8. THEODOSIA

Theo decided the monsters weren't going to be the thing that killed her down there.

She would die from insanity.

First, she and Percy had had to drink fire to stay alive. Then they were attacked by a gaggle of vampires, led by a cheerleader Percy had killed two years ago. Finally, they were rescued by a Titan janitor named Bob who had Einstein hair, silver eyes and wicked broom skills.

Yep. Why not.

They followed Bob through the wasteland, tracing the route of the Phlegethon as they approached the storm front of darkness. Every so often they stopped to drink firewater, which kept them alive, but Theo wasn't exactly happy about it. Her throat felt like she was constantly gargling with battery acid.

Her only comfort was Percy. Every so often he would glance over and smile, or squeeze her hand. He had to be just as scared and miserable as she was, and she loved him for trying to make her feel better.

"Bob knows what he's doing," Percy promised.

"You have such interesting friends," Theo murmured.

"Bob is interesting!" The Titan turned and grinned. "Yes, thank you!"

O...kay. The big guy had good ears. Theo would have to remember that.

"So, Bob..." She tried to sound casual and friendly, which wasn't easy with a throat scorched by firewater. "How did you get to Tartarus?"

"I jumped," he said, like it was obvious.

"You jumped into Tartarus," she said, "because Percy said your name?"

"He 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.Theo couldn't imagine what those words meant in Tartarus. Wherever Bob was taking them, she hoped it had clean restrooms and a snack machine.

She blinked. Yeah, she was definitely losing it.

As she watched Bob the Titan lead the way up ahead, Theo remembered Percy's story about meeting the Titan. Thalia, Nico, and Percy had worked together to defeat Bob on the banks of the Lethe. After wiping his memory, they didn't have the heart to kill him. He became so gentle and sweet and cooperative that they left him at the palace of Hades, where Persephone promised he would be looked after.

Apparently, the Underworld king and queen thought 'looking after' someone meant giving him a broom and having him sweep up their messes. Theo wondered how even Hades could be so callous. She'd never felt sorry for a Titan before, but it didn't seem right taking a brainwashed immortal and turning him into an unpaid janitor.

He's not your friend, she reminded herself. You don't have those down here. Except for Percy.

Not to mention she was terrified that Bob would suddenly remember himself. Tartarus was where monsters came to regenerate. What if it healed his memory? If he became Iapetus again... well, everyone had seen the way he had dealt with those empousai. Theo was exhausted. She and Percy were in no condition to fight a Titan.

She glanced nervously at Bob's broom handle, wondering how long it would be before that hidden spearhead jutted out and was pointed at her.

At least he had healed her foot. Every step she took, she still braced for impact, but the pain never returned and she had Bob to thank for that. Still—he was a Titan. That fact would never change.

Following Bob through Tartarus was a crazy risk. Unfortunately, she couldn't think of a better plan.

They picked their way across the ashen wasteland as red lightning flashed overhead in the poisonous clouds. Just another lovely day in the dungeon of creation. Theo couldn't see far in the hazy air, but the longer they walked, the more certain she became that the entire landscape was a downward curve.

She'd heard conflicting descriptions of Tartarus. It was a bottomless pit. It was a fortress surrounded by brass walls. It was nothing but an endless void. One story described it as the inverse of the sky—a huge, hollow, upside-down dome of rock. That seemed the most accurate, though if Tartarus was a dome Theo guessed it was like the sky—with no real bottom but made of multiple layers, each one darker and less hospitable than the last. And no sun.

And even that wasn't the full, horrible truth ...

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.

Monsters are zits on the skin of Tartarus, Theo thought. Suddenly she wanted to throw up.

"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?" Theo asked.

Bob's smile faded. He got a vacant look in his eyes. "Can't remember."

"That's okay," Percy said quickly.

Theo felt like kicking herself. Before Bob became Bob, he had been Iapetus the Titan. Like all his brethren, he'd been imprisoned in Tartarus for aeons. Of course he knew his way around. If he remembered this shrine, he might start recalling other details of his old prison and his old life. That would not be good.

They climbed into the crater and entered the circle of columns. Theo collapsed on a broken slab of marble, too exhausted to take another step. Percy stood over her protectively, scanning 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," Theo recalled. "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.

Theo tried to control her fear. How many Titans and giants had she and Percy fought over the years? Each one had seemed like an impossible challenge. If all of them were down here in Tartarus, and if they were actively hunting Percy and Theo...

She swallowed. Every second, her confidence that she and Percy would make it out of Tartarus plummeted even further.

"Why are we stopping, then?" she 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."

Theo shot Percy a glance, hoping she could convey her distaste toward their engagement properly. Uh, no. Buddying around with a Titan was already a horrible idea. Going to sleep while the Titan guarded you... she didn't need to be a daughter of Athena to know that was one hundred percent unwise.

"You sleep," Percy suggested. "I'll keep the first watch with Bob."

Bob rumbled in agreement. "Yes, good. When you wake, food should be here!"

Theo's stomach did do a rollover at the mention of food. She didn't see how Bob could summon food in the midst of Tartarus. Maybe he was a caterer as well as a janitor.

She didn't want to sleep, but her body betrayed her. Her eyelids turned to lead. She glanced back to Percy. "Wake me for second watch. Don't be a hero, Aquaman."

He gave her that smirk she'd come to love. "Who, me?"

He kissed her, his lips parched and feverishly warm. "Sleep."

Suddenly Theo felt like she was back in the Hypnos cabin at Camp Half-Blood, overcome with drowsiness. She curled up on the hard ground and closed her eyes.

She should have known.

Demigod dreams, notorious for being downright horrible or prophetic, always plagued Theo more than average. Even in the regular mortal world, it was rare she caught a night of sleep without the appearance of monsters, the Oracle, or horrible memories of her time as a demigod. The works.

But she totally should have realized: sleeping in Tartarus, the root of all evil, would obviously make her nightmares ten times worse. Obviously.

First, she was a little girl again, sitting perfectly still and listening to words spew from her aunt's lips that were unfamiliar to her young ears. Most of them were just directed at the world in general—one that resurfaced many times began with an F, and Theo only recognized it because Carrie had used that one many times, up close in Theo's face and calling her that dirty word even though Theo didn't know what it meant.

"You're just a damn thorn in my side," Carrie spat, pacing back in forth in front of a statue-still Theo, one of those fancy cigarettes lit and smoking from between her fingers. Theo suddenly remembered those from her childhood, and was shocked at how she could have possibly forgotten about them as she had spent hours upon hours wishing the fire would spread to Carrie's hand and hurt her.

"Do you know what a deadweight is, Theo?" Carrie had asked, crouching and getting all in Theo's face, close enough for Theo to count the layers of foundation caked on her face. "You probably don't, 'cause you're such a"—she said the dirtiest of the words again– "idiot, failing all your classes. A deadweight is a burden. Something that latches on to another thing and drags it down with it. That's what you are, kid. I hate to be the one to tell you, but it's true. And that's just life."

Something that latches onto another thing and drags it down with it. Theo could have laughed. Carrie had no idea how true her words would prove to be in ten years.

"Am I the deadweight?" Theo had challenged her aunt. At age eight, she was ballsier than ever before, suddenly obsessed with toeing the line that bordered what "too much" was before Carrie punished her. She jerked her chin to the piles of bills stacked up on Carrie's desk. "You're forty-something and can't even keep a job! I'd probably be better off on my own!"

Theo knew how the story ended: Her aunt took her up on the challenge and tossed Theo out onto the streets. She'd spent two days without returning to Carrie's house, instead out searching for this "safe haven" where her mother lived. If it was so safe that her crazy mom could live there, then why couldn't Theo stay there with her? She never understood that. She never understood a lot of things about her childhood—which explained why some parts of it were black blurs of nothingness. Theo had shut out the worst of the memories, she knew. But in Tartarus, nothing was unreachable.

Theo only caught a small glimpse of herself as a kid, wandering lost down streets she knew nothing about, before the scene shifted.

She was older, standing at the crest of Half-Blood Hill. Nothing looked the same as she remembered: Thalia's tree was split in half as though lightning had struck it, charred splinters of wood sticking out of it like a warning. Down in the valley a fire roared, so huge Theo could feel it on her arms even from atop the hill. Giants and wild Cyclopes charged from the beach, tearing down the dining pavilion, setting fire to the cabins and the Big House.

Theo wanted to sob.

All around her, the world shook with the melodious voice of her father: Hurry. My falsehood has been destroyed. The message must be sent.

The ground split at Theo's feet and she fell into darkness.

Her eyes flew open. She cried out, grasping Percy's arms. She was still in Tartarus, at the shrine of Hermes.

"It's okay," Percy promised. "Bad dreams?"

Her body tingled with dread. "Is it—is it my turn to watch? You need to rest."

"No, no. We're good. I let you sleep."

"Percy—"

"Hey, it's fine. Besides, I was too excited to sleep. Look."

Bob the Titan sat cross-legged by the altar, happily munching a piece of pizza.

Theo rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was still dreaming. "Is that... Little Caesar's?"

"Burnt offerings," Percy said happily. "Sacrifices to Hermes from the mortal world, I guess. They appeared in a cloud of smoke. We've got half a hot dog, 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?"

Hey, Theo wasn't about to argue with a Titan. Percy brought her the plate of roast beef, and she scarfed it down quicker than she had ever eaten anything in her life. She'd never tasted anything so good. The brisket was still hot, with exactly the same spicy sweet glaze as the barbecue at Camp Half-Blood.

"I know," said Percy, reading her expression. "I think it is from Camp Half-Blood."

The idea made Theo nauseous with homesickness. At every meal, the campers would burn a portion of their food to honour their godly parents. The smoke supposedly pleased the gods, but Theo had never thought about where the food went when it was burned. Maybe the offerings reappeared on the gods' altars in Olympus... or even here in the middle of Tartarus.

"Peanut M&M's," Theo said, swallowing a chunk of meat. "Connor. He always burned a pack for his dad at dinner."

She thought about sitting in the dining pavilion, watching the sunset over Long Island Sound. That was the first place she and Percy had truly kissed. Her eyes glazed over.

Percy put his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, this is good. Actual food from home, right?"

She nodded. They finished eating in silence.

Bob chomped down the last of his M&M's. Then he wiped at his chest as though he were wearing a bib. "Should go now. They will be here in a few minutes."

"A few minutes?" Theo reached for her bow.

"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?" Theo 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," Theo repeated. A spacey smile took over her lips. "Well, that's great."

Percy climbed back to the altar. "Is it possible to kill a giant in Tartarus? I mean, since we don't have a god to help us?"

He looked at Theo as if she actually had an answer. She swallowed down her remorse, hating that she couldn't be everything Percy needed her to.

"Percy, I have no idea. Traveling in Tartarus, fighting monsters here... it's never been done before. Maybe Bob could help us kill a giant. Maybe a Titan would count as a god. I just don't know."

"Yeah," said Percy. "Okay."

Theo cursed herself. She could see the worry in his eyes. For years, they'd depended on each other for answers. Now, when they needed each other most, there was nothing Theo could do to help the person she loved most in the world. She just kept letting him down, but nothing she'd ever learned at camp had prepared her for this. There was only one thing she knew for certain: They couldn't be caught by six or seven hostile immortals.

She stood, still disoriented from her nightmares. Bob started cleaning up, collecting their trash in a little pile, using his squirt bottle to wipe off the altar.

"Where to, then?" Theo asked, forcing too cheery of a tone into her voice to make up for her inner dread.

Percy pointed at the stormy wall of darkness. "Bob says that way. Apparently the Doors of Death—"

"You told him?" Theo didn't mean it to come out so harsh, but Percy winced.

"While you were asleep," he admitted. 'Theo, Bob can help. We need a guide."

"Bob helps!" Bob agreed. "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 Theo friend in about two seconds." The Titan frowned. "I think seconds. Time is hard in Tartarus."

"Right," Theo murmured. "So is there another way?"

"Hiding," said Bob. "The Death Mist could hide you."

"Oh ..." Theo suddenly felt very small in the shadow of the Titan. "Uh, I think I'll pass on the Death Mist."

"Theo." Percy frowned at her. "Bob's trying to help us."

"It is dangerous," Bob admitted. "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."

Percy glanced at Theo, obviously hoping for guidance, but she felt like she'd just been brought back from the dead. She was thinking about her nightmare—Thalia's tree splintered by lightning, Apollo's voice on the hillside, Gaea unleashing her monsters on Camp Half-Blood.

"Okay, then," Percy said, tearing his eyes away from Theo. "I guess we'll see a lady about some Death Mist."

Theo tensed. "Hold on."

Her mind was churning with a thousand thoughts at once. She thought of her dream - Thalia. Thalia used to tell her things about Zeus, just like Luke used to. She recalled the stories Luke had told her about his father, Hermes—god of travellers, guide to the spirits of the dead, god of communication.

She stared at the black altar.

"Theo?" Percy sounded concerned.

She walked to the pile of trash and picked out a reasonably clean paper napkin. Her father's voice reverberated around her mind. Hurry. My falsehood has been destroyed. The message must be sent.

"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," Theo said with a listless shrug, feeling somewhat exhilarated. "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. Doubtful, but if it did work... It was worth enough to at least try.

"Theo?" Percy said again. "You look like you're about to do something questionable. You have that look."

"I don't have a look when I'm planning something questionable."

He scoffed. "Yeah, you totally do. Your eyebrows scrunch and your lips press together and—"

"Do you have a pen?" she asked him.

"You're kidding, right?" He brought out Riptide.

Theo rolled her eyes. "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. Theo had watched him do this hundreds of times. Normally when he fought, Percy simply discarded the cap. It always appeared in his pocket later, as needed. 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?" Theo suggested. "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.

"Mind if I?" Theo 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, appearing over her shoulder.

"Sending a message," Theo said. "I just hope Rachel gets it."

"Rachel?" Percy asked. "You mean our Rachel? Oracle of Delphi Rachel?"

"That's the one." Theo suppressed a smile. She finished her note and folded the napkin. On the outside, she wrote:

Con,

Give this to Rachel. Not a prank. Don't be a moron.

Love,
Theo!

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.

"Did you just address your ex-boyfriend with a nickname?" Percy demanded, watching her fold up the napkin. He shook his head. "Scratch that. Did you sign that with Love, Theo? With an exclamation point?"

"Percy, don't be silly," she said, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Connor's so self-absorbed. You have nothing to worry about. Now, I just have to burn this..."

Theo narrowed her eyes on the balled-up napkin, sitting lightly in her open palm. With her other hand, she spread her fingers around the tissue, and flares of light erupted all at once to burn the napkin into ashes. Those carried away with the wind.

Theo wiped her hands together. She thought she was crazy. There was no way those smoke flumes could make it out of Tartarus and all the way to camp.

But she just smiled at Bob and Percy. "Alright. I'm ready."

Via Mason house

Finally a lore drop on Theo's childhood 😯 and omf is it a bad one!! wow. that's a baby right there. She's maybe 2 apples tall