misery. 

Percy clenched his jaw. He didn't care how many curses he suffered. He had to keep these leathery old hags focused on him and protect Aurora as long as he could.

He yelled in fury and attacked them all.

⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⬩❖⬩ ⎯⎯⎯⎯

For one exciting minute, Percy felt like he was winning. Riptide cut through the arai as though they were made of powdered sugar. One panicked and ran face-first into a tree. Another screeched and tried to fly away, but Percy sliced off her wings and sent her spiraling into the chasm.

Each time a demon disintegrated, Percy felt a heavy sense of dread as another curse settled on him. Some were harsh and painful: a stabbing in the gut, a burning sensation like he was being blistered by a blowtorch. Some were subtle: a chill in the blood, an uncontrollable tic in his right eye. 

Seriously, who curses you with their dying breath and says: I hope your eye twitches!

Percy knew that he'd killed a lot of monsters, but he'd never really thought about it from the monsters' point of view. Now all their pain and anger and bitterness poured over him, sapping his strength.

The arai just kept coming. For every one he cut down, six more seemed to appear.

His sword arm grew tired. His body ached, and his vision blurred. He tried to make his way toward Aurora, but she was just out of reach. She'd stopped calling his name and instead was standing there, expression unreadable. 

As Percy blundered toward her, a demon pounced and dug its teeth into his thigh. Percy roared. He sliced the demon to dust, but immediately fell to his knees. 

His mouth burned worse than when he swallowed firewater from the Phlegathon. He doubled over, shuddering and retching, as a dozen fiery snakes seemed to work their way down his esophagus. 

You have chosen, said the voice of the arai, the curse of Phineas . . . an excellent, painful death. 

Percy tried to speak. His tongue felt like it was being microwaved. He remembered the old blind kind who had chased harpies through Portland with a WeedWhacker. Percy had challenged him to a contest, and the loser had to drink a deadly vial of gorgon's blood. Percy didn't remember the old blind man muttering a final curse, but as Phineas dissolved and returned to the Underworld, he probably hadn't wished Percy a long and happy life. 

After Percy's victory then, Gaea had warned him: Do not press your luck. When your death comes I promise it will be much more painful than gorgon's blood.

Now he was in Tartarus, dying from gorgon's blood plus a dozen other agonizing curses, while he watched his girlfriend stare blankly in the distance, blind and believing he'd abandoned her. He clutched his sword. His knuckles started to steam. White smoke curled off his forearms. 

I won't die like this, he thought. 

Not only because it was painful and insultingly lame, but because Aurora needed him. Once he was dead, the demons would turn their attention towards her. He couldn't leave her alone. He wouldn't.

The arai clustered around him, snickering and hissing. 

His head will erupt first, the voice speculated.

No, the voice answered itself from another direction. He will combust all at once.

They were placing bets on how he would die . . . what sort of scorch mark he would leave on the ground. 

"Bob," he croaked. "I need you."

A hopeless plea. He could barely hear himself. Why should Bob answer his call twice? The Titan knew the truth now. Percy was no friend.

He raised his eyes one last time. His surroundings seemed to flicker. The sky boiled and the ground blistered. 

Percy realized that what he saw of Tartarus was only a watered-down version of its true horror⎯only what his demigod brain could handle. The worst of it was veiled, the same way the Mist veiled monsters from mortal sight. Now as Percy died, he began to see the truth.

The air was the breath of Tartarus. All these monsters were just blood cells circulating through his body. Everything Percy saw was a dream in the mind of the dark god of the pit. 

This must have been the way Nico had seen Tartarus, and it had almost destroyed his sanity. Nico . . . one of the many people Percy hadn't treated well enough. He and Aurora had only made it this far through Tartarus because Nico di Angelo had behaved like Bob's true friend. 

You see the horror of the pit? the voice said soothingly. Give up, Percy Jackson. Isn't death better than enduring this place?

"I'm sorry," Percy murmured.

He apologizes! The arai shrieked with delight. He regrets his failed life, his crimes against the children of Tartarus!

"No," Percy said. "I'm sorry, Bob. I should've been honest with you. Please . . . forgive me. Protect Aurora."

He didn't expect Bob to hear him or care, but it felt right to clear his conscious. He couldn't blame anyone else for his troubles. Not the gods. Not Bob. He couldn't even blame Calypso, the girl he'd left alone on that island. Maybe she'd turned bitter and cursed Percy's girlfriend out of despair. Still . . . Percy should've followed up with Calypso, made sure the gods sprang her free from her exile on Ogygia like they'd promised. He hadn't treated her any better than he'd treated Bob. He hadn't even thought much about her, though her moonlace plant still bloomed in his mom's window box.

It took all his remaining effort, but he got to his feet. Steam rose from his whole body. His legs shook. His insides churned like a volcano. 

At least Percy could go out fighting. He raised Riptide.

Before he could strike, all the arai in front of him exploded into dust. 

⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⬩❖⬩ ⎯⎯⎯⎯

Bob seriously knew how to use a broom.

He slashed back and forth, destroying the demons one after the other while Small Bob the kitten sat on his shoulder, arching his back and hissing.

In a matter of seconds, the arai were gone. Most had been vaporized. The smart ones had flown off into the darkness, shrieking in terror.

Percy wanted to thank the Titan, but his voice wouldn't work. His legs buckled. His ears rang. Through the red glow of pain, he saw Aurora a few yards away, beginning to wander toward the edge of the cliff.

"Uh!" Percy grunted. 

Bob followed his gaze. He bounded toward Aurora and scooped her up. Another flicker of darkness encased her as she yelled, the shadows swirling around her for a moment as she tried to free herself. Bob ignored this and carried her over to Percy, placing her gently down beside him.

The Titan touched her forehead. "Owie."

Aurora blinked. All evidence of the curses vanished as she looked around with a frown. "Where⎯what⎯?"

She finally spotted Percy, and a series of emotions crossed through her eyes. That was something Percy always loved about her eyes⎯he could always see what she was truly feeling in them. And she was currently battling with shock, joy, relief, and absolute horror.

"Oh, gods!" She surveyed him, lips pursed and reminding him of how a certain Apollo camper would look at him when he showed up with another injury from capture the flag. "Phineas. That fucking bastard."

Percy bit back a wince as she moved to sit behind him, resting his body against hers. She placed her chin atop his head and wrapped her arms around his chest, humming softly. With how muddled his mind was, it took his a minute to realize what she was doing. Aurora, despite the pain and weakness she was dealing with herself, was trying to heal him. To use whatever remained of her light to make him better.

Percy wanted to tell her that it was okay, that she didn't need to waste energy on him, but that would be a lie. He couldn't feel his body anymore. His consciousness was like a small helium balloon, loosely tired to the top of his head. It had no weight, no strength. It just kept expanding, getting lighter and lighter. He knew that soon it would either burst or the string would break, and his life would float away.

He wanted to stop her and just enjoy his final moments, but then he was able to breathe. The pain in his throat died, and each breath felt like the coolest of water on a scorching day. His chest no longer ached, that dagger being pulled from his heart.

The humming stopped and Aurora appeared in front of him, looking noticeably weaker. The dark circles under her eyes were growing, and her skin had lost more of its glow, leaving her with a sickly pale complexion. But her eyes were bright as she held his face and kissed him, wiping away the sweat and dust that coated his skin.

Bob loomed over them, his broom planted like a flag. His face was unreadable, luminously white in the dark.

"Lots of curses," Bob said. "Percy has done bad things to monsters."

"Can you help him?" Aurora asked, eyes pleading. "I don't have enough strength to heal him all the way."

Bob frowned. He picked at the name tag on his uniform like it was a scab.

Aurora's eyes darkened. "Bob⎯"

"Iapetus," Bob said, his voice a low rumble. "Before Bob, I was Iapetus."

The air was absolutely still. Percy felt helpless, barely connected to the world.

"Well, if it accounts for anything, I like Bob better." His girlfriend managed a smile, her voice surprisingly calm. "Which do you like?"

The Titan regarded her with his pure silver eyes. "I do not know anymore."

He crouched next to her and studied Percy. Bob's face looked haggard and careworn, as if he suddenly felt the weight of all his centuries. 

"I promised," he murmured. "Nico asked me to help. I do not think Iapetus or Bob likes breaking promises." He touched Percy's forehead.

"Owie," the Titan murmured. "Very big owie."

Percy sank back into his body some more. The ringing in his ears faded. His vision cleared. He still felt like he had swallowed a deep fryer. Just like Aurora's healing magic, all Bob/Iaptetus had managed to do was slow the poison.

But he was alive. 

He tried to meet Bob's eyes, to express his gratitude. His head lolled against his chest.

"Bob cannot cure this," Bob said. "Too much poison. Too many curses piled up."

Aurora sighed deeply and took Percy's hand in her own, giving it three tight squeezes. Percy wondered if she knew what it meant to him. If she knew and was returning it. 

"What can we do, then?" she asked. "If we were anywhere else, I'd suggest water, but⎯"

"No water," Bob said. "Tartarus is bad."

I noticed, Percy wanted to yell.

At least the Titan called himself Bob. Even if he blamed Percy for taking his memory, maybe he would help Aurora if Percy didn't make it.

Aurora ran her fingers through her hair, jaw clenched. Percy could see the stress in her eyes and the fear of losing him. Maybe it was the fact that he was dying, or maybe it was because Tartarus was fucking with them, but he swore he saw the tips of her fingers turning black. When he blinked, it was gone.

"Well, we have to do something," she said, voice thick with emotion. "Is there any way to heal him?"

Bob placed his hand on Percy's chest. A cold tingle like eucalyptus oil spread across his sternum, but as soon as Bob lifted his hand, the relief stopped. Percy's lungs felt irritated once again.

"Tartarus kills demigods," Bob said. "It heals monsters, but you do not belong. Tartarus will not heal Percy. The pit hates your kind."

Something seemed to snap in Aurora. "I don't care." 

A chill ran down his spine. She hadn't yelled, hadn't screamed. She'd looked Bob dead in the eyes and spoke in such a calm and commanding voice that it scared him for a moment. the way her eyes flickered between black and blue⎯the shadows around her swirling dangerously . . . he now understood what Annabeth had been talking about when she told him once that Apollo children could be very dangerous if they wanted to be. 

"I don't care if the  pit doesn't like us. I don't care if it has a fucking issue with our kind. My boyfriend is dying and I will not sit by with my thumb up my ass and watch it happen when I can do something about it." Bob gulped. A eons-old Titan gulped in fear. "With or without your help, I'm getting him better. Even if I have to use all my remaining energy, Bob, I'm healing him. So if you wanna help, give me ideas. Otherwise, get the fuck out of here."

Is it wrong that I found that kinda attractive?

Bob never got the chance to respond. In the distance, a deep voice bellowed⎯a voice that Percy recognized, unfortunately.

"I SMELL HIM!" roared the giant. "BEWARE, SON OF POSEIDON! I COME FOR YOU!"

"Polybotes," Bob said. "He hates Poseidon and his children. He is very close now."

Aurora brought Percy to his feet with an amount of care that he didn't think the pit would allow. He hated that she was the one who had to carry him, but he felt as heavy as a sack of billiard balls. Even with Aurora supporting all of his weight, he could barely stand.

"Bob, I'm going on with or without you," Aurora said, eyes stern. "Will you help?"

The kitten Small Bob mewed and began to purr, rubbing against Bob's chin.

Bob looked at Percy, and Percy wished he could read the Titan's expression. Was he angry, or just thoughtful? Was he planning revenge, or was he just feeling hurt because Percy lied about being his friend?

"There is one place," Bob said at last. "There is a giant who might know what to do."

Aurora just tightened her grip on Percy. "I don't care if he's a giant. You trust he'll help?"

Bob nodded. "This one is good. Trust me, and I will take you . . . unless Polybotes and the others catch us first."

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⬩❖⬩ ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

𝐀 𝐔 𝐓 𝐇 𝐎 𝐑 𝐒   𝐍 𝐎 𝐓 𝐄   !

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⬩❖⬩ ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Dark!Aurora is a power move and I'm in love. And so is Percy. But there was a lot of shit that happened in this chapter so it's time to break it down.

Aurora's curse explained: during the big Titan war, when she was fighting on Mount Tam with the other Roman campers, Aurora had to take some far measures to protect herself. Keep in mind that Roman legion training is all about showing no mercy. When a group of demigods who had betrayed them tried to attack and kill Aurora, she basically made them boil from the inside out. Their dying wishes had been that she feel the same as them. Therefore she was burning up.

Also, with all this darkness kind of overtaking Aurora's body, she gave up searching for Percy when Calypso's curse fell on her. She tried, but that voice in her head made her stop. I'll get into that more in the next chapter.

Percy almost died. Amaze-balls. Aurora did what she could to help, but she's weak so it wasn't much. I'm excited for the giant to be introduced in all of this. And we got to see Aurora lose her cool for the first time since this book started. She's getting a little scary, if I'm being honest. But we like seeing a very round and diverse character!

Percy is absolutely in love though. Like, he's head over heels and he thinks that her popping off was attractive. I mean, same. I get it Percy. We all get it.

Anyways, please comment and vote! Tell me what you want to see!

I love you all so so much!

~ a.h.