「011. hocus pocus...idk i didn't watch the movie」

BARBIE'S LEGS better've been toned as fuck after all the walking she was doing. honestly most of the walking was a blur. but she did remember quite literally stumbling over the second titan. after entering the storm front, they plodded on for what really did seem 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, or perhaps a walking glow-stick. either way, it was slightly weird. if real-jerald where here you could've summoned a flashlight, her spiteful part of her mind (who she was nicknaming fake-jerald out of pure loneliness for not having jerald with her) said, you fucked that over, didn't you?

shut up, fake-jerald, barbie snapped to her mind.

make me, bitch.

barbie decided real-jerald was far nicer to converse to.

barbie could only see about five feet in front of her. in some sort of strange way, tartarus reminded her of whenever she stayed with her dad and arjun. she always used her old room, which had only gotten a slight makeover. the warm glow of her fairy lights was something so nostalgic and homely to her. it made her miss the mortal world even more.

except here in tartarus, the fog was made of ink. rocks loomed out of nowhere. pits appeared at their feet, and all of them had barely avoided falling in. monstrous roars echoed in the gloom, but barbie genuinely just couldn't tell where they came from. all she could be certain of was that the terrain was still sloping down. down seemed to be the only direction allowed in tartarus.

if she backtracked even a step, she felt tired and heavy, as if gravity were increasing to discourage her. assuming that the entire pit was the body of tartarus, barbie had this really nasty feeling they were marching straight down his throat. she was so preoccupied with that thought she didn't notice the ledge until it was too late.

percy yelled, "whoa!"

he grabbed for her arm, but she was already falling. fortunately, it was only a shallow depression. most of it was filled with a monster blister. she had a soft landing on a warm bouncy surface and was feeling lucky – until she opened her eyes and found herself staring through a glowing gold membrane at another, much larger face. she screamed and flailed, toppling sideways off the mound, hearing a shrill rippp sound.

her heart did a hundred jumping jacks. percy helped her to her feet. "you okay?"

"am i okay?" she hissed, not really caring about herself once she'd hear the ripping sound, "is my fucking dress okay? i think my heart was just stabbed!"

"wait your heart was-"

"my pride and joy!" she wailed loudly, not giving two shits if a monster came right now. pushing aside the dramatics of mourning her dress- she'd worked hard to sew it together. broken several needles and had needed leo to cast her a celestial bronze one. she'd gotten a whole roll of celestial bronze infused fabric from her mom. she thought it was unbreakable. she thought it was invincible. yet here she was, glaring at the side of her dress as a thin piece of fabric glinted.

"barbie," annabeth spoke in an even voice, "c'mon... monster could- you can't just-"

she was quite good at keeping her temper even usually. this was not usually.

she stomped her foot on the ground, glaring at annabeth and then her dress, "i worked so hard for this. i worked tirelessly for days on this dress- made sure the heming was just right. i made sure that it was perfect, i made sure that... that everything was good. that it was okay- that it wouldn't rip, i sewed the perfect dress. i-"

"barbie," annabeth said, frowning, "come on- it's just a dress-"

"it's not just a dress!" yelled barbie, glaring, "for months the gods were silent. we get almost killed- i get my boyfriend cursed not to remember me. i get my lovelife torn apart and left there for me to put back together. i had a whole cabin to run- siblings asking why mom wasn't talking to us. and just when i thought everything was going to shit- i got a roll of fabric. it seems pathetic but it made me remember mom still cared. it made me... i made me..."

"it made you what?" percy asked softly, walking towards her, "...doll?"

"pink," she muttered, "pink mist."

"it made you pink mist?"

"no," she stuttered, baffled by what she saw. "pink mist."

she pointed to her feet. the place where she'd stomped her foot to the ground. the smallest little slither of pink mist was wrapping itself around the shredded piece of fabric, it no longer looked limp, more like a sharpened wire, a small little handle in place.

"what the fuck," she breathed out, "was that...jerald?"

silence.

"holy shit," annabeth muttered, "barb- look."

so caught up in the tear in her dress that had now made itself into what she assumed to be a beheading device, she had hardly noticed the true horror of what she'd fell on.

curled in the membrane bubble in front of her was a fully formed titan in golden armour, his skin the colour of polished pennies. his eyes were closed, but he scowled so deeply he appeared to be on the verge of a bloodcurdling war cry. even through the blister, annabeth could feel the heat radiating from his body.

"hyperion," percy said. "i hate that guy."

during the battle of manhattan, percy had fought this titan at the reservoir – water against fire. it had been the first time percy had summoned a hurricane – which wasn't something barbie would ever forget.

"i thought grover turned this guy into a maple tree." barbie muttered in disbelief.

"yeah," percy agreed.

annabeth hummed, still shocked in horror, "maybe the maple tree died, and he wound up back here?"

then, barbie glanced at bob. the silvery titan was studying hyperion with a frown of concentration – maybe recognition. their faces looked so much alike ... annabeth looked to be bitting back a curse. of course they looked alike. hyperion was his brother. hyperion was the titan lord of the east. iapetus, bob, was the lord of the west. take away bob's broom and his janitor's clothes, put him in armour and cut his hair, change his colour scheme from silver to gold, and iapetus would have been almost indistinguishable from hyperion.

"bob," annabeth said quickly, "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. barbie was pretty sure her boyfriend had just made a big mistake. or maybe he hadn't- either way, the whole looming thing was making barbie nervous.

"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," percy agreed. "he's a titan, like you. but he's not good like you are."

"bob is good." his fingers tightened on his broom handle. "yes. there is always at least one good one – monsters, titans, giants."

"uh ..." percy grimaced. "well, i'm not sure about the giants."

"oh, yes." bob nodded earnestly.

"we should go," annabeth quickly 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 the three of them (or quite literally any one of them), they would've been cut in half. instead, bob slashed through the monstrous blister, which burst in a geyser of hot golden mud. barbie 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.

how was he keeping his cool? the way he talked to bob was... impressive. the trust he'd placed in the titan was quite admirable, maybe a little worrying. but barbie wouldn't argue with somebody who'd kept their cool so perfectly, though annabeth didn't look so certain. but barbie had learned a long time ago to trust percy.

most people underestimate him, which when she first learned to trust percy- seemed quite stupid. though later on (after they started dating) she realised it might've been from the romantic obliviousness. people just thought he was dumb- which was hardly the case. and she hated when people judged her- so she kept the same animosity to percy. he was smart, just as smart as annabeth at times and relatively on the same level of intelligence as barbie- if not a bit more sometimes. he was crazy powerful and he knew what he was doing.

and if percy was trusting bob (which barbie was already sort of doing) then she did too. relationships aren't just about cute cuddles and kisses, you have to trust each other. she knew percy trusted her- truster her completely, actually. so obviously, she would do the same.

trust is key- and barbie had gotten that key quite a while ago.

after a while, barbie's feet felt like titan mush. she marched along, following bob, listening to the monotonous slosh of liquid in his cleaning bottle. stay alert, she told herself, but it was hard. her thoughts were as numb as her legs. from time to time, percy took her hand or made an encouraging comment, but she could tell the dark landscape was getting to him as well. his eyes had a dull sheen – like his spirit was being slowly extinguished. sometimes, she'd suck it up and swing an arm around annabeth and give a weak smile.

they fell into tartarus for you, fake-jerald said, if they die, it will be your fault.

"shut up," she muttered out loud, "stop it."

percy frowned. "what?"

"no, not you." she tried for a reassuring smile, but she couldn't quite muster one. "talking to myself. this place ... it's messing with my mind. giving me dark thoughts. and... i guess i miss jerald- that might be part of it."

the worry lines deepened around percy's sea-green eyes. "hey, bob, where exactly are we heading?"

"the lady," bob said. "death mist."

annabeth frowned, clearly fighting away at her irritation, "but what does that mean? who is this lady?"

"naming her?" bob glanced back. "not a good idea."

annabeth sighed. but that just made barbie apprehensive and nervous.

the titan was right. names had power, and speaking them here in tartarus was probably very dangerous.

"can you at least tell us how far?" annabeth continued to ask.

"i do not know," bob admitted. "i can only feel it. we wait for the darkness to get darker. then we go sideways."

"sideways," repeated barbie, utterly confused.

"naturally." grumbled annabeth.

she was tempted to ask for a rest, but she didn't want to stop. not here in this cold, dark place. the black fog seeped into her body, turning her bones into moist styrofoam. she wondered if annabeth's message would get to rachel dare. if rachel could somehow carry her proposal to reyna without getting killed in the process it was a big ask- especially since they hadn't left reyna or camp jupiter in the best way.

she desperately needed something to lift her spirits. a drink of actual water. a moment of sunlight. a warm bed. a kind word from her mother.

suddenly bob stopped. he raised his hand: wait.

"what?" percy whispered.

"shh," bob warned. "ahead. something moves."

barbie strained her ears. from somewhere in the fog came a deep thrumming noise, like the idling engine of a large construction vehicle. she could feel the vibrations through her shoes.

"we will surround it," bob whispered. "each of you, take a flank."

for the millionth time, barbie wished she had her powers still. she turned to annabeth and handed her the weird decapitating device she'd... somehow formed. then, she took her sword, heartless, and crept to the left with annabeth. percy went right, his sword ready. bob took the middle, his spearhead glowing in the fog.

the humming got louder, shaking the gravel at barbie's feet. the noise seemed to be coming from immediately in front of them.

"ready?" bob murmured.

annabeth crouched, preparing to spring. barbie nodded, sword gripped tightly in her hand, so much so she was shaking just a bit.

"on three?"

"one," percy whispered. "two –"

a figure appeared in the fog. bob raised his spear.

"wait!" annabeth shrieked.

bob froze just in time, the point of his spear hovering an inch above the head of a tiny calico kitten.

"rrow?" said the kitten, clearly unimpressed by their attack plan. it butted its head against bob's foot and purred loudly. it seemed impossible, but the deep rumbling sound was coming from the kitten. as it purred, the ground vibrated and pebbles danced. the kitten fixed its yellow, lamp-like eyes on one particular rock, right between annabeth's feet, and pounced. the cat could've been a demon or a horrible underworld monster in disguise. but annabeth couldn't help it. she picked it up and cuddled it. the little thing was bony under its fur, but otherwise it seemed perfectly normal.

"how did ...?" annabeth couldn't even form the question (which was certainly new for all of them. annabeth always had questions). "what is a kitten doing ...?"

the cat grew impatient and squirmed out of annabeth's arms. it landed with a thump, padded over to bob and started purring again as it rubbed against his boots.

percy laughed. "somebody likes you, bob."

"it must be a good monster." bob looked up nervously. "isn't it?"

barbie glared at the cat. she recognised it. sure, seeing the huge titan and this tiny kitten together, she suddenly felt insignificant compared to the vastness of tartarus. this place had no respect for anything – good or bad, small or large, wise or unwise. tartarus swallowed titans and demigods and kittens indiscriminately.

bob knelt down and scooped up the cat. it fitted perfectly in bob's palm, but it decided to explore. it climbed the titan's arm, made itself at home on his shoulder and closed its eyes, purring like an earthmover. suddenly its fur shimmered. in a flash, the kitten became a ghostly skeleton, as if it had stepped behind an x-ray machine. then it was a regular kitten again.

annabeth blinked. "did you see –?"

"babe...?" barbie frowned, "that kitten seem familiar to you?"

"yeah." percy knitted his eyebrows. "oh, man ... i know that kitten. it's one of the ones from the smithsonian."

it was actually quite a cute memory, in her mind. it was one of the first times barbie and percy had gotten along with each other. not the skeleton cats...but when the titan atlas had captured annabeth, percy, barbie and thalia had led a quest to rescue her. that was the first time barbie thought, hey, maybe he's not an asshole after all. and along the way, they'd watched atlas raise some skeleton warriors from dragon teeth in the smithsonian museum. according to percy, the titan's first attempt went wrong. he'd planted sabre-toothed tiger teeth by mistake and raised a batch of skeleton kittens from the soil.

"that's one of them?" annabeth asked. "how did it get here?"

percy spread his hands helplessly. "atlas told his servants to take the kittens away. maybe they destroyed the cats and they were reborn in tartarus? i don't know."

"it's cute," bob said, as the kitten sniffed his ear.

"but is it safe?" annabeth asked.

the titan scratched the kitten's chin. annabeth didn't know if it was a good idea, carrying around a cat grown from a prehistoric tooth, but obviously it didn't matter now. the titan and the cat had bonded.

"i will call him small bob," said bob. "he is a good monster."

it seemed that was the end of the discussion.

the titan hefted his spear and they continued marching into the gloom. barbie walked in mostly a daze, trying not to think about pizza. to keep herself distracted, she watched small bob the kitten pacing across bob's shoulders and purring, occasionally turning into a glowing kitty skeleton and then back to a calico fuzz-ball. sometimes, she'd lean over and kiss percy on the cheek. that was when she was sure she wouldn't fall over.

annabeth had given her back the decapitation device, which she'd promptly named heartache. (because she had to keep the heart theme going now- there was no stopping it!).

"here," bob announced.  he stopped so suddenly, barbie almost ran into him. bob stared off to their left, as if deep in thought.

"is this the place?" barbie asked after a moment. "where we go sideways?"

"yes," bob agreed. "darker, then sideways."

the dark. barbie didn't like the sound of that. she couldn't necessarily tell right now whether it was actually darker, but the air did seem colder and thicker, as if they'd stepped into a different microclimate. she wondered if the titans had built their palace on mount tamalpais because the bay area reminded them of tartarus. what a depressing thought. only titans would see such a beautiful place as a potential outpost of the abyss – a hellish home away from home.

bob struck off to the left. they followed. the air definitely got colder. and the three friends huddled together for warm. percy put his arm around barbie, and she would've smiled if she had the strength to. it felt good being close to him, but she couldn't relax. they'd entered some sort of forest. towering black trees soared into the gloom, perfectly round and bare of branches, like monstrous hair follicles. the ground was smooth and pale.

with our luck, barbie thought, we're marching through the fucking armpit of tartarus.

suddenly her senses were on high alert, as if somebody had snapped a rubber band against the base of her neck. she rested her hand on the trunk of the nearest tree.

"what is it?" percy raised his sword.

bob turned and looked back, confused. "we are stopping?"

annabeth held up her hand for silence. barbie wasn't sure what had set her off, or annabeth either. but something felt wrong. nothing looked different.

until she realized the tree trunk was quivering. she wondered momentarily if it was the kitten's purr, but small bob had fallen asleep on large bob's shoulder. a few yards away, another tree shuddered.

"something's moving above us," hissed barbie, shoving heartache in the directions of annabeth.

annabeth nodded, grabbing heartache and looking around, "she's right. we need to gather up."

bob and percy closed ranks with the two of them, standing back to back. barbie strained her eyes, trying to see above them in the dark, but nothing moved. she had almost decided she was being paranoid when the first monster dropped to the ground only five feet away. barbie's first thought: the furies.

the creature looked almost exactly like one: a wrinkled hag with bat-like wings, brass talons and glowing red eyes. she wore a tattered dress of black silk, and her face was twisted and ravenous, like a demonic grandmother in the mood to kill. bob grunted as another one dropped in front of him, and then another in front of percy. soon there were half a dozen surrounding them. more hissed in the trees above.

they couldn't be furies, then. there were only three of those, and these winged hags didn't carry whips. that didn't comfort barbie. not like it should, that is. the monsters' talons looked plenty dangerous.

"what are you?" annabeth demanded.

the arai, hissed a voice. the curses!

barbie frowned. she turned her head as she tried to locate the speaker, but none of the demons had moved their mouths. their eyes looked dead; their expressions were frozen, like a puppet's. the voice simply floated overhead like a movie narrator's, as if a single mind controlled all the creatures.

"what – what do you want?" annabeth asked again, trying to maintain a tone of confidence.

the voice cackled maliciously. to curse you, of course! to destroy you a thousand times in the name of mother night!

"only a thousand times?" percy murmured. "oh, good ... i thought we were in trouble."

percy always had a knack for using his endearing sarcasm at the wrong time. and with that, the circle of demon ladies closed in.

rosie speaks!

just so we are clear i have
actually watched hocus pocus
and its elite. anyways moving
forwards today was so swaggy
for me and i hope you enjoy this
and stuff :))

v swag and ily all !! feel free
to share thoughts and headcanons
and stuff like that !!

word count: 3,638 words